Natural and Anthropogenic Oil and Gas Contribution to Geo-Microbial Carbon Cycling

Dear Colleagues,

We know that geomicrobial carbon cycling influences the health of an environment. For example, on the ocean floor, in the presence of natural oil seeps, there can be active cycling of oil that can be a primary component of the carbon budget through the food chain. A valuable understanding of this part of ocean carbon cycling is what oil contributes to the shallow sediment and overlying water column carbon budget, as well as how much of this carbon is transferred into higher trophic levels and the respired carbon that transitions through the water column and porewater, dissolving inorganic carbon and carbon dioxide into precipitated carbonate. Another important question is how this varies through ocean temperature and pressure profiles from the Arctic to the Antarctic and in between. Anthropogenic oil sources can also make a significant contribution to carbon cycling in different ecosystems. There is a realization that natural attenuation of oil spills can be a dominant part of a remediation plan. However, success in environmental restoration does vary between ecosystems and is partially a function of the geomicrobial impact on the ecosystem. With high anthropogenic carbon loading, coupled with nutrient additions, hypoxia in the ecosystems will negatively impact the entire ecosystem. A thorough understanding of geomicrobial oil cycling will contribute to the assessment of oil spill natural attenuation and protocol for enhancing attenuation. This Special Issue in Ecologies invites contributions from geomicrobial carbon cycling, focusing on natural and anthropogenic oil cycling in shallow to aquatic ecosystems through tropical to polar climates.

Prof. Dr. Richard Coffin
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Ecologies is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Natural oil
• Anthropogenic oil
• Geomicrobial carbon cycling
• Shallow sediment
• Water column
• Tropical ecosystems
• Polar ecosystems