Dark carbon fixation: an important process in lake sediments.
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 23776549.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0065813 and PMC identifier 3679121.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Close to redox boundaries, dark carbon fixation by chemoautotrophic bacteria may be a large contributor to overall carbon fixation. Still, little is known about the relative importance of this process in lake systems, in spite the potentially high chemoautotrophic potential of lake sediments. We compared rates of dark carbon fixation, bacterial production and oxygen consumption in sediments from four Swedish boreal and seven tropical Brazilian lakes. Rates were highly variable and dark carbon fixation amounted up to 80% of the total heterotrophic bacterial production. The results indicate that non-photosynthetic carbon fixation can represent a substantial contribution to bacterial biomass production, especially in sediments with low organic matter content.
Medical subject headings
- Carbon
- Carbon Cycle
- Geologic Sediments