Project description:Marine dissolved organic carbon (DOC), the largest pool of reduced carbon in the oceans, plays an important role in the global carbon cycle and contributes to the regulation of atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide abundances. Despite its importance in global biogeochemical cycles, the long-term history of the marine DOC reservoir is poorly constrained. Nonetheless, significant changes to the size of the oceanic DOC reservoir through Earth's history have been commonly invoked to explain changes to ocean chemistry, carbon cycling, and marine ecology. Here, we present a revised view of the evolution of marine DOC concentrations using a mechanistic carbon cycle model that can reproduce DOC concentrations in both oxic and anoxic modern environments. We use this model to demonstrate that the overall size of the marine DOC reservoir has likely undergone very little variation through Earth's history, despite major changes in the redox state of the ocean-atmosphere system and the nature and efficiency of the biological carbon pump. A relatively static marine DOC reservoir across Earth's history renders it unlikely that major changes in marine DOC concentrations have been responsible for driving massive repartitioning of surface carbon or the large carbon isotope excursions observed in Earth's stratigraphic record and casts doubt on previously hypothesized links between marine DOC levels and the emergence and radiation of early animals.
Project description:Solar radiation mineralizes dissolved organic matter (DOM) to dissolved inorganic carbon through photochemical reactions (DIC photoproduction) that are influenced by iron (Fe) and pH. This study addressed as to what extent Fe contributes to the optical properties of the chromophoric DOM (CDOM) and DIC photoproduction at different pH values. We created the associations of Fe and DOM (Fe-DOM) that cover the range of loadings of Fe on DOM and pH values found in freshwaters. The introduced Fe enhanced the light absorption by CDOM independent of pH. Simulated solar irradiation decreased the light absorption by CDOM (i.e., caused photobleaching). Fe raised the rate of photobleaching and steepened the spectral slopes of CDOM in low pH but resisted the slope steepening in neutral to alkaline pH. The combination of a low pH (down to pH 4) and high Fe loading on DOM (up to 3.5 μmol mg DOM-1) increased the DIC photoproduction rate and the apparent quantum yields for DIC photoproduction up to 7-fold compared to the corresponding experiments at pH >6 or without Fe. The action spectrum for DIC photoproduction shifted toward the visible spectrum range at low pH in the presence of Fe. Our results demonstrated that Fe can contribute to DIC photoproduction by up to 86% and produce DIC even at the visible spectrum range in acidic waters. However, the stimulatory effect of Fe is negligible at pH >7.
Project description:Resource availability constrains the life history strategies available to organisms and may thereby limit population growth rates and productivity. We used this conceptual framework to explore the mechanisms driving recently reported negative relationships between fish productivity and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in lakes. We studied populations of bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) in a set of lakes with DOC concentrations ranging from 3 to 24 mg/L; previous work has demonstrated that primary and secondary productivity of food webs is negatively related to DOC concentration across this gradient. For each population, we quantified individual growth rate, age at maturity, age-specific fecundity, maximum age, length-weight and length-egg size relationships, and other life history characteristics. We observed a strong negative relationship between maximum size and DOC concentration; for instance, fish reached masses of 150 to 260 g in low-DOC lakes but <120 g in high-DOC lakes. Relationships between fecundity and length, and between egg size and length, were constant across the DOC gradient. Because fish in high-DOC lakes reached smaller sizes but had similar fecundity and egg size at a given size, their total lifetime fecundity was as much as two orders of magnitude lower than fish in low-DOC lakes. High DOC concentrations appeared to constrain the range of bluegill life history strategies available; populations in high-DOC lakes always had low initial growth rates and high ages at maturity, whereas populations in low-DOC showed higher variability in these traits. This was also the case for the intrinsic rates of natural increase of these populations, which were always low at the high end of the DOC gradient. The potentially lower capacity for fish populations in high-DOC lakes to recover from exploitation has clear implications for the sustainable management of recreational fisheries in the face of considerable spatial heterogeneity and ongoing temporal change in lake DOC concentrations.
Project description:Thousands of synthetic chemicals and hydrocarbons are released to the marine environment composing the anthropogenic dissolved organic carbon (ADOC). Most ADOC is disproportionally hydrophobic, and consequently, its concentrations in the cell membranes are between a thousand and hundred million fold higher than those in the dissolved phase. Marine microorganisms respond to ADOC by multiple strategies ranging from ADOC degradation to detoxifying metabolisms. We argue that the increasing concentrations of ADOC in the oceans deriving from rivers, atmospheric deposition, and plastic leachates can have an effect on the health of the oceans and influence the major biogeochemical cycles, thus influencing the Earth system during the Anthropocene.
Project description:The impact of emerging contaminants in the presence of active pharmaceutical pollutants plays an important role in the persistence and activity of environmental bacteria. This manuscript focuses on the impact of amoxicillin functionalized iron oxide nanoparticles on bacterial growth, in the presence of dissolved organic carbon (humic acid). The impact of these emerging contaminants individually and collectively on the growth profiles of model gram positive and negative bacteria was tracked for 24 h. Results indicate exposure to subinhibitory concentrations of amoxicillin bound iron oxide nanoparticles, in the presence of humic acid, increase bacterial growth in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Accelerated bacterial growth was associated with an increase in iron ions, which have been shown to influence upregulation of cellular metabolism. Though iron oxide nanoparticles are often regarded as benign, this work demonstrates the distinguishable impact of amoxicillin bound iron oxide nanoparticles in the presence of dissolved organic carbon. The results indicate differential impacts of combined contaminants on bacterial growth, having potential implications for environmental and human health.
