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Bacterial connections have the potential to have a major impact on the planet's climate
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
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Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (USA) have discovered that bacterial relationships can have a significant impact on the planet's climate.
In the ocean, bacteria stick to tiny carbon-rich particles that sink to the depths – mostly tiny marine plants that have given up the ghost, or the excrement of zooplankton that have feasted on the microflora. Biogeochemists Laura Hmelo, Benjamin Van Moy, and Tracy Mincer have discovered that the bacteria send out chemical signals to detect whether other bacteria are nearby. If there are enough nearby, they begin to secrete enzymes en masse that break down the carbon-containing molecules of these particles into more digestible pieces. It has been suggested that the coordinated production of enzymes is very beneficial to the bacteria living on these sinking particles, and now they have found the first evidence that this is indeed the case.
"It doesn't often occur to us that bacteria are capable of making group decisions, but it's true," says Ms. Khmelo, now at Washington State University.
The carbon in these particles comes from atmospheric carbon dioxide. Communication between bacteria can lead to the release of carbon at shallower depths. This means that less carbon ends up on the bottom, where it is less easily released back into the atmosphere. This is the first evidence that bacterial communication plays an important role in the Earth's carbon cycle.
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