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The part about "The bacteria's ability to oxidise methane and carbon dioxide is of particular interest." -- which seems to mean "ability to oxidise carbon dioxi
by zeotroph 10y ago
The part about "The bacteria's ability to oxidise methane and carbon dioxide is of particular interest." -- which seems to mean "ability to oxidise carbon dioxide" -- can't be right. Maybe the meaning is methane to CO2?
How can you still extract energy from a O=C=O molecule without using something like flourine? On the other hand, how does the CO2 get back into the carbon cycle? Do the organisms use an endothermic process to get the carbon back?
And has the 10% oxygen content been there since the cave was opened? Or was this the first mass extinction? While the water does not reach the cave, is there a way for air to make it through? I would expect no oxygen otherwise.
- tomp 10y agoYeah, that was a glaring error by the author of the article... However, upon re-reading, I noticed this sentence a few paragraphs above: > "The bacteria get all of their carbon from just one source, be it methane or carbon dioxide," So I'm guessing the author really wanted to say "the bacteria's ability to fix carbon from methane and carbon dioxide is of particular interest". I'm guessing that the full cycle is the same as the above-ground cycle of photosynthesis (CO2 + H2O + energy => O2 + food) and respiration (O2 + food => CO2 + H2O), except replacing photosynthesis by chemosynthesis.
- tim333 10y agoI think it should be: The bacteria's ability to oxidise stuff into methane and carbon dioxide is of particular interest. (From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movile_Cave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movile_Cave the cave is full of co2 and methane).
- gus_massa 10y agoI also thought it was an error, but Wikipedia says: 12 H2S + 6 CO2 -> C6H12O6 (=carbohydrate) + 6 H2O + 12 S https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemosynthesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemosynthesis