Environmental Significance of Population Diversity in Methane-Oxidizing Bacteria

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ABSTRACT 97-07383 Lidstrom Environmental significance of population diversity in methane-oxidizing bacteria This project investigates different classes of methane-using bacteria to ascertain their properties in a natural ecosystem: the sediments of Lake Washington, Seattle. Newly developed environmental gene probes will be used to enumerate specific classes of methane-utilizing bacteria, and these results will be correlated with process measurements for trace gas cycling by these bacteria. Bacteria that use methane gas are important components of natural ecosystems. Methane gas is produced from the natural breakdown of dead organisms, and these bacteria consume this gas, keeping the carbon in the methane within the ecosystem. Methane gas that escapes from aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems enters the atmosphere, where it becomes a greenhouse gas with a potentially significant contribution to global warming. It is important to understand natural populations of methane-utilizing bacteria, and the details of how these bacteria cycle trace gases such as methane.