Articles | Volume 22, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1853-2025
© Author(s) 2025. 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-22-1853-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
The energy-efficient reductive tricarboxylic acid cycle drives carbon uptake and transfer to higher trophic levels within the Kueishantao shallow-water hydrothermal system
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Yu-Shih Lin
Department of Oceanography, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, 80424, Taiwan
Enno Schefuß
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Rebecca F. Aepfler
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany
now at: Logistics and research platforms, Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany
Li-Lian Liu
Department of Oceanography, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, 80424, Taiwan
Marcus Elvert
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Faculty of Geosciences, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany
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Chueh-Chen Tung, Yu-Shih Lin, Jian-Xiang Liao, Tzu-Hsuan Tu, James T. Liu, Li-Hung Lin, Pei-Ling Wang, and Chih-Lin Wei
Biogeosciences, 21, 1729–1756, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1729-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1729-2024, 2024
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This study contrasts seabed food webs between a river-fed, high-energy canyon and the nearby slope. We show higher organic carbon (OC) flows through the canyon than the slope. Bacteria dominated the canyon, while seabed fauna contributed more to the slope food web. Due to frequent perturbation, the canyon had a lower faunal stock and OC recycling. Only 4 % of the seabed OC flux enters the canyon food web, suggesting a significant role of the river-fed canyon in transporting OC to the deep sea.
Vera Dorothee Meyer, Jürgen Pätzold, Gesine Mollenhauer, Isla S. Castañeda, Stefan Schouten, and Enno Schefuß
Clim. Past, 20, 523–546, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-523-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-523-2024, 2024
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The climatic factors sustaining vegetation in the Sahara during the African humid period (AHP) are still not fully understood. Using biomarkers in a marine sediment core from the eastern Mediterranean, we infer variations in Mediterranean (winter) and monsoonal (summer) rainfall in the Nile river watershed around the AHP. We find that winter and summer rain enhanced during the AHP, suggesting that Mediterranean moisture supported the monsoon in sustaining the “green Sahara”.
Jing-Ying Wu, Siou-Yan Lin, Jung-Fu Huang, Chen-Tung Arthur Chen, Jia-Jang Hung, Shao-Hung Peng, and Li-Lian Liu
Biogeosciences, 20, 2693–2706, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2693-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2693-2023, 2023
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The shallow-water hydrothermal vents off the Kueishan Island, Taiwan, have the most extreme records of pH values (1.52), temperatures (116 °C), and H2S concentrations (172.4 mmol mol−1) in the world. White and yellow vents differ in the color and physical and chemical characteristics of emitted plumes. We found that the feeding habits of the endemic vent crabs (Xenograpsus testudinatus) are adapted to their resident vent types at a distance of 100 m, and the trans-vent movement is uncommon.
Julia Gensel, Marc Steven Humphries, Matthias Zabel, David Sebag, Annette Hahn, and Enno Schefuß
Biogeosciences, 19, 2881–2902, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2881-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2881-2022, 2022
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We investigated organic matter (OM) and plant-wax-derived biomarkers in sediments and plants along the Mkhuze River to constrain OM's origin and transport pathways within South Africa's largest freshwater wetland. Presently, it efficiently captures OM, so neither transport from upstream areas nor export from the swamp occurs. Thus, we emphasize that such geomorphological features can alter OM provenance, questioning the assumption of watershed-integrated information in downstream sediments.
Annette Hahn, Enno Schefuß, Jeroen Groeneveld, Charlotte Miller, and Matthias Zabel
Clim. Past, 17, 345–360, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-345-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-345-2021, 2021
Hendrik Reuter, Julia Gensel, Marcus Elvert, and Dominik Zak
Biogeosciences, 17, 499–514, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-499-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-499-2020, 2020
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Using infrared spectroscopy, we developed a routine to disentangle microbial nitrogen (N) and plant N in decomposed litter. In a decomposition experiment in three wetland soils, this routine revealed preferential protein depolymerization as a decomposition-site-dependent parameter, unaffected by variations in initial litter N content. In Sphagnum peat, preferential protein depolymerization led to a N depletion of still-unprocessed litter tissue, i.e., a gradual loss of litter quality.
Maria-Elena Vorrath, Juliane Müller, Oliver Esper, Gesine Mollenhauer, Christian Haas, Enno Schefuß, and Kirsten Fahl
Biogeosciences, 16, 2961–2981, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2961-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2961-2019, 2019
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The study highlights new approaches in the investigation of past sea ice in Antarctica to reconstruct the climate conditions in earth's history and reveal its future development under global warming. We examined the distribution of organic remains from different algae at the Western Antarctic Peninsula and compared it to fossil and satellite records. We evaluated IPSO25 – the sea ice proxy for the Southern Ocean with 25 carbon atoms – as a useful tool for sea ice reconstructions in this region.
