Scientists map the microbes behind a climate-regulating gas in India's busiest estuary — a first
Bentham Science PublishersPeer-Reviewed Publication
Every year, marine plants — from microscopic phytoplankton to seaweeds — produce vast quantities of a sulfur compound called dimethylsulfoniopropionate, or DMSP. When bacteria in the water and sediment break DMSP down, they release dimethylsulfide (DMS), a gas that drifts into the atmosphere and helps form clouds by seeding cloud condensation nuclei — making it one of the most climate-relevant gases produced by ocean life. Yet despite decades of research on this process in open-ocean and temperate waters, tropical estuaries have been largely overlooked. The Cochin Estuary (CE) in Kerala, southwest India, is one of the most biologically productive and heavily used coastal waterways in the country — fed by six major rivers, shaped by the monsoon, and bordered by industrial activity. A research team led by Dr. Dibu Divakaran and Dr. Doniya Elze Mathew, from the Department of Chemical Oceanography, Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), Kochi, India, set out to fill this knowledge gap by conducting the first-ever study of DMSP concentrations and the bacteria that degrade it along the entire length of the Cochin Estuary.
- Journal
- The Open Biotechnology Journal