Aerobic methanotrophy within the pelagic redox-zone of the Gotland Deep (central Baltic Sea)

• Main Authors: O. Schmale, M. Blumenberg, K. Kießlich, G. Jakobs, C. Berndmeyer, M. Labrenz, V. Thiel, G. Rehder
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2012-12-01
• Series: Biogeosciences
• Online Access: http://www.biogeosciences.net/9/4969/2012/bg-9-4969-2012.pdf
• ISSN: 1726-4170; 1726-4189

Water column samples taken in summer 2008 from the stratified Gotland Deep (central Baltic Sea) showed a strong gradient in dissolved methane concentrations from high values in the saline deep water (max. 504 nM) to low concentrations in the less dense, brackish surface water (about 4 nM). The steep methane-gradient (between 115 and 135 m water depth) within the redox-zone, which separates the anoxic deep part from the oxygenated surface water (oxygen concentration 0–0.8 mL L<sup>−1</sup>), implies a methane consumption rate of 0.28 nM d<sup>−1</sup>. The process of microbial methane oxidation within this zone was evident by a shift of the stable carbon isotope ratio of methane between the bottom water (δ<sup>13</sup>C CH<sub>4</sub> = −82.4‰ and the redox-zone (δ<sup>13</sup>C CH<sub>4</sub> = −38.7‰. Water column samples between 80 and 119 m were studied to identify the microorganisms responsible for the methane turnover in that depth interval. Notably, methane monooxygenase gene expression analyses for water depths covering the whole redox-zone demonstrated that accordant methanotrophic activity was probably due to only one phylotype of the aerobic type I methanotrophic bacteria. An imprint of these organisms on the particular organic matter was revealed by distinctive lipid biomarkers showing bacteriohopanepolyols and lipid fatty acids characteristic for aerobic type I methanotrophs (e.g., 35-aminobacteriohopane-30,31,32,33,34-pentol), corroborating their role in aerobic methane oxidation in the redox-zone of the central Baltic Sea.