Scientists were surprised to discover that they were producing mayfries and shrimp from ancient gas.

What is the currency of all life on Earth? carbon. All living things need a carbon source to grow and replicate. In the form of organic molecules, carbon contains chemical energy that is transmitted between organisms when one eats the other.

Plants perform photosynthesis and use energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen. Animals intake carbon by consuming organic matter during their diet, such as harbibolls from plants and carnivorous animals from eating other animals. They use this carbon for energy, produce the molecules the body needs, and use carbon dioxide released by breath.

But there are other strange ways to get carbon. In our new research, we found something very surprising. River animals were eating methane-eating bacteria, which consumed fossil fuels as food.

Carbon, normally used as food by river creatures, is new in the sense that it has recently been converted from gas (carbon dioxide) to solid carbon via photosynthetic algae or trees along the bank. However, some rivers, such as the Kodamine River in Queensland, have ancient natural gas that bubbles from underground, which microbes eat. Insects such as mayflies entertain this methane-based carbon.

How do rivers usually get carbon?

A method in which photosynthesized carbon is described by plants to animals and other animals as food webs. Food networks show different feeding relationships between organisms, indicating how species depend on nutrition in complex balances.

In river food webs, carbon usually comes from one of two sources: plants and photosynthetic plants that grow in rivers (such as algae) and photosynthesis, or when organic matter such as leaves are washed in the rain or blown in the wind.

Rivers that are well connected to flood plains often get enough carbon from tree-foliage trash that can be dissolved in water or eaten directly by animals. River algae can contain high concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for growth and reproduction, providing a high quality source of carbon in animals. The main source of carbon in river animals varies depending on the general condition and individual rivers.

Carbon in Kodamine

Some microorganisms called Archaea naturally produce small amounts of methane in river oxygen-depleted sediments.

But we wanted to see Kodamine and see if we could use far more methane as food.

After forming deep underground, natural gas can slowly escape from the cracks on the earth. If the riverbed is directly above this methane-rich gas will penetrate the river.

That’s what happens on the Kodamine River in Queensland. The river rises from Brisbane on the inland Superbus Mountains, then flows inland until you meet the Darling River.

In parts of the river, methane constantly bubbles through the water column from natural gas reservoirs that have formed since the late Pleistocene.

In these river extensions, the dissolved methane concentration is very high, up to 350 times the upstream trace concentration, away from methane penetration.

I wanted to see if methane-consuming methane from natural gas is being eaten by river animals and whether the signature of carbon can be traced through the food web.

To investigate, we analyzed the carbon in the bodies of river animals such as zooplankton, insects, shrimp, shrimp, and fish, and compared it with the various carbon sources that could form food.

The results were clear: animals within reach of natural gas penetrating underground had a distinct carbon signature indicating they were eating foods derived from natural gas. In fact, for insects such as mayflies, methane-based foods account for more than half of the diet (55%).

Over time, this methane-derived food moved the food web, and even shrimp and fish appeared. Again, it contributed a significant portion of the carbon.

This methane-derived carbon was found to pass through multiple levels of local food webs. It made up almost a fifth of the carbon in shrimp (19%) and 28% of the carbon in carnivorous fish.

For river shrimp and shrimp, the leaves washed away by the river remained an important source of carbon. For Mayfly, algae remained an important food source.

However, our work shows that natural gas penetration can become the main and even dominant energy source throughout the food web. This is very surprising. It shows an unexpected connection between Earth’s geology and river creatures.

Why is this important?

Until now, researchers have focused on rivers and land plants as the main ways rivers can acquire carbon. Our research has revealed an incredibly important way for some rivers to get carbon, or methane.

Deep sea studies have better understanding of this path. Methane-eating bacteria can form the basis of the entire ecosystem that is born around the deep sea water vents of hot water.

However, up until now, we have overlooked the role that methane-eating bacteria can play in rivers. This knowledge allows you to measure ecosystem productivity and see how food networks work so that you can better track the carbon flow in the river.

This article will be republished from the conversation under a Creative Commons license. Please read the original article. This article will be republished from the conversation under a Creative Commons license. Please read the original article.