The carbon cycle modulates climate change, via the regulation of atmospheric CO(2), and it represents one of the most important services provided by ecosystems. However, considerable uncertainties remain concerning potential feedback between the biota and the climate. In particular, it is unclear how global warming will affect the metabolic balance between the photosynthetic fixation and respir...

Cyanobacteria are abundant components of the biosphere and play a crucial role in carbon sequestration and oxygen supply to the atmosphere. In addition to their photosynthetic capabilities, some cyanobacteria contribute to global ocean productivity by fixing inert atmospheric nitrogen gas (N2) into a bioavailable form. Many of these nitrogen-fixing bacteria (diazotrophs) also produce toxic meta...

The Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle (Calvin cycle) catalyzes virtually all primary productivity on Earth and is the major sink for atmospheric CO(2). A less appreciated function of CO(2) fixation is as an electron-accepting process. It is known that anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria require the Calvin cycle to accept electrons when growing with light as their sole energy source and organic substrate...

Close to redox boundaries, dark carbon fixation by chemoautotrophic bacteria may be a large contributor to overall carbon fixation. Still, little is known about the relative importance of this process in lake systems, in spite the potentially high chemoautotrophic potential of lake sediments. We compared rates of dark carbon fixation, bacterial production and oxygen consumption in sediments fro...

A physiological, unbalanced model is presented that explicitly describes growth of the marine cyanobacterium Trichodesmium sp. at the expense of N(2) (diazotrophy). The model involves the dynamics of intracellular reserves of carbon and nitrogen and allows the uncoupling of the metabolism of these elements. The results show the transient dynamics of N(2) fixation when combined nitrogen (NO(3)(-...

Surface waters of the subtropical Sargasso Sea contain dissolved inorganic phosphate (DIP) concentrations of 0.2 to 1.0 nanomolar, which are sufficiently low to result in phosphorus control of primary production. The DIP concentrations in this area (which receives high inputs of iron-rich dust from arid regions of North Africa) are one to two orders of magnitude lower than surface levels in the...

Mixed cultures of Cellulomonas sp. and Azospirillum brasilense were grown with straw or cellulose as the carbon source under conditions favoring the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. Rapid increases in cell numbers, up to 10 cells per g of substrate, were evident after 4 and 5 days of incubation at 30 degrees C for cellulose and straw, respectively. Nitrogen fixation (detected by acetylene redu...

We develop and test a theory for the relationship of atmospheric pCO2 and the solubility pump of CO2 in an abiotic ocean. The solubility pump depends on the hydrographic structure of the ocean and the degree of saturation of the waters. The depth of thermocline sets the relative volume of warm and cold waters, which sets the mean solubility of CO2 in the ocean. The degree of saturation depends ...

Despite of the downward acclimation of photosynthesis in C. convoluta, increased net photosynthesis and carbon balance can be anticipated in response to elevated atmospheric C 0 2 level. C 0 2 exchange measurement seems to be more indicative when detecting heavy metal stress than fluorescence parameters. Among these, the relative fluorescence decrease ratio (RFd690) shows damage first, suggesti...

One-pot reaction of AgSBu(t) and AgOAc in the methanol-ethanol-DMF solvent system under room temperature gave a ball-shaped Ag56 cluster and a disc-like Ag20 cluster. The formations of clusters and are templated by an in situ generated S(2-) ion from the cleavage of the S-C bond of SBu(t) and CO3(2-) ion from the fixation of atmospheric carbon dioxide, respectively. Interestingly, cluster 1 onl...