Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Abundant carbon substrates drive extremely high sulfate reduction rates and methane fluxes in Prairie Pothole Wetlands

Journal Article · · Global Change Biology
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13633· OSTI ID:1406680
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [5];  [5];  [3];  [1];  [5];  [6]
  1. Microbiology Department, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43210 USA
  2. Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Richland WA 99350 USA
  3. United States Geological Survey - Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown ND 58401 USA
  4. United States Geological Survey, Crustal Geophysics and Geochemistry Science Center, Building 20, Denver Federal Center Denver CO 80225 USA
  5. School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43210 USA
  6. Microbiology Department, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43210 USA; School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43210 USA
Inland waters are increasingly recognized as critical sites of methane emissions to the atmosphere, but the biogeochemical reactions driving such fluxes are less well understood. The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America is one of the largest wetland complexes in the world, containing millions of small, shallow wetlands. The sediment pore waters of PPR wetlands contain some of the highest concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and sulfur species ever recorded in terrestrial aquatic environments. Using a suite of geochemical and microbiological analyses we measured the impact of sedimentary carbon and sulfur transformations in these wetlands on methane fluxes to the atmosphere. This research represents the first study of coupled geochemistry and microbiology within the PPR, and demonstrates how the conversion of abundant labile DOC pools into methane results in some of the highest fluxes of this greenhouse gas to the atmosphere ever reported. Abundant DOC and sulfate additionally supported some of the highest sulfate reduction rates ever measured in terrestrial aquatic environments, which we infer to account for a large fraction of carbon mineralization in this system. Methane accumulations in zones of active sulfate reduction may be due to either the transport of free methane gas from deeper locations, or the co-occurrence of methanogenesis and sulfate reduction. If both respiratory processes are concurrent, any competitive inhibition of methanogenesis by sulfate-reducing bacteria may be lessened by the presence of large labile DOC pools that yield non-competitive substrates such as methanol. Our results reveal some of the underlying mechanisms that make PPR wetlands biogeochemical hotspots, which ultimately leads to their critical, but poorly recognized role in regional greenhouse gas emissions.
Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US), Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1406680
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-120033; 48837; KP1704020
Journal Information:
Global Change Biology, Journal Name: Global Change Biology Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 23; ISSN 1354-1013
Publisher:
Wiley
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (67)

