The microbial engines that drive Earth's biogeochemical cycles

Virtually all nonequilibrium electron transfers on Earth are driven by a set of nanobiological machines composed largely of multimeric protein complexes associated with a small number of prosthetic groups. These machines evolved exclusively in microbes early in our planet's history yet, despite their antiquity, are highly conserved. Hence, although there is enormous genetic diversity in nature, there remains a relatively stable set of core genes coding for the major redox reactions essential for life and biogeochemical cycles. These genes created and coevolved with biogeochemical cycles and were passed from microbe to microbe primarily by horizontal gene transfer. A major challenge in the coming decades is to understand how these machines evolved, how they work, and the processes that control their activity on both molecular and planetary scales.     

Aerosol indirect effect on biogeochemical cycles and climate

The net effect of anthropogenic aerosols on climate is usually considered the sum of the direct radiative effect of anthropogenic aerosols, plus the indirect effect of these aerosols through aerosol-cloud interactions. However, an additional impact of aerosols on a longer time scale is their indirect effect on climate through biogeochemical feedbacks, largely due to changes in the atmospheric concentration of CO(2). Aerosols can affect land and ocean biogeochemical cycles by physical forcing or by adding nutrients and pollutants to ecosystems. The net biogeochemical effect of aerosols is estimated to be equivalent to a radiative forcing of -0.5 ± 0.4 watts per square meter, which suggests that reaching lower carbon targets will be even costlier than previously estimated.     

Biomass burning in the tropics: impact on atmospheric chemistry and biogeochemical cycles

Biomass burning is widespread, especially in the tropics. It serves to clear land for shifting cultivation, to convert forests to agricultural and pastoral lands, and to remove dry vegetation in order to promote agricultural productivity and the growth of higher yield grasses. Furthermore, much agricultural waste and fuel wood is being combusted, particularly in developing countries. Biomass containing 2 to 5 petagrams of carbon is burned annually (1 petagram = 10(15) grams), producing large amounts of trace gases and aerosol particles that play important roles in atmospheric chemistry and climate. Emissions of carbon monoxide and methane by biomass burning affect the oxidation efficiency of the atmosphere by reacting with hydroxyl radicals, and emissions of nitric oxide and hydrocarbons lead to high ozone concentrations in the tropics during the dry season. Large quantities of smoke particles are produced as well, and these can serve as cloud condensation nuclei. These particles may thus substantially influence cloud microphysical and optical properties, an effect that could have repercussions for the radiation budget and the hydrological cycle in the tropics. Widespread burning may also disturb biogeochemical cycles, especially that of nitrogen. About 50 percent of the nitrogen in the biomass fuel can be released as molecular nitrogen. This pyrdenitrification process causes a sizable loss of fixed nitrogen in tropical ecosystems, in the range of 10 to 20 teragrams per year (1 teragram = 10(12) grams).     

Impacts of silicon on biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrients in croplands

Crop harvesting and residue removal from croplands often result in imbalanced biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrients in croplands, putting forward an austere challenge to sustainable agricultural production. As a beneficial element, silicon (Si) has multiple eco-physiological functions, which could help crops to acclimatize their unfavorable habitats. Although many studies have reported that the application of Si can alleviate multiple abiotic and biotic stresses and increase biomass accumulation, the effects of Si on carbon immobilization and nutrients uptake into plants in croplands have not yet been explored. This review focused on Si-associated regulation of plant carbon accumulation, lignin biosynthesis, and nutrients uptake, which are important for biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrients in croplands. The tradeoff analysis indicates that the supply of bioavailable Si can enhance plant net photosynthetic rate and biomass carbon production (especially root biomass input to soil organic carbon pool), but reduce shoot lignin biosynthesis. Besides, the application of Si could improve uptake of most nutrients under deficient conditions, but restricts excess uptake when they are supplied in surplus amounts. Nevertheless, Si application to crops may enhance the uptake of nitrogen and iron when they are supplied in deficient to luxurious amounts, while potassium uptake enhanced by Si application is often involved in alleviating salt stress and inhibiting excess sodium uptake in plants. More importantly, the amount of Si accumulated in plant positively correlates with nutrients release during the decay of crop biomass, but negatively correlates with straw decomposability due to the reduced lignin synthesis. The Si-mediated plant growth and litter decomposition collectively suggest that Si cycling in croplands plays important roles in biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrients. Hence, scientific Si management in croplands will be helpful for maintaining sustainable development of agriculture.     

Atmospheric concentrations and sources of trace metals at the South pole

The chemical composition of atmospheric particulate material collected at the geographic South Pole indicates that Al, Sc, Th, Sm, V, Mn, Eu, Fe, La, Ce, Co, Cr, Na, K, Mg, and Ca are derived from either crustal weathering or the ocean. The relatively volatile elements Zn, Cu, Sb, Se, Pb, and Br are apparently derived from other sources. Because of their volatility, vapor-phase condensation or a high-temperature dispersion source is suspected for these elements or their compounds.     

