Biogeochemistry articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Atmospheric CO2 is governed by CO2 gains (e.g., via Southern Ocean outgassing) and losses (e.g., via North Atlantic absorption). Using a novel method to estimate air–sea CO2 exchange signals, the authors show that North Atlantic CO2 absorption became more efficient and contributed to lowering atmospheric CO2 during ice ages.

    • J. Yu
    • , L. Menviel
    •  & A. P. Roberts

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rising anthropogenic CO2 levels in the atmosphere are resulting in ocean acidification which may impact coral growth rates. Here, the authors quantify the relationship between water depth and δ13C compositions of South Pacific corals from the pre-industrial era, and their results should lead to improvements in the precision of sea level reconstructions using fossil corals.

    • Braddock K. Linsley
    • , Robert B. Dunbar
    •  & Gerard M. Wellington

  • Article
    | Open Access

    At the CarbFix experimental site in Iceland, artificial removal of CO2 from the Earth’s atmosphere is investigated. The authors here propose a new method based on isotope fractionation calculations to estimate the efficiency of CO2 sequestration into calcite in basaltic groundwater settings.

    • Philip A. E. Pogge von Strandmann
    • , Kevin W. Burton
    •  & Sigurður R. Gislason

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The biological pump is the key ecological component that links carbon and energy flow from oceanic surface waters to the abyss. Here the authors show that the elemental composition and energy content of sinking particulate matter can be used to develop a more comprehensive understanding of energy flow networks in the sea.

    • Eric Grabowski
    • , Ricardo M. Letelier
    •  & David M. Karl

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There is a growing consensus that groundwater inflow supplies most of the C load to streams, but the sources and timescales generating this flux are still unknown. Here, the authors demonstrate that soil respiration, derived from current forest carbon fixation, fuels stream CO2 emissions.

    • A. Campeau
    • , K. Bishop
    •  & M. B. Wallin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea are major producers of the gases nitrous oxide and nitric oxide. Here, Kits et al. show that a complete ammonia-oxidizing (comammox) bacterium emits nitrous oxide at levels that are comparable to those produced by ammonia-oxidizing archaea.

    • K. Dimitri Kits
    • , Man-Young Jung
    •  & Holger Daims

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Previously, little direct evidence has been found to link large volcanic eruption events with the end-Permian mass extinction. Here, the authors find that mercury enrichment and isotope records in marine sections across the globe can be linked to increased volcanic activity, which resulted in the protracted Permian-Triassic biocrisis

    • Jun Shen
    • , Jiubin Chen
    •  & Noah J. Planavsky

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Western Siberia Lowland (WSL) is the world’s largest frozen peatland complex, however carbon emissions (CO2+CH4) from lakes in this region remain unknown. Here, the authors sample 76 lakes and show high carbon emissions from lakes across all permafrost zones in the WSL.

    • S. Serikova
    • , O. S. Pokrovsky
    •  & J. Karlsson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nitrogen pollution is influenced by many stressors, and their combined effects are poorly constrained. Here the authors used a global land biosphere model to analyse the past two and a half centuries of land N pollution budgets and fluxes to the ocean and atmosphere and found that land sequesters 11% of global annual reactive N inputs.

    • Minjin Lee
    • , Elena Shevliakova
    •  & P. C. D. Milly

  • Article
    | Open Access

    .Agricultural intensification and a growing human population are likely to increase the eutrophication of lakes and impoundments over the next century.  Here, the authors show that this enhanced eutrophication will substantially increase emissions of methane (+ 30–90%), a potent greenhouse gas, from these systems over the next century.

    • Jake J. Beaulieu
    • , Tonya DelSontro
    •  & John A. Downing

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The potential contribution of high altitude permafrost as a climate feedback is unknown. Here the authors show seven years of sustained carbon emissions from snow-scoured alpine tundra including respiration of older carbon substrate from solifluction lobes associated with permafrost during the winter.