Charlotte Miller, Jemma Finch, Trevor Hill, Francien Peterse, Marc Humphries, Matthias Zabel, and Enno Schefuß
Clim. Past, 15, 1153–1170, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1153-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1153-2019, 2019
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Here we reconstruct vegetation and precipitation, in eastern South Africa, over the last 32 000 years, by measuring the stable carbon and hydrogen isotope composition of plant waxes from Mfabeni peat bog (KwaZulu-Natal). Our results indicate that the late Quaternary climate in eastern South Africa did not respond directly to orbital forcing or to changes in sea-surface temperatures. Our findings stress the influence of the Southern Hemisphere westerlies in driving climate change in the region.
Ulrike Braeckman, Felix Janssen, Gaute Lavik, Marcus Elvert, Hannah Marchant, Caroline Buckner, Christina Bienhold, and Frank Wenzhöfer
Biogeosciences, 15, 6537–6557, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6537-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6537-2018, 2018
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Global warming has altered Arctic phytoplankton communities, with unknown effects on deep-sea communities that depend strongly on food produced at the surface. We compared the responses of Arctic deep-sea benthos to input of phytodetritus from diatoms and coccolithophorids. Coccolithophorid carbon was 5× less recycled than diatom carbon. The utilization of the coccolithophorid carbon may be less efficient, so a shift from diatom to coccolithophorid blooms could entail a delay in carbon cycling.
Rony R. Kuechler, Lydie M. Dupont, and Enno Schefuß
Clim. Past, 14, 73–84, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-73-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-73-2018, 2018
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Measuring deuterium and stable carbon isotopes of higher plant wax extracted from marine sediments offshore of Mauritania, we recovered a record of hydrology and vegetation change in West Africa for two Pliocene intervals: 5.0–4.6 and 3.6–3.0 Ma. We find that changes in local summer insolation cannot fully explain the variations in the West African monsoon and that latitudinal insolation and temperature gradients are important drivers of tropical monsoon systems.
Annette Hahn, Enno Schefuß, Sergio Andò, Hayley C. Cawthra, Peter Frenzel, Martin Kugel, Stephanie Meschner, Gesine Mollenhauer, and Matthias Zabel
Clim. Past, 13, 649–665, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-649-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-649-2017, 2017
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Our study demonstrates that a source to sink analysis in the Gouritz catchment can be used to obtain valuable paleoclimatic information form the year-round rainfall zone. In combination with SST reconstructions these data are a valuable contribution to the discussion of Southern Hemisphere palaeoenvironments and climate variability (in particular atmosphere–ocean circulation and hydroclimate change) in the South African Holocene.
Shuwen Sun, Enno Schefuß, Stefan Mulitza, Cristiano M. Chiessi, André O. Sawakuchi, Matthias Zabel, Paul A. Baker, Jens Hefter, and Gesine Mollenhauer
Biogeosciences, 14, 2495–2512, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2495-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2495-2017, 2017
C. Häggi, C. M. Chiessi, and E. Schefuß
Biogeosciences, 12, 7239–7249, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-7239-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-7239-2015, 2015
Y. J. Chen, J. Y. Wu, C. T. A. Chen, and L. L. Liu
Biogeosciences, 12, 2631–2639, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-2631-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-2631-2015, 2015
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This was the first study to compare snail’s morphological traits under varying shallow-vent stresses using populations previously classified by protein expression profiles. Anachis snails were classified as V-South (pH 7.78-7.82) and V-Rest (pH 7.31-7.83). There was a difference in shell width : length, with vent populations being more globular. Vent Anachis snails had thinner body whorl (56%) and penultimate whorl (29%) shells than non-vent Euplica sp.
R. Zhu, Y.-S. Lin, J. S. Lipp, T. B. Meador, and K.-U. Hinrichs
Biogeosciences, 11, 4869–4880, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-4869-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-4869-2014, 2014
Related subject area
Astrobiology and Exobiology: Extreme Environments, Brines & Hydrothermal
Microbial response to deliquescence of nitrate-rich soils in the hyperarid Atacama Desert
Biodiversity and trophic ecology of hydrothermal vent fauna associated with tubeworm assemblages on the Juan de Fuca Ridge
Nitrification of archaeal ammonia oxidizers in a high- temperature hot spring
Fluid chemistry of the low temperature hyperalkaline hydrothermal system of Prony Bay (New Caledonia)
Arctic gypsum endoliths: a biogeochemical characterization of a viable and active microbial community
Saturated CO2 inhibits microbial processes in CO2-vented deep-sea sediments
Activity and abundance of denitrifying bacteria in the subsurface biosphere of diffuse hydrothermal vents of the Juan de Fuca Ridge
Novel water source for endolithic life in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert
Experimental fossilisation of viruses from extremophilic Archaea
Felix L. Arens, Alessandro Airo, Christof Sager, Hans-Peter Grossart, Kai Mangelsdorf, Rainer U. Meckenstock, Mark Pannekens, Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin, Jenny Uhl, Bernardita Valenzuela, Pedro Zamorano, Luca Zoccarato, and Dirk Schulze-Makuch
Biogeosciences, 21, 5305–5320, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-5305-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-5305-2024, 2024
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We studied unique nitrate-rich soils in the hyperarid Atacama Desert that form brines at night under high relative humidity. Despite providing water for microorganisms, these soils exhibit extremely low microbial activity, indicating that the high nitrate levels inhibit microbial life. On the other hand, enriched organic matter indicates their potential preservation. This research helps to understand the limits of life in extreme environments and aids in the search for signs of life on Mars.
