{"id":15831,"date":"2020-08-17T14:55:43","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T21:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.darkenergybiosphere.org\/?post_type=publication&#038;p=15831"},"modified":"2020-09-02T12:22:39","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T19:22:39","slug":"widespread-energy-limitation-to-life-in-global-subseafloor-sediments","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/www.darkenergybiosphere.org\/publication\/widespread-energy-limitation-to-life-in-global-subseafloor-sediments\/","title":{"rendered":"Widespread energy limitation to life in global subseafloor sediments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Microbial cells buried in subseafloor sediments comprise a substantial portion of Earth\u2019s biosphere and control global biogeochemical cycles; however, the rate at which they use energy (i.e., power) is virtually unknown. Here, we quantify organic matter degradation and calculate the power utilization of microbial cells throughout Earth\u2019s Quaternary-age subseafloor sediments. Aerobic respiration, sulfate reduction, and methanogenesis mediate 6.9, 64.5, and 28.6% of global subseafloor organic matter degradation, respectively. The total power utilization of the subseafloor sediment biosphere is 37.3 gigawatts, less than 0.1% of the power produced in the marine photic zone. Aerobic heterotrophs use the largest share of global power (54.5%) with a median power utilization of 2.23 \u00d7 10<sup>\u221218<\/sup>\u00a0watts per cell, while sulfate reducers and methanogens use 1.08 \u00d7 10<sup>\u221219<\/sup>\u00a0and 1.50 \u00d7 10<sup>\u221220<\/sup>\u00a0watts per cell, respectively. Most subseafloor cells subsist at energy fluxes lower than have previously been shown to support life, calling into question the power limit to life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","tags":[],"publication_type":[19],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.darkenergybiosphere.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication\/15831"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.darkenergybiosphere.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.darkenergybiosphere.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/publication"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.darkenergybiosphere.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.darkenergybiosphere.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15831"},{"taxonomy":"publication_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.darkenergybiosphere.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication_type?post=15831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}