When Friederike Gründger and her team cracked open the long, heavy cylinders of black sediment drawn from the ocean floor, they were surprised to find pockets of yellowish-green slime buried within two of the samples.
When Friederike Gründger and her team cracked open the long, heavy cylinders of black sediment drawn from the ocean floor, they were surprised to find pockets of yellowish-green slime buried within two of the samples. The average person may not consider the appearance of such unseemly goo as a cause for celebration, but the biologists knew that this slime, otherwise known as biofilm, was a highly unusual find in this particular location, and could even play a role in terms of climate change.
This group from the Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrates, Environment, and Climate (CAGE) at UiT The Arctic University of Norway set out to investigate the microscopic and macroscopic organisms living in or around cold seep sites such as Gas Hydrate Pingos (GHP) in the Svalbard area. These dome-like, geological structures leak methane gas into the ocean water with the potential to travel to the surface and enter our atmosphere, possibly advancing climate change.
Underwater organisms thrive on deadly greenhouse gas
Some of the organisms living at these sites are relevant to this process, as they have adapted to live off the methane and convert it into harmless compounds such as carbonate and water. This activity is called anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) and has a global impact on the diffusion of underwater methane. The most relevant entities contributing to this process are methanotrophic archaea (ANME -1, -2, and -3) and sulphate-reducing bacterial (SRB), two microorganisms usually found living co-dependently in colonies. It is still unclear, however, where they can be reliably found and how involved they are in such methane control.
Read more at CAGE - Center for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Climate and Environment
Photo Credit: PublicDomainPictures via Pixabay
