Articles | Volume 18, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3689-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3689-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Reviews and syntheses: Heterotrophic fixation of inorganic carbon – significant but invisible flux in environmental carbon cycling
Alexander Braun
Institute of Groundwater Ecology, Helmholtz Zentrum München,
Ingolstaedter Landstrasse 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
Marina Spona-Friedl
Institute of Groundwater Ecology, Helmholtz Zentrum München,
Ingolstaedter Landstrasse 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
Maria Avramov
Institute of Groundwater Ecology, Helmholtz Zentrum München,
Ingolstaedter Landstrasse 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
Martin Elsner
Institute of Groundwater Ecology, Helmholtz Zentrum München,
Ingolstaedter Landstrasse 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
Department of Analytical Chemistry
and Water Chemistry, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
Federico Baltar
Department of Functional and Evolutionary
Ecology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Thomas Reinthaler
Department of Functional and Evolutionary
Ecology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Gerhard J. Herndl
Department of Functional and Evolutionary
Ecology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, Royal
Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 59, 1790
AB Den Burg, the Netherlands
Christian Griebler
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute of Groundwater Ecology, Helmholtz Zentrum München,
Ingolstaedter Landstrasse 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
Department of Functional and Evolutionary
Ecology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
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It is known that CO2 fixation by photoautotrophic organisms is the major sink from the atmosphere. While biologists are aware that CO2 fixation also occurs in heterotrophic organisms, this route of inorganic carbon, and its quantitative role, is hardly recognized in biogeochemistry. We demonstrate that a considerable amount of CO2 is fixed annually through anaplerotic reactions in heterotrophic organisms, and a significant quantity of inorganic carbon is temporally sequestered in biomass.
It is known that CO2 fixation by photoautotrophic organisms is the major sink from the...
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