Yellowstone Hot Springs Methane Oxidation Rates and Microbial Data

Yellowstone National Park data from 61 hot springs surveys biological methane oxidation in extreme geothermal environments. The dataset includes geochemical measurements like pH (1.9–9.0) and temperature (28.6–92.2 °C), alongside microbial community data from 16S rRNA sequencing. It was created by Alta E. G. Howells and published in 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyze the correlation between methane oxidation rates (MOR) and geochemical variables like CH4/O2 and CH4/NH3 concentration ratios.
• Model the distribution of methanotroph phylotypes, such as Verrucomicrobia (S-BQ2-57) and Methylocystaceae, across the pH and temperature gradients.
• Investigate potential competitive inhibition by identifying sites dominated by archaeal ammonia oxidizers like Candidatus Nitrosocaldus where MOR is lower.
• Identify hot springs with significant methane oxidation but no known methanotrophs, such as the site at 89.9 °C, to flag data for novel thermophilic lineage discovery.

Strengths

• Data spans 61 distinct hot spring sites, providing a broad survey of hydrothermal ecosystems.
• Includes measurements across extreme environmental gradients: pH from 1.9 to 9.0 and temperatures from 28.6 to 92.2 °C.
• Integrates multiple data types: geochemical analyses, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, metagenomics, and 14CH4 microcosm assays.

Limitations

• The dataset is small in file size (25.6 KB), indicating limited raw data or highly summarized results, not the full underlying sequencing data.
• Specific row counts and column structures are unknown, limiting precise assessment of its volume and feature set for direct analysis.
• Focus is exclusively on Yellowstone National Park, limiting geographic generalizability to other hydrothermal systems.

Provenance

Source

Alta E. G. Howells via figshare.

Collection Method

Combined geochemical analyses, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, shotgun metagenome sequencing, and 14CH4 microcosm assays.

Freshness

Last updated in March 2026, representing recent research.

Geography

Yellowstone National Park hot springs.