Expanding oxygen-minimum zones in the tropical oceans

Oxygen-poor waters occupy large volumes of the intermediate-depth eastern tropical oceans. Oxygen-poor conditions have far-reaching impacts on ecosystems because important mobile macroorganisms avoid or cannot survive in hypoxic zones. Climate models predict declines in oceanic dissolved oxygen produced by global warming. We constructed 50-year time series of dissolved-oxygen concentration for select tropical oceanic regions by augmenting a historical database with recent measurements. These time series reveal vertical expansion of the intermediate-depth low-oxygen zones in the eastern tropical Atlantic and the equatorial Pacific during the past 50 years. The oxygen decrease in the 300- to 700-m layer is 0.09 to 0.34 micromoles per kilogram per year. Reduced oxygen levels may have dramatic consequences for ecosystems and coastal economies.     

土壤-水稻系统砷的生物地球化学过程研究进展

本文综述了具有不同渗氧能力基因型水稻对土壤砷结合形态、水稻根表铁膜、砷吸收的影响以及不同根际氧化还原条件对土壤砷形态、水稻砷积累、砷转运载体表达的影响,分析了硅的不同施加量对水稻砷吸收的研究进展及其作用机制,从土壤铁矿物氧化和还原两个方面总结了根际铁循环对砷环境行为的影响以及对砷污染土壤修复的潜在价值,以期为最终降低水稻砷吸收提供理论参考。微生物介导的铁氧化还原对砷的环境行为如砷的溶解释放、吸附沉淀、形态转化等有重要影响,而铁细菌的胞外电子传递过程促进了铁的矿物相转化并耦合砷的钝化,在未来工作中值得进一步关注和研究。     

The oceans: growth and oxygen isotope evolution

A study of the evolution of the oxygen-18/oxygen-16 ratio of the oceans suggests that this ratio is unlikely to have remained constant with time. Our models suiggest that early formation of the oceans is more likely than linear growth.     

Global patterns of predator diversity in the open oceans

The open oceans comprise most of the biosphere, yet patterns and trends of species diversity there are enigmatic. Here, we derive worldwide patterns of tuna and billfish diversity over the past 50 years, revealing distinct subtropical "hotspots" that appeared to hold generally for other predators and zooplankton. Diversity was positively correlated with thermal fronts and dissolved oxygen and a nonlinear function of temperature (approximately 25 degrees C optimum). Diversity declined between 10 and 50% in all oceans, a trend that coincided with increased fishing pressure, superimposed on strong El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation-driven variability across the Pacific. We conclude that predator diversity shows a predictable yet eroding pattern signaling ecosystem-wide changes linked to climate and fishing.     

Detection of anthropogenic climate change in the world's oceans

Large-scale increases in the heat content of the world's oceans have been observed to occur over the last 45 years. The horizontal and temporal character of these changes has been closely replicated by the state-of-the-art Parallel Climate Model (PCM) forced by observed and estimated anthropogenic gases. Application of optimal detection methodology shows that the model-produced signals are indistinguishable from the observations at the 0.05 confidence level. Further, the chances of either the anthropogenic or observed signals being produced by the PCM as a result of natural, internal forcing alone are less than 5%. This suggests that the observed ocean heat-content changes are consistent with those expected from anthropogenic forcing, which broadens the basis for claims that an anthropogenic signal has been detected in the global climate system. Additionally, the requirement that modeled ocean heat uptakes match observations puts a strong, new constraint on anthropogenically forced climate models. It is unknown if the current generation of climate models, other than the PCM, meet this constraint.     

High frequency of horizontal gene transfer in the oceans

Oceanic bacteria perform many environmental functions, including biogeochemical cycling of many elements, metabolizing of greenhouse gases, functioning in oceanic food webs (microbial loop), and producing valuable natural products and viruses. We demonstrate that the widespread capability of marine bacteria to participate in horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in coastal and oceanic environments may be the result of gene transfer agents (GTAs), viral-like particles produced by α-Proteobacteria. We documented GTA-mediated gene transfer frequencies a thousand to a hundred million times higher than prior estimates of HGT in the oceans, with as high as 47% of the culturable natural microbial community confirmed as gene recipients. These findings suggest a plausible mechanism by which marine bacteria acquire novel traits, thus ensuring resilience in the face of environmental change.     

微量金属元素添加频率对牛粪厌氧发酵特性的影响

为研究微量金属元素对牛粪厌氧发酵特性的影响,每隔1,3,5,7d向牛粪厌氧发酵液中添加Fe、Co、Ni元素。结果表明,7d添加1次微量金属元素的发酵组效果最佳,产气率和总产气量最高,COD去除率最高;每1d添加1次的挥发性有机酸(VFA)和产气量都最低,分析认为微量金属元素添加频率过高会破坏反应器内的营养平衡。     

Suspended particulate matter: concentration in the major oceans

Quantitative data from over 500 concentrates of suspended particulate material has been summarized statistically for the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. From clear ocean water a majority of samples were in the range of 0 to 9.9 milligrams per 200 liters and the next largest number were in the range of 10 to 19.9 milligrams per 200 liters. Certain areas of cloudy or nepheloid water, observed photographically, contain relatively more samples in heavier concentration ranges and have larger mean values than clear ocean water.     

Penetration of human-induced warming into the world's oceans

A warming signal has penetrated into the world's oceans over the past 40 years. The signal is complex, with a vertical structure that varies widely by ocean; it cannot be explained by natural internal climate variability or solar and volcanic forcing, but is well simulated by two anthropogenically forced climate models. We conclude that it is of human origin, a conclusion robust to observational sampling and model differences. Changes in advection combine with surface forcing to give the overall warming pattern. The implications of this study suggest that society needs to seriously consider model predictions of future climate change.