Refractory humic-like dissolved organic matter fuels microbial communities in deep energy-limiting marine sediments.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Refractory humic-like dissolved organic matter fuels microbial communities in deep energy-limiting marine sediments.
Authors: Chen, Yunru1 (AUTHOR), Sui, Weikang2 (AUTHOR), Wang, Jing2 (AUTHOR), He, Ding3,4 (AUTHOR), Dong, Liang2 (AUTHOR), Waniek, Joanna J.5 (AUTHOR), Wang, Fengping1,2,6 (AUTHOR) fengpingw@sjtu.edu.cn
Source: SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences. Aug2023, Vol. 66 Issue 8, p1738-1756. 19p.
Subjects: Marine sediments, Coastal sediments, Microbial communities, Dissolved organic matter, Organic compounds, Carbon cycle, Refractory materials
Abstract: Humic-like dissolved organic matter (DOM), usually regarded as refractory, is a major component of DOM in marine sediment pore waters. However, its bio-reactivity remains poorly explored in natural environments, which makes its roles in supporting subsurface microbial communities and regulating long-term carbon cycling elusive. Here, the bio-reactivity of humic-like DOM was evaluated by modeled reaction rates together with its interactions with microbial communities in five sediment cores collected from the eutrophic Pearl River Estuary to the oligotrophic deep-sea basin in the northern South China Sea. We revealed contrasting relationships between humic-like DOM and microbes in the coastal and deep-sea sediments. In eutrophic coastal sediments, specific microbial groups enriched in the deep layers co-varied with humic-like DOM, while most microbial groups were significantly correlated with protein-like DOM, microbial transformation of which likely resulted in the production of humic-like DOM. On the contrary, in energy-limiting deep-sea sediments, over 70% of the microbial groups were found closely correlated with humic-like DOM, a net consumption of which was demonstrated in deep layers. The consumption of humic-like DOM in deep-sea sediments reduced its total production flux in the uppermost ~5-meter layer to about one-tenth of that in coastal sediments, which could consequently decrease the refractory DOM flux to the overlying seawater and influence long-term oceanic carbon cycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Engineering Source
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