Yellowstone Hot Springs Methane Oxidation and Microbial Data

Research data from 61 Yellowstone hot springs surveys methane oxidation in extreme geothermal environments. The dataset includes geochemical measurements and microbial sequencing results from sites spanning pH 1.9–9.0 and temperatures of 28.6–92.2 °C. It was compiled by Alta E. G. Howells to study the interplay of substrate availability and energy supply on methanotrophy.

Use Cases

• Analyze methane oxidation rates (MOR) across different CH4/O2 and CH4/NH3 concentration ratios to model energy supply predictions.
• Correlate microbial phylotype distributions, such as Verrucomicrobia (S-BQ2-57) and Methylocystaceae abundance, with site geochemistry like pH and temperature.
• Identify sites with significant methane oxidation but no known methanotrophs to investigate potential novel thermophilic lineages.
• Compare the dominance of archaeal ammonia oxidizers like Candidatus Nitrosocaldus with methane oxidation rates at NH3-rich sites to study competitive inhibition.

Strengths

• Data originates from a systematic survey of 61 distinct hot spring sites in Yellowstone National Park.
• Covers an extreme environmental range, including temperatures up to 92.2 °C and pH from 1.9 to 9.0.
• Integrates multiple analysis methods: geochemistry, 16S rRNA sequencing, shotgun metagenomics, and 14CH4 microcosm assays.

Limitations

• The dataset is relatively small at 572.3 KB, indicating limited scope and likely a summary or processed table rather than raw sequencing data.
• Specific column names, row counts, and sample data are unavailable, limiting understanding of the data structure.
• Focus is exclusively on Yellowstone National Park, limiting geographic generalizability to other hydrothermal systems.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Alta E. G. Howells.

Collection Method

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

Freshness

Last updated March 23, 2026.

Geography

Yellowstone National Park hot springs.