Microbial Syntrophy Drives Methanogenesis From Residual Hydrocarbons in Anaerobic Oil Sands Tailings
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Anaerobic oil sands tailings can generate methane for decades as residual naphtha-range and petroleum hydrocarbons sustain microbial metabolism, but how microbial interactions link hydrocarbon turnover to methanogenesis remains poorly resolved. To characterize these microbial associations, we analyse two naphtha-amended anaerobic tailings incubation series using 16S rRNA gene relative abundance, hydrocarbon consumption, and methane production data within a cooperative game-theoretical framework. The abundance-informed Shapley analysis attributes system-level variation to bacterial-archaeal coalitions, highlighting key syntrophic partnerships. Several taxa show inferred contributions to methanogenesis that are disproportionate to their relative abundance, indicating that model-based attribution can differ from abundance ranking. Sensitivity analysis shows that the main methane-attribution patterns remain interpretable across alternative abundance-weighted coefficient formulations. These interaction patterns shift across incubation phases, showing that microbial control over hydrocarbon-dependent methanogenesis changes through time. When incorporated into stochastic forecasting, Shapley-derived reaction intensities improve predictive performance compared with reduced microbial and non-microbial benchmarks. Together, our results indicate that methane production in oil sands tailings can be interpreted through abundance-informed bacterial-archaeal coalition structure, providing a coalition-aware basis for interpreting and forecasting methanogenic hydrocarbon transformation.
Source: Environmental Microbiology
Authors: Ali Hamidoğlu, Hao Wang
Institutions: Khazar University, University of Alberta
Language: English
Subfield: Building and Construction
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,640
OpenAlex ID: W7225118264