Definition
The sulfur cycle, like the biogeochemical cycles of other elements, includes a series of oxidation and reduction stages of sulfur that are principally biotic and performed by microorganisms. Under certain pHs and redox potentials, some reactions of the sulfur cycle take place in the absence of microorganisms.
Overview
The sulfur cycle integrates and interconnects the different components of an ecosystem (soil, rock, sediment, aquatic phase, and atmosphere). Sulfur is present as organic sulfur (in amino acids, coenzymes, etc.) and inorganic sulfur: sulfides (S2−), elemental sulfur (S0), sulfates (S6+), and a series of intermediaries of minor environmental relevance. Sulfate (SO 2−4 ) is the major bioavailable form in nature, and is particularly abundant in marine environments, because elemental sulfur and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) are of biological or geothermic origin and metal sulfides (MeS) are insoluble.
The sulfur cycle is complex, involving aerobic and anaerobic, auto- and...
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References and Further Reading
Canfield DE, Habicht KS, Thamdrup B (2000) The Archean sulfur cycle and the early history of atmospheric oxygen. Science 288:658–661
Fdez-Polanco F (2001) Combining the biological nitrogen and sulfur cycles in anaerobic conditions. Water Sci Tech 44(8):77–84
Kuenen G, Lens PNL (2001) The biological sulfur cycle: novel opportunities for environmental biotechnology. Water Sci Tech 44(8):57–66
Madigan M, Martinko J, Dunlap P, Clark D (2009) Brock biology of microorganisms, 12th edn. Pearson Benjamin Cummins, Menlo Park, Chapters 15, 21, 24
Willey JM, Sherwood LM, Woolverton CJ (2008) Ch. 27. In: Prescott, harley and klein microbiology, 7th edn. McGraw-Hill, New York
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© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Sanz, J.L. (2011). Sulfur Cycle. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11274-4_1539
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