Abstract
Wetlands are characterized by changing water tables, which have an influence on the activity of microorganisms. Particularly, the effect of oxygen on anaerobic methanogenic archaea is of importance for understanding greenhouse gas fluxes in wetlands. In this study the influence of oxygen on CH4 production in marshland soils was investigated in relation to varying soil water potentials. Water saturated samples as well as samples with drained macropores, and mesopores were used. Under anoxic conditions the CH4 production showed a dependence on the water content. The CH4 production rates varied between about 213 and 51 nmol g−1 soil h−1. In the presence of oxygen a correlation between CH4 production activity and water potential of the samples could not be demonstrated. Under oxic conditions with defined water potentials the CH4 production rates varied between about 141 and 58 nmol g−1 soil h−1. Cell counts of methanogenic archaea showed similar numbers in oxic and anoxic soil layers, and further illustrated living methanogens in the aerobic horizons of the marshland soil. The presented results are of great importance for modelling of the CH4 release from wetlands, because up to 25% of the CH4 is produced in the oxic horizon of the investigated marshland soil.
Highlights
Wetlands are characterized by changing water tables, which have an influence on the activity of microorganisms
The vertical profile showed the distribution of methanogens within the investigated marshland soil for the main methanogenic substrates acetate and H2/CO2 (Fig. 1)
The average number of methanogens grown with H2/CO2 amounted to 2.7 × 103 cells g−1 soil, whereas the cell counts with acetate were about 10 times higher (2.5 × 104 cells g−1 soil)
Summary
Wetlands are characterized by changing water tables, which have an influence on the activity of microorganisms. The effect of oxygen on anaerobic methanogenic archaea is of importance for understanding greenhouse gas fluxes in wetlands. In this study the influence of oxygen on CH4 production in marshland soils was investigated in relation to varying soil water potentials. Under oxic conditions with defined water potentials the CH4 production rates varied between about 141 and 58 nmol g−1 soil h−1. Temperature, type and amount of organic matter, vegetation, and the potential for methane oxidation are important factors[18,19,20,21]. The influence of oxygen on the activity of methanogenic archaea is a key parameter for the understanding of methane fluxes in wetlands. Little is known about the existence of methanogenic archaea in oxic environments such as forest floors, arable soils and aerobic layers of groundwater influenced wetlands. Few hours of contact with oxygen led to a rapid decrease in viability
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