Open AccessMerging isotopes and community genomics in a siliceous sinter‐depositing hot spring
Author(s) -
Havig Jeff R.,
Raymond Jason,
MeyerDombard D'Arcy R.,
Zolotova Natalya,
Shock Everett L.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: biogeosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2010jg001415
Subject(s) - hot spring , hydrothermal circulation , isotopes of carbon , ecosystem , nitrogen , carbon fibers , environmental science , thermophile , chemosynthesis , isotopes of nitrogen , hydrothermal vent , geology , environmental chemistry , ecology , chemistry , biology , materials science , paleontology , total organic carbon , organic chemistry , composite number , bacteria , composite material
Thermophilic microbes in hydrothermal ecosystems have multiple metabolic strategies for taking up carbon and nitrogen, which may result in distinct stable isotopic compositions of C and N in living biomass, as well as other biosignatures that accumulate in the geologic record. Biofilms from “Bison Pool” at Yellowstone National Park display large variations in carbon and nitrogen isotopic values as a function of downstream sampling and illustrate the presence of large shifts in ecological functions as temperature decreases. This is the first study to couple isotopic data with community genomic analysis to predict dominant carbon fixation pathways that create hydrothermal biofilm signatures. The results also suggest nitrogen limitation through the chemotrophic zone and nitrogen fixation in the lower‐temperature phototrophic zone.