    • John F. Knowles
    • , Peter D. Blanken
    •  & Mark W. Williams

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Calcium carbonates (CaCO3) often accumulate in mangrove and seagrass sediments. Here the authors conducted a meta-analysis of inorganic carbon burial rates in mangrove and seagrass sediments and found that CaCO3 burial contributes to Blue Carbon ecosystems’ capacity to offset sea-level rise without undermining the role as CO2 sinks.

    • V. Saderne
    • , N. R. Geraldi
    •  & C. M. Duarte

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It remains unclear how urban emissions influence the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA), including in the Amazon forest. Here, the authors simulate the formation of SOAs in the Amazon using a high-resolution regional chemical transport model. They find that urban emissions of NOx from Manaus enhance the production of biogenic SOA by 60–200%.

    • Manish Shrivastava
    • , Meinrat O. Andreae
    •  & Chun Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Particulate organic carbon (POC) fluxes in the oceans, particularly the Southern Ocean, remain poorly constrained. Here the authors modelled the potential underestimated flux of POC originating from Antarctic krill and discovered a seasonal krill faecal pellet export flux of 0.039 GT C yr-1 across the marginal ice zone (MIZ) of the Southern Ocean.

    • A. Belcher
    • , S. A. Henson
    •  & G. A. Tarling

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The terrestrial biosphere absorbs a large fraction of emitted CO2, and thus, plays a critical role in climate change projections. Here, the authors use satellite leaf area and in-situ CO2 measurements to show that most Earth system models largely underestimate photosynthetic carbon fixation in high latitudes.

    • Alexander J. Winkler
    • , Ranga B. Myneni
    •  & Victor Brovkin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The geographical distribution and controlling factors of marine N2 fixation are understudied. Here the authors find increasing rates of N2 fixation from the Sargasso Sea to the coastal waters of North America, driven primarily by cyanobacterial diazotrophs and best correlated with phosphorus availability and chlorophyll-a concentrations.

    • Weiyi Tang
    • , Seaver Wang
    •  & Nicolas Cassar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The nature of the microbial reactions occurring during cap rock formation is poorly understood. Here the authors find that sulfur and carbon isotope signatures indicate sulfate-dependent anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) as a primary driver of cap rock carbonate formation.

    • K. H. Caesar
    • , J. R. Kyle
    •  & S. J. Loyd

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Historical and future trends in net primary productivity (NPP) and its sensitivity to global change are largely unknown because of the lack of long-term, high-resolution data. Here the authors show that tree-ring isotopes can be used for inferring interannual variability and long-term changes in NPP.

    • Mathieu Levesque
    • , Laia Andreu-Hayles
    •  & Neil Pederson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Abandoned and degraded agricultural lands undergo ecological succession that sequesters atmospheric CO2 as soil carbon, but at low rates. Here the authors show that restoration of high plant diversity provides a greenhouse gas benefit by greatly increasing the rate of soil carbon sequestration on such lands.

    • Yi Yang
    • , David Tilman
    •  & Clarence Lehman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Oxidation of magnetite has broad implications in geochemistry and environmental science, but its reaction mechanisms are not fully understood yet. Here the authors use Bragg coherent diffractive imaging to show oxidative dissolution of magnetite inducing a rich array of strain and defect structures.

    • Ke Yuan
    • , Sang Soo Lee
    •  & Paul Fenter

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fire-derived organic matter (OM) is present throughout the environment, and its impact on nutrient cycling remains poorly understood. Here, the authors show that this pyrogenic OM can retain large quantities of ammonia through covalent bond formation, thereby exerting an important control on nitrogen cycling.

    • Rachel Hestrin
    • , Dorisel Torres-Rojas
    •  & Johannes Lehmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ferromanganese minerals are abundant in marine environments but the extent of these minerals in subseafloor sediments remains unknown. Here the authors find abundant ferromanganese microparticles in oxic pelagic clays, accounting for 14–16% of the new estimate of the global manganese budget (9.2–47.4 Tt).

    • Go-Ichiro Uramoto
    • , Yuki Morono
    •  & Fumio Inagaki

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It remains unclear when and why the world’s oceans, once largely occupied by bacteria, became dominated by photosynthetic algae. Here, using fossil lipids in million year old rocks, the authors show that predation after the Snowball Earth glaciations created the opportunity for a global shift to algal ecosystems.

