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Microbially driven organic carbon cycling at the land-sea interface: Advances and an integrated study framework
Quanrui Chen1, Kai Tang1, Zhili He2
1Innovation Research Center for Carbon Neutralization, State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Fujian Key Laboratory of Marine Carbon Sequestration, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences Xiamen University Xiamen China.
Mlife
|July 3, 2026
Summary
Microbes at the land-sea interface control carbon cycling through interconnected pumps. Understanding these microbial processes is key to predicting long-term carbon sequestration and climate change impacts.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Microbiology
- Biogeochemistry
- Carbon Cycling
Background:
- The land-sea interface is critical for global biogeochemical cycles, with microorganisms driving carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur transformations.
- Microbial communities significantly influence the mobilization, transformation, and retention of organic carbon at these interfaces.
Purpose of the Study:
- To synthesize research on microbial roles in carbon cycling at land-sea interfaces.
- To elucidate how microbial structure and function impact organic carbon dynamics.
- To emphasize the interplay of coupled biogeochemical cycles and climate change.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing research from representative land-sea interfaces.
- Analysis of microbial community structure and metabolic functions.
- Examination of carbon pump interactions and integrated study frameworks.
Main Results:
- Microbial communities are central to organic carbon processing at land-sea interfaces.
- Synergistic interactions exist among marine, soil, and mineral-associated carbon pumps (the land-sea MCP framework).
- Coupled biogeochemical cycles and climate change significantly affect carbon dynamics.
Conclusions:
- An integrated study framework, using parameters like carbon and bacterial growth efficiency, is proposed.
- This framework aims to link microbial processes to long-term carbon sequestration.
- Further research is needed to fully understand and predict carbon sequestration at land-sea interfaces.
Keywords:
carbon cycledissolved organic carbonland−sea interfacemicrobial carbon pumpmicrobial processesMore Related Videos
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