Microbial Dynamics in High Carbon Dioxide Environments

Microbial communities exposed to elevated carbon dioxide concentrations display distinct compositional and functional adaptations that influence global carbon cycling and the stability of geological carbon storage. In natural high-CO₂ habitats—ranging from shallow mofette soils to deep subsurface aquifers—acidification, altered redox conditions and the availability of inorganic substrates drive shifts in community diversity and metabolic pathways. Chemolithoautotrophic bacteria and archaea capable of fixing CO₂ via the acetyl-CoA pathway or producing methane through hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis often become dominant. Rare biosphere taxa, such as specific methanogenic Archaea and sulfate-reducing bacteria, can emerge under sustained high-CO₂ fluxes, with sediment heterogeneity and mineral composition further modulating microbial activity. Insights from these systems inform risk assessment of CO₂ leakage, the design of biocatalytic processes for CO₂ conversion, and strategies for monitoring the integrity of carbon capture and storage (CCS) sites.

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Microbial Dynamics in High Carbon Dioxide Environments publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in microbial dynamics in high carbon dioxide environments across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Chemolithoautotrophy: Metabolic process in which microorganisms derive energy and carbon from inorganic compounds, such as H₂ and CO₂.

Methanogenesis: Anaerobic biochemical pathway by which archaea convert CO₂ and H₂ into methane.

Mofette: Geological feature characterised by the emission of CO₂-rich gas from subsurface reservoirs into soils or the atmosphere.

Metagenome-Assembled Genome (MAG): Genome reconstructed from environmental sequencing reads without prior cultivation.

16S rRNA Gene Sequencing: Molecular technique for characterising microbial community composition based on ribosomal RNA gene fragments.

References

1. Enrichment of rare methanogenic Archaea shows their important ecological role in natural high-CO2 terrestrial subsurface environments. Frontiers in Microbiology (2023).
2. Microbiomes in Soils Exposed to Naturally High Concentrations of CO2 (Bossoleto Mofette Tuscany, Italy). Frontiers in Microbiology (2019).
3. Microbial Signatures in Deep CO2-Saturated Miocene Sediments of the Active Hartoušov Mofette System (NW Czech Republic). Frontiers in Microbiology (2020).