    • Lennart M. van Maldegem
    • , Pierre Sansjofre
    •  & Christian Hallmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The underlying mechanisms structuring dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition and reactivity in rivers remain poorly quantified. Here, the authors pair mass spectrometry and fluorescence spectroscopy to show that hydrology and river geomorphology both shape molecular patterns in DOM composition.

    • Laurel M. Lynch
    • , Nicholas A. Sutfin
    •  & Matthew D. Wallenstein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Changes in S-isotope ratios over time provide clues to understanding the co-evolution of Earth and its biosphere. Here the authors determine the isotope effect of the first reductive enzyme in the sulfate respiration pathway and reinterpret sedimentary S-isotope records based on this biochemical constraint.

    • Min Sub Sim
    • , Hideaki Ogata
    •  & Shawn E. McGlynn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fires cause large perturbations to terrestrial carbon cycle through direct carbon emissions. Here the authors combine several models and measurement datasets and show that fires can indirectly worsen the carbon loss through the net negative impacts on ecosystem productivity from fire ozone and aerosols.

    • Xu Yue
    •  & Nadine Unger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Particulate optical backscattering is key to studying the oceanic carbon pump though it remains unclear what particles are detected. Here the authors show that complex particles larger than 1 µm help reproduce all the measured backscattering across the Atlantic Ocean and explain the majority of the signal.

    • Emanuele Organelli
    • , Giorgio Dall’Olmo
    •  & Annick Bricaud

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The impacts of climate change on summer carbon cycling in the northern hemisphere remain poorly resolved. Here the authors use atmospheric CO2 records from Point Barrow (Alaska) to show that summer CO2 drawdown is significantly negatively correlated with terrestrial temperature north of 50°N between 1979–2012.

    • Tao Wang
    • , Dan Liu
    •  & Yutong Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Short-lived natural bromocarbons, which contribute to ozone depletion in the atmosphere, are believed to be produced through light-driven processes, mainly in oceans. Here the authors present bromocarbon measurements in snow, sea ice, and air during polar winter that show an unexpected source of bromine to the polar atmosphere during periods of no sunlight.

    • Katarina Abrahamsson
    • , Anna Granfors
    •  & Alfonso Saiz-Lopez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Day-night cycles in the biochemical composition of phytoplankton remain poorly understood. Here, Becker et al. use lipidomic and transcriptomic data from the North Pacific subtropical gyre to describe a daily cycle of production and consumption of energy-rich lipids by eukaryotic phytoplankton.

    • Kevin W. Becker
    • , James R. Collins
    •  & Benjamin A. S. Van Mooy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The role of thermochemical oxidation of methane (TOM) by high-valence metal oxides as a potential methane sink remains poorly understood. Here, the authors present evidence of TOM induced by Mn(Fe) oxides in a sedimentary basin, which yields calcite with extremely negative δ13C values (−70 to −22.5‰, VPDB).

    • Wen-Xuan Hu
    • , Xun Kang
    •  & Hai-Guang Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Thermodynamic calculations suggest that condensed carbonaceous matter should be the dominant product of abiotic organic synthesis during serpentinization of the oceanic crust at Mid-Ocean Ridges. Here the authors report natural occurrences of such carbonaceous matter formed during low temperature alteration.

    • Marie Catherine Sforna
    • , Daniele Brunelli
    •  & Bénédicte Ménez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Indian Ocean provides a unique environmental gradient to test underlying drivers of the elemental composition of particulate organic matter. Here the authors show that nutrient supply, over temperature and biodiversity changes, controls regional variation of elemental ratios in the tropical Indian Ocean.

    • Catherine A. Garcia
    • , Steven E. Baer
    •  & Adam C. Martiny

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Salt particles in the Amazon basin are typically attributed to marine aerosols transported from the Atlantic Ocean. Here the authors show the potential importance of fungal spores as a source of sodium-salt particles in the Amazon rainforest.

