Inhibition of Methylmercury and Methane Formation by Nitrous Oxide in Arctic Tundra Soil Microcosms

Lijie Zhang; Yongchao Yin; Yanchen Sun; Xujun Liang; David E. Graham; Eric M. Pierce; Frank E. Löffler; Baohua Gu

doi:10.1021/acs.est.2c09457

Inhibition of Methylmercury and Methane Formation by Nitrous Oxide in Arctic Tundra Soil Microcosms

Lijie Zhang, Yongchao Yin, Yanchen Sun, Xujun Liang, David E. Graham, Eric M. Pierce, Frank E. Löffler, Baohua Gu

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Climate warming causes permafrost thaw predicted to increase toxic methylmercury (MeHg) and greenhouse gas [i.e., methane (CH₄), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and nitrous oxide (N₂O)] formation. A microcosm incubation study with Arctic tundra soil over 145 days demonstrates that N₂O at 0.1 and 1 mM markedly inhibited microbial MeHg formation, methanogenesis, and sulfate reduction, while it slightly promoted CO₂ production. Microbial community analyses indicate that N₂O decreased the relative abundances of methanogenic archaea and microbial clades implicated in sulfate reduction and MeHg formation. Following depletion of N₂O, both MeHg formation and sulfate reduction rapidly resumed, whereas CH₄ production remained low, suggesting that N₂O affected susceptible microbial guilds differently. MeHg formation strongly coincided with sulfate reduction, supporting prior reports linking sulfate-reducing bacteria to MeHg formation in the Arctic soil. This research highlights complex biogeochemical interactions in governing MeHg and CH₄ formation and lays the foundation for future mechanistic studies for improved predictive understanding of MeHg and greenhouse gas fluxes from thawing permafrost ecosystems.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	5655-5665
Number of pages	11
Journal	Environmental Science and Technology
Volume	57
Issue number	14
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c09457
State	Published - Apr 11 2023

Funding

The authors thank Xiangping Yin for technical assistance in MeHg analyses. This research was sponsored in part by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research within the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), as part of the Critical Interfaces Science Focus Area and the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE-Arctic) projects at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ). ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with DOE. F.E.L. acknowledges funding through the Dimensions of Biodiversity program of the US National Science Foundation (award 1831599). Y.Y. acknowledges a graduate student fellowship from the China Scholarship Council. L.Z. acknowledges support from the start-up fund from the Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). The authors thank Xiangping Yin for technical assistance in MeHg analyses. This research was sponsored in part by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research within the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), as part of the Critical Interfaces Science Focus Area and the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE-Arctic) projects at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with DOE. F.E.L. acknowledges funding through the Dimensions of Biodiversity program of the US National Science Foundation (award 1831599). Y.Y. acknowledges a graduate student fellowship from the China Scholarship Council. L.Z. acknowledges support from the start-up fund from the Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT).

Funders	Funder number
DOE Public Access Plan
Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science
New Jersey Institute of Technology
National Science Foundation	1831599
U.S. Department of Energy
Biological and Environmental Research
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
UT-Battelle	DE-AC05-00OR22725
China Scholarship Council

Keywords

Arctic ecosystem
greenhouse gases
mercury methylation
methanogenesis
microbial community response
nitrous oxide
sulfate reduction

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1021/acs.est.2c09457

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title = "Inhibition of Methylmercury and Methane Formation by Nitrous Oxide in Arctic Tundra Soil Microcosms",

abstract = "Climate warming causes permafrost thaw predicted to increase toxic methylmercury (MeHg) and greenhouse gas [i.e., methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrous oxide (N2O)] formation. A microcosm incubation study with Arctic tundra soil over 145 days demonstrates that N2O at 0.1 and 1 mM markedly inhibited microbial MeHg formation, methanogenesis, and sulfate reduction, while it slightly promoted CO2 production. Microbial community analyses indicate that N2O decreased the relative abundances of methanogenic archaea and microbial clades implicated in sulfate reduction and MeHg formation. Following depletion of N2O, both MeHg formation and sulfate reduction rapidly resumed, whereas CH4 production remained low, suggesting that N2O affected susceptible microbial guilds differently. MeHg formation strongly coincided with sulfate reduction, supporting prior reports linking sulfate-reducing bacteria to MeHg formation in the Arctic soil. This research highlights complex biogeochemical interactions in governing MeHg and CH4 formation and lays the foundation for future mechanistic studies for improved predictive understanding of MeHg and greenhouse gas fluxes from thawing permafrost ecosystems.",

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AU - Yin, Yongchao

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AU - Liang, Xujun

AU - Graham, David E.

AU - Pierce, Eric M.

AU - Löffler, Frank E.

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N2 - Climate warming causes permafrost thaw predicted to increase toxic methylmercury (MeHg) and greenhouse gas [i.e., methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrous oxide (N2O)] formation. A microcosm incubation study with Arctic tundra soil over 145 days demonstrates that N2O at 0.1 and 1 mM markedly inhibited microbial MeHg formation, methanogenesis, and sulfate reduction, while it slightly promoted CO2 production. Microbial community analyses indicate that N2O decreased the relative abundances of methanogenic archaea and microbial clades implicated in sulfate reduction and MeHg formation. Following depletion of N2O, both MeHg formation and sulfate reduction rapidly resumed, whereas CH4 production remained low, suggesting that N2O affected susceptible microbial guilds differently. MeHg formation strongly coincided with sulfate reduction, supporting prior reports linking sulfate-reducing bacteria to MeHg formation in the Arctic soil. This research highlights complex biogeochemical interactions in governing MeHg and CH4 formation and lays the foundation for future mechanistic studies for improved predictive understanding of MeHg and greenhouse gas fluxes from thawing permafrost ecosystems.

AB - Climate warming causes permafrost thaw predicted to increase toxic methylmercury (MeHg) and greenhouse gas [i.e., methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrous oxide (N2O)] formation. A microcosm incubation study with Arctic tundra soil over 145 days demonstrates that N2O at 0.1 and 1 mM markedly inhibited microbial MeHg formation, methanogenesis, and sulfate reduction, while it slightly promoted CO2 production. Microbial community analyses indicate that N2O decreased the relative abundances of methanogenic archaea and microbial clades implicated in sulfate reduction and MeHg formation. Following depletion of N2O, both MeHg formation and sulfate reduction rapidly resumed, whereas CH4 production remained low, suggesting that N2O affected susceptible microbial guilds differently. MeHg formation strongly coincided with sulfate reduction, supporting prior reports linking sulfate-reducing bacteria to MeHg formation in the Arctic soil. This research highlights complex biogeochemical interactions in governing MeHg and CH4 formation and lays the foundation for future mechanistic studies for improved predictive understanding of MeHg and greenhouse gas fluxes from thawing permafrost ecosystems.

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Inhibition of Methylmercury and Methane Formation by Nitrous Oxide in Arctic Tundra Soil Microcosms

Abstract

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Keywords

UN SDGs

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