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Gas-guzzling bacteria
May 10, 2000The discovery of a new soil bacterium that consumes methane by oxidising it under atmospheric conditions is reported in Nature, out today. In well-drained soils, these methane-oxidising bacteria can reduce atmospheric levels of methane by 10 per cent.
Methane is an important greenhouse gas, and over the last 200 years its concentration in the atmosphere has doubled. But, until now, its low levels in the soil have prevented the detection of atmospheric methane-oxidising bacteria.
“This new method, using stable carbon isotopes to detect these micro-organisms, allows us to track where carbon is incorporated into bacteria at the low atmospheric levels of methane in soils,” says Dr Nisha Parekh, research co-ordinator from the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology. “Identifying these bacteria will help us to understand the process of methane oxidation in the soil, and to look for strategies for controlling and maximising the amount of atmospheric methane that is oxidised by soils.”
Using the stable isotope method will allow identification of other micro-organisms, which carry out crucial environmental tasks but are not detected by current methods. This technique can now be used to look at the reactions of these ecologically important micro-organisms to changes in the environment, as well as their potential in the degradation of pollutants such as oil.
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Methane Current Events and Methane News RSSNew material could make gases more transportable
Chemists at the University of Liverpool have developed a way of converting methane gas into a powder form in order to make it more transportable.
Methane gas levels begin to increase again
The amount of methane in Earth's atmosphere shot up in 2007, bringing to an end a period of about a decade in which atmospheric levels of the potent greenhouse gas were essentially stable, according to a team led by MIT researchers.
Classic experiments give new insight on life's origin
The building blocks of life may have emerged in volcanic eruptions on the early Earth, according to a new analysis of classic experiments performed more than fifty years ago.
More flexible method floated to produce biofuels, electricity
Researchers are proposing a new "flexible" approach to producing alternative fuels, hydrogen and electricity from municipal solid wastes, agricultural wastes, forest residues and sewage sludge that could supply up to 20 percent of transportation fuels in the United States annually.
Arctic soil reveals climate change clues
Frozen arctic soil contains nearly twice the greenhouse-gas-producing organic material as was previously estimated, according to recently published research by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists.
IMPACTS: On the Threshold of Abrupt Climate Changes
Abrupt climate change is a potential menace that hasn't received much attention. That's about to change. Through its Climate Change Prediction Program, the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) recently launched IMPACTS - Investigation of the Magnitudes and Probabilities of Abrupt Climate Transitions - a program led by William Collins of Berkeley Lab's Earth Sciences Division (ESD) that brings together six national laboratories to attack the problem of abrupt climate change, or ACC.
Curbing coal emissions alone might avert climate danger, say researchers
An ongoing rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels might be kept below harmful levels if emissions from coal are phased out within the next few decades, say researchers.
NASA study illustrates how global peak oil could impact climate
The burning of fossil fuels -- notably coal, oil and gas -- has accounted for about 80 percent of the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide since the pre-industrial era. Now, NASA researchers have identified feasible emission scenarios that could keep carbon dioxide below levels that some scientists have called dangerous for climate.
Scientists peel away the mystery behind gold's catalytic prowess
Few materials have exercised as much of a hold on the human imagination, or on human history, as has gold.
Bad sign for global warming: Thawing permafrost holds vast carbon pool
Permafrost blanketing the northern hemisphere contains more than twice the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, making it a potentially mammoth contributor to global climate change depending on how quickly it thaws.
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