Yann Lelièvre, Jozée Sarrazin, Julien Marticorena, Gauthier Schaal, Thomas Day, Pierre Legendre, Stéphane Hourdez, and Marjolaine Matabos
Biogeosciences, 15, 2629–2647, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2629-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-2629-2018, 2018
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The Main Endeavour vent field, a Marine Protected Area, is a target site for the cabled observatory Ocean Networks Canada, providing unprecedented opportunities to better understand vent ecosystem functioning. We report the diversity and food webs of six faunal communities associated with siboglinid tubeworms of the Grotto edifice. Better knowledge of the ecological functioning of these communities will help in assessing the role of the MPA as a management tool for hydrothermal vents ecosystems.
Shun Chen, Xiaotong Peng, Hengchao Xu, and Kaiwen Ta
Biogeosciences, 13, 2051–2060, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-2051-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-2051-2016, 2016
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The oxidation of ammonia by microbes has been shown to occur in diverse natural environments. However, the link of in situ nitrification activity to taxonomic identities of ammonia oxidizers in high-temperature environments remains poorly understood. Here, in combination of culture-independent and culture-dependent approaches, we provide direct evidences that ammonia-oxidizing Archaea (AOA) are indeed responsible for the major portion of ammonia oxidation in high-temperature hot springs.
C. Monnin, V. Chavagnac, C. Boulart, B. Ménez, M. Gérard, E. Gérard, C. Pisapia, M. Quéméneur, G. Erauso, A. Postec, L. Guentas-Dombrowski, C. Payri, and B. Pelletier
Biogeosciences, 11, 5687–5706, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-5687-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-5687-2014, 2014
L. A. Ziolkowski, N. C. S. Mykytczuk, C. R. Omelon, H. Johnson, L. G. Whyte, and G. F. Slater
Biogeosciences, 10, 7661–7675, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-7661-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-7661-2013, 2013
D. de Beer, M. Haeckel, J. Neumann, G. Wegener, F. Inagaki, and A. Boetius
Biogeosciences, 10, 5639–5649, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-5639-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-5639-2013, 2013
A. Bourbonnais, S. K. Juniper, D. A. Butterfield, A. H. Devol, M. M. M. Kuypers, G. Lavik, S. J. Hallam, C. B. Wenk, B. X. Chang, S. A. Murdock, and M. F. Lehmann
Biogeosciences, 9, 4661–4678, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-4661-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-4661-2012, 2012
J. Wierzchos, A. F. Davila, I. M. Sánchez-Almazo, M. Hajnos, R. Swieboda, and C. Ascaso
Biogeosciences, 9, 2275–2286, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-2275-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-2275-2012, 2012
F. Orange, A. Chabin, A. Gorlas, S. Lucas-Staat, C. Geslin, M. Le Romancer, D. Prangishvili, P. Forterre, and F. Westall
Biogeosciences, 8, 1465–1475, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-8-1465-2011, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-8-1465-2011, 2011
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This study presents new insights into autotrophic carbon fixation in shallow-water hydrothermal systems, emphasizing the dominance of reductive tricarboxylic acid (rTCA) cycle-utilizing Campylobacteria. Low isotopic fractionation values in vent fluids, possibly due to very acidic pH levels, extend the isotopic fractionation range of rTCA. The study also highlights the ecological significance of chemosynthetically fixed carbon, observed in higher trophic levels like the vent endemic crab Xenograpsus testudinatus, improving our understanding of carbon cycling in extreme environments and the interplay between microbial chemosynthesis and higher organisms.
This study presents new insights into autotrophic carbon fixation in shallow-water hydrothermal...
Short summary
In acidic hot springs off Kueishantao, Campylobacteria fix CO2 by using the reductive tricarboxylic acid (rTCA) cycle, causing them to have an isotopically heavier biomass. Here, we report extremely low isotopic fractionation (of almost 0 ‰), which has never been reported in environmental samples. Moreover, the crab Xenograpsus testudinatus relies up to 34 % on campylobacterial biomass, highlighting the dependency of complex life on microscopic Bacteria in harsh environments.
In acidic hot springs off Kueishantao, Campylobacteria fix CO2 by using the reductive...
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