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Title: Microbial communities from Arctic marine sediments respond slowly to methane addition during ex situ enrichments

Journal Article · · Environmental Microbiology

Summary Anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) consume methane in marine sediments, limiting its release to the water column, but their responses to changes in methane and sulfate supplies remain poorly constrained. To address how methane exposure may affect microbial communities and methane‐ and sulfur‐cycling gene abundances in Arctic marine sediments, we collected sediments from offshore Svalbard that represent geochemical horizons where anaerobic methanotrophy is expected to be active, previously active, and long‐inactive based on reaction‐transport biogeochemical modelling of porewater sulfate profiles. Sediment slurries were incubated at in situ temperature and pressure with different added methane concentrations. Sediments from an active area of seepage began to reduce sulfate in a methane‐dependent manner within months, preceding increased relative abundances of anaerobic methanotrophs ANME‐1 within communities. In previously active and long‐inactive sediments, sulfur‐cycling Deltaproteobacteria became more dominant after 30 days, though these communities showed no evidence of methanotrophy after nearly 8 months of enrichment. Overall, enrichment conditions, but not methane, broadly altered microbial community structure across different enrichment times and sediment types. These results suggest that active ANME populations may require years to develop, and consequently microbial community composition may affect methanotrophic responses to potential large‐scale seafloor methane releases in ways that provide insight for future modelling studies.

Research Organization:
Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE); Research Council of Norway (RCN); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
FE0013531; 223259; DE‐FE0013531
OSTI ID:
1799761
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1582474
Journal Information:
Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 22, Issue 5; ISSN 1462-2912
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 5 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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