Microbial processes have a central role in the global fluxes of the key biogenic greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) and are likely to respond rapidly to climate change. Whether changes in microbial processes lead to a net positive or negative feedback for greenhouse gas emissions is unclear. To improve the prediction of climate models, it is important to understand the mechanisms by which microorganisms regulate terrestrial greenhouse gas flux. This involves consideration of the complex interactions that occur between microorganisms and other biotic and abiotic factors. The potential to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions through managing terrestrial microbial processes is a tantalizing prospect for the future.

Microorganisms and climate change: terrestrial feedbacks and mitigation options

Methane (CH4) is an important greenhouse gas because it has 25 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide (CO2) by mass over a century. Recent calculations suggest that atmospheric CH4 emissions have been responsible for approximately 20% of Earth's warming since pre-industrial times. Understanding how CH4 emissions from ecosystems will respond to expected increases in global temperature is therefore fundamental to predicting whether the carbon cycle will mitigate or accelerate climate change. Methanogenesis is the terminal step in the remineralization of organic matter and is carried out by strictly anaerobic Archaea. Like most other forms of metabolism, methanogenesis is temperature-dependent. However, it is not yet known how this physiological response combines with other biotic processes (for example, methanotrophy, substrate supply, microbial community composition) and abiotic processes (for example, water-table depth) to determine the temperature dependence of ecosystem-level CH4 emissions. It is also not known whether CH4 emissions at the ecosystem level have a fundamentally different temperature dependence than other key fluxes in the carbon cycle, such as photosynthesis and respiration. Here we use meta-analyses to show that seasonal variations in CH4 emissions from a wide range of ecosystems exhibit an average temperature dependence similar to that of CH4 production derived from pure cultures of methanogens and anaerobic microbial communities. This average temperature dependence (0.96 electron volts (eV)), which corresponds to a 57-fold increase between 0 and 30°C, is considerably higher than previously observed for respiration (approximately 0.65 eV) and photosynthesis (approximately 0.3 eV). As a result, we show that both the emission of CH4 and the ratio of CH4 to CO2 emissions increase markedly with seasonal increases in temperature. Our findings suggest that global warming may have a large impact on the relative contributions of CO2 and CH4 to total greenhouse gas emissions from aquatic ecosystems, terrestrial wetlands and rice paddies.

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Methane fluxes show consistent temperature dependence across microbial to ecosystem scales

This review examines the interactions among physical, chemical, and biological factors responsible for methane (CH4) emission from natural wetlands. Methane is a chemically and radiatively important atmospheric trace gas. Emission from wetlands is a significant component of the atmospheric CH4 budget, releasing 145 Tg CH4 annually to the atmosphere, or about 25% of total emissions from all anthropogenic and natural sources. Wetlands are characterized by a subsurface, anaerobic zone of CH4 production by methanogenic bacteria and an surficial, aerobic zone of CH4 oxidation by methanotrophic bacteria. Wetlands transfer CH4 to the atmosphere by diffusion, ebullition, and by transport through arenchymous vascular plants. However, about 20 to 40% of the CH4 produced in anaerobic wetland soils is oxidized in the rhizosphere and in surficial oxic layers during diffusive transport to the soil surface. Rates of CH4 emission in wetlands are commonly 100 mg m-2 day-1, and represent the net effect of production and co...

Biogeochemistry of Methane Exchange between Natural Wetlands and the Atmosphere

Northern wetlands may be vulnerable to increased carbon losses from methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas, under current warming trends. However, the dynamic nature of open water inundation and wetting/drying patterns may constrain regional emissions, offsetting the potential magnitude of methane release. Here we conduct a satellite data driven model investigation of the combined effects of surface warming and moisture variability on high northern latitude (⩾45° N) wetland CH4 emissions, by considering (1) sub-grid scale changes in fractional water inundation (Fw) at 15 day, monthly and annual intervals using 25km resolution satellite microwave retrievals, and (2) the impact of recent (2003–11) wetting/drying on northern CH4 emissions. The model simulations indicate mean summer contributions of 53 Tg CH4yr �1 from boreal-Arctic wetlands. Approximately 10% and 16% of the emissions originate from open water and landscapes with emergent vegetation, as determined from respective 15 day Fw means or maximums, and significant increases in regional CH4 efflux were observed when incorporating satellite observed inundated land fractions into the model simulations at monthly or annual time scales. The satellite Fw record reveals widespread wetting across the Arctic continuous permafrost zone, contrasting with surface drying in boreal Canada, Alaska and western Eurasia. Arctic wetting and summer warming increased wetland emissions by 0.56Tg CH4yr �1 compared to the 2003–11 mean, but this was mainly offset by decreasing emissions (�0.38Tg CH4yr �1 )i n sub-Arctic areas experiencing surface drying or cooling. These findings underscore the importance of monitoring changes in surface moisture and temperature when assessing the vulnerability of boreal-Arctic wetlands to enhanced greenhouse gas emissions under a shifting climate.

