Active methane processing microbes and the disproportionate role of NC10 phylum in methane mitigation in Amazonian floodplains

Abstract

Here we use a top-down and bottom-up approach in landscape ecology to analyze the active microbes processing methane fluxes (FCH4) in seasonally flooded-forest (FOR) and -traditional farming systems (TFS) in Amazonian floodplains flooded with black, white, and clear water. Our results revealed higher CH4 emissions from water-atmosphere interface in clear water floodplain, followed by black and white water floodplain, respectively. Active methanogenic and methanotrophic taxa were ubiquitous at 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil layer in FOR and TFS, with differences among the water types with respect to the richness, evenness and diversity of the methanogenic communities. These ecological results were not generalizable regarding to FOR and TFS sites, soil layers, and non-flooded and flooded periods. Despite the predominant oxidation of CH4 in the non-flooded period, higher richness and diversity of methanotrophs were revealed for FOR and TFS in the flooded period. In turn, the structure of the methanogenic and methanotrophic communities and their variation were influenced mainly by soil physicochemical factors, water type, soil depth and the presence of nitrifiers, as Nitrososphaera and Nitrospira. Our study reveals a signature across methanotrophic communities in soils from Amazon floodplain with different water types, with a putative disproportionate role of NC10 phylum in CH4 mitigation in natural and agricultural Amazonian floodplains. These findings open the possibilities to explore the role of NC10 phylum in the carbon cycling in Amazon.