    • Swarup China
    • , Susannah M. Burrows
    •  & Alexander Laskin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reduction of gaseous Hg(II) compounds drives atmospheric mercury wet and dry deposition to Earth surface ecosystems. Global Hg models assume this reduction takes place in clouds. Here the authors report a new gas-phase Hg photochemical mechanism that changes atmospheric mercury lifetime and its deposition to the surface.

    • Alfonso Saiz-Lopez
    • , Sebastian P. Sitkiewicz
    •  & Jeroen E. Sonke

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent studies have reported preservation of proteinaceous soft tissues within dinosaur bones. Here, Wiemann et al. combine analyses of fossil vertebrate tissues and experimentally matured modern samples to elucidate the mechanism of soft tissue preservation and the environments that favor it.

    • Jasmina Wiemann
    • , Matteo Fabbri
    •  & Derek E. G. Briggs

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Marine sedimentary records and the proxies within play a central role in unlocking our understanding of past climates, yet interpreting the signals they contain can be complex. Here, the authors reveal and discuss the complex effects of hydrodynamics on carbon accumulation in the sediments off the Iberian margin.

    • Clayton R. Magill
    • , Blanca Ausín
    •  & Timothy I. Eglinton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Scotia Sea, located in the Southern Ocean, is a major hotspot for the drawdown of atmospheric CO2. Here, the authors show that the strength of the carbonate counter pump doubles when shelled pteropods dominate the plankton calcifier community, counteracting the amount of CO2 transferred to the deep ocean.

    • C. Manno
    • , F. Giglio
    •  & G. A. Tarling

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Red beds contain reduction spheroids that formed underground millions of years ago and whose origin remains poorly constrained. Here the authors use uranium isotopes to identify ancient fingerprints of bacteria in these features, confirming that they were produced by subsurface life in the geological past.

    • Sean McMahon
    • , Ashleigh v. S. Hood
    •  & Stephen Bowden

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Necroptotic cells activate MLKL and release inflammatory DAMPs, although the underlying regulatory mechanisms of this process are poorly understood. Here, Murai et al. develop a necroptosis-specific FRET sensor (SMART) that monitors MLKL membrane translocation to identify two modes of DAMP release.

    • Shin Murai
    • , Yoshifumi Yamaguchi
    •  & Hiroyasu Nakano

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The GEOCARBSULF model provides the most detailed reconstructions of Phanerozoic O2, but its predictions are not supported by geochemical data. Here, a GEOCARBSULF model rebuilt from first principles, with the addition of an amended sulphur cycle and the latest isotope records, supports a Paleozoic Oxygenation Event.

    • Alexander J. Krause
    • , Benjamin J. W. Mills
    •  & Simon W. Poulton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Soil nitrogen availability may alter carbon dynamics after permafrost thaw, but experimental evidence for this carbon-nitrogen interaction is still lacking. Here the authors show that elevated post-thaw nitrogen availability inhibits soil carbon release through its enhancement in microbial metabolic efficiency.

    • Leiyi Chen
    • , Li Liu
    •  & Yuanhe Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Polynyas potentially played a role in sustaining marine life during the last glacial, yet their presence and importance remains equivocal. This multi-proxy study reconstructs a corridor of polynyas in the Nordic Seas during the last glacial maximum, and reveals a strong association with biological productivity.

    • Jochen Knies
    • , Denizcan Köseoğlu
    •  & Simon T. Belt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Peatlands recovering from acidification release dissolved organic carbon (DOC), but no biological role has yet been identified in this process. Here, the authors show that pH increases enhance phenol oxidase activity, pore-water DOC concentrations and lead to greater abundances in Actinobacteria and fungi.

    • Hojeong Kang
    • , Min Jung Kwon
    •  & Chris Freeman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Permafrost-derived carbon (C) may have been an additional source of greenhouse gases during the last glacial-interglacial transition. Here the authors show that ancient C from degrading permafrost was mobilised during phases of rapid sea-level rise, partially explaining changes in atmospheric CO2 and ∆14C.

    • Maria Winterfeld
    • , Gesine Mollenhauer
    •  & Ralf Tiedemann

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