/pdf/surface-water-inundation-in-the-boreal-arctic-potential-53z2uuj00a.pdf

Surface water inundation in the boreal-Arctic: potential impacts on regional methane emissions

Ecosystems along the 0degreesC mean annual isotherm are arguably among the most sensitive to changing climate and mires in these regions emit significant amounts of the important greenhouse gas methane (CH4) to the atmosphere. These CH4 emissions are intimately related to temperature and hydrology, and alterations in permafrost coverage, which affect both of those, could have dramatic impacts on the emissions. Using a variety of data and information sources from the same region in subarctic Sweden we show that mire ecosystems are subject to dramatic recent changes in the distribution of permafrost and vegetation. These changes are most likely caused by a warming, which has been observed during recent decades. A detailed study of one mire show that the permafrost and vegetation changes have been associated with increases in landscape scale CH4 emissions in the range of 22-66% over the period 1970 to 2000.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2003GL018680

Thawing sub-arctic permafrost - effects on vegetation and methane emissions

[1] Global wetlands are, at estimate ranging 115-237 Tg CH4/yr, the largest single atmospheric source of the greenhouse gas methane (CH4). We present a dataset on CH4 flux rates totaling 12 measurement years at sites from Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia and Siberia. We find that temperature and microbial substrate availability (expressed as the organic acid concentration in peat water) combined explain almost 100% of the variations in mean annual CH4 emissions. The temperature sensitivity of the CH4 emissions shown suggests a feedback mechanism on climate change that could validate incorporation in further developments of global circulation models.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2002GL016848

Factors controlling large scale variations in methane emissions from wetlands

Wetlands are significant sources of the important greenhouse gas CH4. Here we explore the use of an experimental system developed for the determination of continuous fluxes of CO2 and CH4 in closed ecosystem monoliths including the capture of (CO2)-C-14 and (CH4)-C-14 following pulse labelling with (CO2)-C-14. We show that, in the ecosystem studied, ebullition (bubble emission) may account for 18 to 50% of the total CH4 emission, representing fluxes that have been difficult to estimate accurately in the past. Furthermore, using plant removal and C-14 labelling techniques, we use the system to detail the direct influence of vascular plants on CH4 emission. This influence is observed to be dependent on the amount of vascular plants present. The results that may be produced using the presented experimental set-up have implications for an improved understanding of wetland ecosystem/atmosphere interactions, including possible feedback effects on climate change. In recent years much attention has been devoted to ascertaining and subsequently using the relationship between net ecosystem productivity and CH4 emission as a basis for extrapolation of fluxes across large areas. The experimental system presented may be used to study the complex relationship between vascular plants and CH4 emission and here we show examples of how this may vary considerably in nature between and even within ecosystems.

Biotic controls on CO2 and CH4 exchange in wetlands – a closed environment study

[1] Vascular plant functions as controlling mechanisms of methane emissions were investigated at two contrasting habitat types at a subarctic peatland ecosystem in northern Sweden. One of the habitats was ombrotrophic (vegetation dominated by Eriophorum vaginatum and Carex rotundata), while the other was minerotrophic (vegetation dominated by Eriophorum angustifolium). Through shading manipulations we successfully reduced the gross photosynthetic rates of the vascular plant communities. At the ombrotrophic site a 25% reduction in gross photosynthesis lead to a concomitant 20% reduction in methane emission rates, indicating a strong substrate-based coupling between the vascular plant community and the methanogenic populations. At the minerotrophic site, methane emission rates were unaffected, although plant photosynthesis was reduced by almost 50%. However, the methane emission rates at the minerotrophic site were significantly correlated with the number of vascular plants. We conclude that at the minerotrophic site the vegetation influences methane emission rates by facilitating methane transportation between the soil and the atmosphere, while at the ombrotrophic site the relationship between the vascular plant community and methane emissions is mediated by substrate-based interactions regulated by plant photosynthetic activity.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2001JD001030

Mats Öquist

Papers

Factors controlling large scale variations in methane emissions from wetlands

Biotic controls on CO2 and CH4 exchange in wetlands – a closed environment study

Vascular plants as regulators of methane emissions from a subarctic mire ecosystem