Evidence of Incorporation of Abiotic S and N into Prairie Wetland Dissolved Organic Matter journal August 2014
Effect of hydrogen sulfide on growth of sulfate reducing bacteria journal August 1992
Hydrogeochemistry of prairie pothole region wetlands: Role of long-term critical zone processes journal November 2014
Methanocella arvoryzae sp. nov., a hydrogenotrophic methanogen isolated from rice field soil journal January 2010
Large-scale patterns in summer diffusive CH 4 fluxes across boreal lakes, and contribution to diffusive C emissions journal October 2014
Measurement of bacterial sulfate reduction in sediments: Evaluation of a single-step chromium reduction method journal November 1989
The anaerobic oxidation of methane and sulfate reduction in sediments from Gulf of Mexico cold seeps journal May 2004
Characterization of dissolved organic matter in Lake Superior and its watershed using ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry journal February 2012
Methane emission and dynamics of methanotrophic and methanogenic communities in a flooded rice field ecosystem journal February 2014
Methanospirillum psychrodurum sp. nov., isolated from wetland soil journal October 2013
Carbon emission from hydroelectric reservoirs linked to reservoir age and latitude journal July 2011
Fluxes of methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide in boreal lakes and potential anthropogenic effects on the aquatic greenhouse gas emissions journal July 2003
Temperature and Hydrology Affect Methane Emissions from Prairie Pothole Wetlands journal September 2016
Effects of land use on greenhouse gas fluxes and soil properties of wetland catchments in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America journal November 2015
Methanohalophilus levihalophilus sp. nov., a slightly halophilic, methylotrophic methanogen isolated from natural gas-bearing deep aquifers, and emended description of the genus Methanohalophilus journal March 2014
Methanococcoides vulcani sp. nov., a marine methylotrophic methanogen that uses betaine, choline and N,N-dimethylethanolamine for methanogenesis, isolated from a mud volcano, and emended description of the genus Methanococcoides journal March 2014
Filamentous bacteria transport electrons over centimetre distances journal October 2012
QIIME allows analysis of high-throughput community sequencing data journal April 2010
Potential for Abiotic Reduction of Pesticides in Prairie Pothole Porewaters journal March 2012
Patterns in Wetland Microbial Community Composition and Functional Gene Repertoire Associated with Methane Emissions journal May 2015
Methanobacterium petrolearium sp. nov. and Methanobacterium ferruginis sp. nov., mesophilic methanogens isolated from salty environments journal January 2011
Cohn’s Crenothrix is a filamentous methane oxidizer with an unusual methane monooxygenase journal February 2006
High methane flux from an arctic floodplain (Indigirka lowlands, eastern Siberia): METHANE FLUX ARCTIC FLOODPLAIN SIBERIA journal October 2005
Naive Bayesian Classifier for Rapid Assignment of rRNA Sequences into the New Bacterial Taxonomy journal June 2007
Degradation of natural organic matter: A thermodynamic analysis journal April 2011
The Genome Sequence of the Obligately Chemolithoautotrophic, Facultatively Anaerobic Bacterium Thiobacillus denitrificans journal February 2006
UCHIME improves sensitivity and speed of chimera detection journal June 2011
A Post-Genomic View of the Ecophysiology, Catabolism and Biotechnological Relevance of Sulphate-Reducing Prokaryotes book January 2015
Search and clustering orders of magnitude faster than BLAST journal August 2010
Greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration potential in restored wetlands of the Canadian prairie pothole region journal March 2011
Global carbon dioxide emissions from inland waters journal November 2013
Automated Analysis of Electrospray Ionization Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectra of Natural Organic Matter journal July 2006
Microscale Characterization of Sulfur Speciation in Lake Sediments journal February 2013
Effect of Temperature on Anaerobic Ethanol Oxidation and Methanogenesis in Acidic Peat from a Northern Wetland journal December 2005
Landscape controls on N2O and CH4 emissions from freshwater mineral soil wetlands of the Canadian Prairie Pothole region journal March 2010
Barriers to predicting changes in global terrestrial methane fluxes: analyses using CLM4Me, a methane biogeochemistry model integrated in CESM journal January 2011
Complete Genome Sequence of a Thermophilic Methanogen, Methanocella conradii HZ254, Isolated from Chinese Rice Field Soil journal April 2012
Improved Attribution of Climate Forcing to Emissions journal October 2009
Plumbing the Global Carbon Cycle: Integrating Inland Waters into the Terrestrial Carbon Budget journal February 2007
Sulfate-reducing microorganisms in wetlands – fameless actors in carbon cycling and climate change journal January 2012
Methane emissions from Alaska in 2012 from CARVE airborne observations journal November 2014
Large contribution to inland water CO2 and CH4 emissions from very small ponds journal February 2016
Freshwater Methane Emissions Offset the Continental Carbon Sink journal January 2011
Effect of pH on growth kinetics and sulphide toxicity thresholds of a range of methanogenic, syntrophic and sulphate-reducing bacteria journal June 1998
Methanosarcina subterranea sp. nov., a methanogenic archaeon isolated from a deep subsurface diatomaceous shale formation journal April 2015
Wet and Wonderful: The World's Largest Wetlands Are Conservation Priorities journal January 2009
Sources and composition of sediment pore-water dissolved organic matter in prairie pothole lakes journal May 2013
Magnitude and significance of carbon burial in lakes, reservoirs, and peatlands journal January 1998
Microbial Community Structure in Lake and Wetland Sediments from a High Arctic Polar Desert Revealed by Targeted Transcriptomics journal March 2014
Methanobacterium paludis sp. nov. and a novel strain of Methanobacterium lacus isolated from northern peatlands journal January 2014
A distinct freshwater-adapted subgroup of ANME-1 dominates active archaeal communities in terrestrial subsurfaces in Japan: ANME-1 archaea in terrestrial freshwater subsurfaces journal June 2011
Nitrite-driven anaerobic methane oxidation by oxygenic bacteria journal March 2010
Methane flux from northern wetlands and tundra: An ecosystem source modelling approach journal January 1996
Coexistence of sulfate reduction and methane production in an organic-rich sediment journal January 1994
Dynamics of water-table fluctuations in an upland between two prairie-pothole wetlands in North Dakota journal April 1997
Potential methane emission from north-temperate lakes following ice melt journal July 1996
The past, present, and future of prairie potholes in the United States journal May 2008
Methanoculleus sediminis sp. nov., a methanogen from sediments near a submarine mud volcano journal July 2015
The carbon balance of North American wetlands journal December 2006
Methane dynamics in an alpine fen: a field-based study on methanogenic and methanotrophic microbial communities journal December 2014
The boundless carbon cycle journal September 2009
Candidatus Methanogranum caenicola: a Novel Methanogen from the Anaerobic Digested Sludge, and Proposal of Methanomassiliicoccaceae fam. nov. and Methanomassiliicoccales ord. nov., for a Methanogenic Lineage of the Class Thermoplasmata journal January 2013
Novel Insights into the Distribution of Reduced Sulfur Species in Prairie Pothole Wetland Pore Waters Provided by Bismuth Film Electrodes journal February 2016
Gully hotspot contribution to landscape methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes in a northern peatland journal October 2008
Targeted Profiling:  Quantitative Analysis of 1 H NMR Metabolomics Data journal July 2006
Greenhouse gas flux from cropland and restored wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region journal December 2009
Alcohol dehydrogenase: multiplicity and relatedness in the solvent-producing clostridia journal October 1995

Similar Records

Viral and metabolic controls on high rates of microbial sulfur and carbon cycling in wetland ecosystems
Journal Article · Mon Aug 06 20:00:00 EDT 2018 · Microbiome · OSTI ID:1627047

Patterns in wetland microbial community composition and functional gene repertoire associated with methane emissions
Journal Article · Mon May 18 20:00:00 EDT 2015 · mBio (Online) · OSTI ID:1215649