Bacteria as paleoenvironmental proxies: the study of a cave Pleistocene profile

Haidău, Cătălina; Mirea, Ionuţ Cornel; Constantin, Silviu; Moldovan, Oana Teodora

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1163-2025

Articles | Volume 22, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1163-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1163-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 5

Research article

|

05 Mar 2025

Research article |

| 05 Mar 2025

Bacteria as paleoenvironmental proxies: the study of a cave Pleistocene profile

Cătălina Haidău, Ionuţ Cornel Mirea, Silviu Constantin, and Oana Teodora Moldovan

Data sets

PRJNA1161469 Bacteria from cave sediments as indicator of paleoenvironments Sequence Read Archive (SRA) https://dataview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/object/PRJNA1161469?reviewer=oj751r51jbshf43t890pjt85b0

Short summary

Caves are natural archives for reconstructing past climates and environments. A 480 cm sediment profile was dated at 74.7 ± 12.3 to 56 ± 8 ka, with some sections influenced by Last Glacial Maximum flooding. Bacterial diversity shifts with depth, from soil bacteria in upper layers to thermophilic sulfur bacteria in deeper sediments, possibly linked to historic hot springs or sapropels. This study highlights the potential of bacteria as proxies for reconstructing paleoenvironmental conditions.