Temperature impacts differentially on the methanogenic food web of cellulose-supplemented peatland soil

authored by

Oliver Schmidt, Marcus A. Horn, Steffen Kolb, Harold L. Drake

Abstract

The impact of temperature on the largely unresolved intermediary ecosystem metabolism and associated unknown microbiota that link cellulose degradation and methane production in soils of a moderately acidic (pH 4.5) fen was investigated. Supplemental [

¹³C]cellulose stimulated the accumulation of propionate, acetate and carbon dioxide as well as initial methane production in anoxic peat soil slurries at 15°C and 5°C. Accumulation of organic acids at 15°C was twice as fast as that at 5°C. 16S rRNA [

¹³C]cellulose stable isotope probing identified novel unclassified Bacteria (79% identity to the next cultured relative Fibrobacter succinogenes), unclassified Bacteroidetes (89% identity to Prolixibacter bellariivorans), Porphyromonadaceae, Acidobacteriaceae and Ruminococcaceae as main anaerobic degraders of cellulose-derived carbon at both 15°C and 5°C. Holophagaceae and Spirochaetaceae were more abundant at 15°C. Clostridiaceae dominated the degradation of cellulose-derived carbon only at 5°C. Methanosarcina was the dominant methanogenic taxa at both 15°C and 5°C. Relative abundance of Methanocella increased at 15°C whereas that of Methanoregula and Methanosaeta increased at 5°C. Thaumarchaeota closely related to Nitrosotalea (presently not known to grow anaerobically) were abundant at 5°C but absent at 15°C indicating that Nitrosotalea sp. might be capable of anaerobic growth at low temperatures in peat.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Microbiology

Type

Article

Journal

Environmental microbiology

Volume

Pages

720-734

No. of pages

ISSN

1462-2912

Publication date

01.03.2015

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Microbiology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.12507 (Access: Closed)