Greenhouse gases

microbes, pathways and environmental controls

Microbes play key roles in the production and consumption of the climate-relevant greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide. However, large open questions remain about the pathways involved and how these are controlled by microbial interactions. At Nordcee, we combine biogeochemical, microbiological and biomolecular approaches to unravel the mechanisms of methane and nitrous oxide cycling in aquatic systems. This work is critical to allow predictive modeling of how methane and nitrous oxide emissions will respond to global change. The investigations complement those on CO2 and the carbon cycle described in Sustainability and biotechnology and Microbes as drivers of global element cycles.

KEY RESEARCH AREAS

Rates, pathways & regulation
Microbial diversity, physiology & cultivation
In situ incubation technology
Methane
Nitrous oxide
Interspecies interactions

FUNDERS and PROJECTS (last 5 years)

ERC: RECLESS
DFF: Anaerobic methane oxidation - an overlooked barrier to methane emissions from freshwater systems
DFF: Danish coastal waters as hotbeds of nitrous oxide emission
CARLSBERG: Microbial methane cycling under oxygen depletion

ERC: MIMET
DFF Project 1 green transition: Danish coastal waters as hotbeds of nitrous oxide emission – a mechanistic assessment
DFF Project 2: Seabed methane cycling by reversible electron transfer between archaea and bacteria
DFF Project 1: Exploring the oceanic sink for the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O)
ERC: NOVAMOX
CARLSBERG: Disentangling microbial sources of nitrous oxide through dual-isotope tracing and multi-collector IRMS
DFF MOBILEX: Electric interspecies interactions
DFF: Recycling versus loss in the marine N-cycle

PERSONNEL (A-Z)

Jacob BRUUN JØRGENSEN, PhD student (Methane cycle, Methane emission in freshwater)
Laura BRISTOW, Adjunct Associate Professor (Methane & nitrous oxide biogeochemistry, in situ technology)
Tetyana GILEVSKA, Postdoc (methane consumption, methanol production from dark oxygen)
Karina HERNÁNDEZ GARCÍA, PhD student (Methane production and syntrophic interactions)
Elisa HERNANDEZ-MAGANA, Postdoc (Ecophysiology)
Mats JACOBSEN, PhD student (Carbon biogeochemistry, Carbon Sequestration, and technology)
Danijel JOVICIC, Ph.D. student (Methane cycling; Mineral-microbe interactions; Ecophysiology)
Satoshi KAWAICHI, Staff Scientist/ATAP (Methane production, microbe-mineral interactions)
Rhitu KOTOKY, Postdoc (Methane production, microbial inetractions)
Beate KRAFT, Associate Professor (Ecophysiology)
Carolin LOESCHER, Associate Professor (N/ C cycle, nitrous oxide, ocean deoxygenation, ocean acidification, molecular ecology)
Christian Furbo REEDER, Visiting fellow (Nitrogen fixation; greenhouse gases)
Amelia-Elena ROTARU, Professor (Methane cycling; Mineral-microbe interactions; Ecophysiology)
Bo THAMDRUP, Professor (Methane & nitrous oxide; biogeochemistry and microbial ecology)
Alexander TREUSCH, Associate Professor (greenhouse gases released from flooded soils)
Peihang XU, Postdoc (Environmental microbiology, microbial N2O and CH4 cycling)

Image rights: Don Canfield