Project description:Reactive iron and organic carbon are intimately associated in soils and sediments. However, to date, the organic compounds involved are uncharacterized on the molecular level. At redox interfaces in peatlands, where the biogeochemical cycles of iron and dissolved organic matter (DOM) are coupled, this issue can readily be studied. We found that precipitation of iron hydroxides at the oxic surface layer of two rewetted fens removed a large fraction of DOM via coagulation. On aeration of anoxic fen pore waters, >90% of dissolved iron and 27 ± 7% (mean ± SD) of dissolved organic carbon were rapidly (within 24 h) removed. Using ultra-high-resolution MS, we show that vascular plant-derived aromatic and pyrogenic compounds were preferentially retained, whereas the majority of carboxyl-rich aliphatic acids remained in solution. We propose that redox interfaces, which are ubiquitous in marine and terrestrial settings, are selective yet intermediate barriers that limit the flux of land-derived DOM to oceanic waters.
Project description:Due to high terrestrial runoff, the Baltic Sea is rich in dissolved organic carbon (DOC), the light-absorbing fraction of which is referred to as colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM). Inputs of DOC and CDOM are predicted to increase with climate change, affecting coastal ecosystems. We found that the relationships between DOC, CDOM, salinity, and Secchi depth all differed between the two coastal areas studied; the W Gulf of Bothnia with high terrestrial input and the NW Baltic Proper with relatively little terrestrial input. The CDOM:DOC ratio was higher in the Gulf of Bothnia, where CDOM had a greater influence on the Secchi depth, which is used as an indicator of eutrophication and hence important for Baltic Sea management. Based on the results of this study, we recommend regular CDOM measurements in monitoring programmes, to increase the value of concurrent Secchi depth measurements.
Project description:Heterotrophic microbial communities cycle nearly half of net primary productivity in the ocean, and play a particularly important role in transformations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). The specific means by which these communities mediate the transformations of organic carbon are largely unknown, since the vast majority of marine bacteria have not been isolated in culture, and most measurements of DOC degradation rates have focused on uptake and metabolism of either bulk DOC or of simple model compounds (e.g. specific amino acids or sugars). Genomic investigations provide information about the potential capabilities of organisms and communities but not the extent to which such potential is expressed. We tested directly the capabilities of heterotrophic microbial communities in surface ocean waters at 32 stations spanning latitudes from 76°S to 79°N to hydrolyze a range of high molecular weight organic substrates and thereby initiate organic matter degradation. These data demonstrate the existence of a latitudinal gradient in the range of complex substrates available to heterotrophic microbial communities, paralleling the global gradient in bacterial species richness. As changing climate increasingly affects the marine environment, changes in the spectrum of substrates accessible by microbial communities may lead to shifts in the location and rate at which marine DOC is respired. Since the inventory of DOC in the ocean is comparable in magnitude to the atmospheric CO(2) reservoir, such a change could profoundly affect the global carbon cycle.
Project description:The pool of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), is one of the main regulators of the ecology and biogeochemistry of inland water ecosystems, and an important loss term in the carbon budgets of land ecosystems. We used a novel machine learning technique and global databases to test if and how different environmental factors contribute to the variability of in situ DOC concentrations in lakes. In order to estimate DOC in lakes globally we predicted DOC in each lake with a surface area larger than 0.1 km2. Catchment properties and meteorological and hydrological features explained most of the variability of the lake DOC concentration, whereas lake morphometry played only a marginal role. The predicted average of the global DOC concentration in lake water was 3.88 mg L-1. The global predicted pool of DOC in lake water was 729 Tg from which 421 Tg was the share of the Caspian Sea. The results provide global-scale evidence for ecological, climate and carbon cycle models of lake ecosystems and related future prognoses.
Project description:The evolutionary and ecological story of coccolithophores poses questions about their heterotrophy, surviving darkness after the end-Cretaceous asteroid impact as well as survival in the deep ocean twilight zone. Uptake of dissolved organic carbon might be an alternative nutritional strategy for supply of energy and carbon molecules. Using long-term batch culture experiments, we examined coccolithophore growth and maintenance on organic compounds in darkness. Radiolabelled experiments were performed to study the uptake kinetics. Pulse-chase experiments were used to examine the uptake into unassimilated, exchangeable pools vs assimilated, nonexchangeable pools. We found that coccolithophores were able to survive and maintain their metabolism for up to 30 d in darkness, accomplishing about one cell division. The concentration dependence for uptake was similar to the concentration dependence for growth in Cruciplacolithus neohelis, suggesting that it was taking up carbon compounds and immediately incorporating them into biomass. We recorded net incorporation of radioactivity into the particulate inorganic fraction. We conclude that osmotrophy provides nutritional flexibility and supports long-term survival in light intensities well below threshold for photosynthesis. The incorporation of dissolved organic matter into particulate inorganic carbon, raises fundamental questions about the role of the alkalinity pump and the alkalinity balance in the sea.