The Agouron Institute hosted a symposium in October 2014 titled “The Sulfur Cycle.” The organizers of this meeting were Donald Canfield (University of Southern Denmark), David Fike (Washington University, St. Louis) and David Johnston (Harvard University). As an educational tool, the speakers have agreed to provide their abstracts with references to post on our website. Please contact the authors if you wish to use any content presented here. Please click on the session title to view the abstracts. The titles/authors of posters presented at the poster session are listed at the end.
A Video Introduction to the Sulfur Cycle
Don Canfield (U Southern Denmark)
View Video
A focused discussion about the lessons and potential of sulfur cycle research
David Johnston (Harvard U) and David Fike (Washington U)
Session 1 – The Reductive S Cycle (mechanisms)
Chairpersons: Boz Wing (McGill U) and David Johnston (Harvard U)
New thoughts on deep sedimentary sulfur cycling (the deep “cryptic S cycle”)
Timothy G. Ferdelmen (MPI, Bremen)
Insights into the bioenergetics of dissimilatory sulfate reduction – a biochemical approach
Inês A. C. Pereira (ITQB)
Genetic tool development for environmental microbes: Examination of the physiology of Desulfovibrio strains
Judy Wall (U Missouri)
From functional gene studies to ecosystem functions: a case study of hidden sulfate-reducing microorganisms in wetlands
Alexander Loy (U Vienna)
Alternative lifestyles of sulfate-reducing bacteria: Desulfovibrio as facultative syntrophs
David Stahl (U Washington)
Session 2 – The Oxidative S Cycle (mechanisms)
Chairpersons: Alexis Templeton (U Colorado) and David Fike (Washington U)
Biochemistry of sulfur oxidation: news, views and omics approaches
Christiane Dahl (U Bonn)
Colorless sulfur bacteria
Heide Schulz-Vogt (Leibniz Institute)
Pathways of sulfur disproportionation deduced from enzyme studies and genomic data and their implications for the possible role of sulfur disproportionation in the evolution of sulfur metabolism
Kai Finster (Aarhus U)
Session 3 – Examples of ecology of the modern S cycle
Chairpersons: Victoria Orphan (Caltech) and David Fike (Washington U)
The evolution of anoxygenic photosynthesis
Robert Blankenship (Washington U)
Microscale sulfur cycling in the phototrophic pink berry consortia of the Sippewissett Salt Marsh
Lizzy Wilbanks (Caltech)
Sulfur and beyond: energy sources of sulfur-oxidizing symbionts
Nicole Dubilier (MPI, Bremen)
Oxidative sulfur biomineralization and preservation in a “sulfidic ice” system
Alexis Templeton (U Colorado)
Session 4 –Sulfur isotope systematics
Chairpersons: Benjamin Brunner (U Texas) and David Johnston (Harvard U)
The ecophysiology of sulfur isotope fractionation by sulfate reducing bacteria
Alex Bradley (Harvard U)
Enzyme-specific sulfur isotope fractionation during microbial sulfate reduction
Wil Leavitt (Washington U)
Sulfur isotope fractionation during microbial sulfate respiration: intracellular influences, environmental controls, and evolutionary responses
Boz Wing (McGill U)
Session 5a –Evolution of the S cycle: geological considerations (Archean)
Chairpersons: Shuhei Ono (MIT) and David Johnston (Harvard U)
The generation of mass independent isotopic fractionations
Mark Thiemens (UCSD)
Reconstructing Earth’s early sulfur cycle
Chris Reinhard (Georgia Tech)
New approaches for understanding the Archean sulfur isotope record
Woody Fischer (Caltech)
Lacustrine constraints on Archean seawater sulfate
Sean Crowe (U British Columbia)
The MIF-S signature of Archean and Paleoproterozoic oceanic sulfate – implications for oxygen
James Farquhar (U Maryland)
Session 5b –Evolution of the S cycle: geological considerations (Phanerozoic)
Chairpersons: Matt Hurtgen (Northwestern U) and David Fike (Washington U)
Rapid changes in the marine sulfur cycle during the Phanerozoic and their relation to marine redox and the evolution of animal life
Benjamin Gill (Virginia Tech)
A new high-resolution sulfur isotope record of Triassic seawater sulfate
Stefano Bernasconi (ETH Zürich)
Phanerozoic sulfur cycling: recycling and burial
Itay Halevy (Weizmann Institute)
Extracting environmental information from Phanerozoic isotope records
David Johnston (Harvard U)
Session 6 –The preservation of the S record
Chairpersons: Tim Lyons (UC Riverside) and David Johnston (Harvard U)
The impacts of depositional environment on δ34S records: rethinking stratigraphic trends and biogeochemical interpretations
David Fike (Washington U)
The organic S record
Alex Sessions (Caltech)
The S-cycle on early Mars
Nicholas Tosca (U Oxford)