The rise and fall of methanotrophy following a deepwater oil-well blowout
The rise and fall of methanotrophy following a deepwater oil-well blowout
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DOI：
10.1038/ngeo2156
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发表时间：
2014-06-01
影响因子：
18.3
通讯作者：
Joye, S. B.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Crespo-Medina, M.;Meile, C. D.;Joye, S. B.
2010年4月墨西哥湾Macondo油井的井喷向深海注入了多达50万吨的天然气，主要是甲烷（1）。据认为，2010年7月至8月期间释放的大部分甲烷都被海洋微生物消耗了（2，3）。在这里，我们报告的空间广泛的测量甲烷浓度和氧化率在9个月后泄漏。我们表明，虽然富含天然气的深水羽流是一个短暂的特征，但在全年其余时间，水柱中甲烷的浓度仍高于背景水平。5月和6月初，深水羽流中微生物甲烷氧化速率达到峰值，与已知和新的甲烷氧化微生物丰度迅速上升相一致。在这个时候，甲烷氧化率达到了5，900 nmol l（-1）d（-1）-这是井喷之前全球远洋海洋中记录的最高速率。甲烷氧化速率在6月下旬下降到低于50 nmol l（-1）d（-1），并在今年余下的时间里继续下降。我们认为，尽管甲烷在水柱中持续存在，但6月下旬甲烷消耗量的急剧下降强调了生理和环境因素在限制墨西哥湾甲烷氧化细菌活动方面的重要作用。
The blowout of the Macondo oil well in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 injected up to 500,000 tonnes of natural gas, mainly methane, into the deep sea(1). Most of the methane released was thought to have been consumed by marine microbes between July and August 2010(2,3). Here, we report spatially extensive measurements of methane concentrations and oxidation rates in the nine months following the spill. We show that although gas- rich deepwater plumes were a short- lived feature, water column concentrations of methane remained above background levels throughout the rest of the year. Rates of microbial methane oxidation peaked in the deepwater plumes in May and early June, coincident with a rapid rise in the abundance of known and new methane- oxidizing microbes. At this time, rates of methane oxidation reached up to 5,900 nmol l(-1) d(-1)-the highest rates documented in the global pelagic ocean before the blowout(4). Rates of methane oxidation fell to less than 50 nmol l(-1) d(-1) in late June, and continued to decline throughout the remainder of the year. We suggest the precipitous drop in methane consumption in late June, despite the persistence of methane in the water column, underscores the important role that physiological and environmental factors play in constraining the activity of methane- oxidizing bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico.