Methane Uptake In Forest Soils Research Articles

Effects of global change on methane uptake in forest soils and its mechanisms: A revie

Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration, altered precipitation regime, increased nitrogen deposition, and land cover change have not only changed the physical and chemical properties of forest soils, but also affected plant growth and microbial activity, with concequences on soil carbon and nitrogen cycles, including soil CH4 uptake. In this study, we summarized the important role of soil CH4 uptake in forests under global change scenarios. The differences of responses as well as the underlying mechanisms of soil CH4 uptake in forests to global change were reviewed. Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration inhibits soil CH4 uptake. Reduced precipitation tends to promote soil CH4 uptake. Increased nitrogen input inhibits soil CH4 uptake in nitrogen-rich forests, but promotes or has no effects on soil CH4 uptake in nitrogen-poor forests. Conversion of forests to grassland, farmland, or plantations would reduce soil CH4 uptake, while afforestation increases soil CH4 uptake. The future research should explore the long-term and multiple effects of global changes on forest soil CH4 uptake. In addition, molecular biology methods should be developed to explore the microbial mechanism of soil CH4 uptake.

Declines in methane uptake in forest soils

Forest soils are a sink for atmospheric methane (CH4) and play an important role in modulating the global CH4 budget. However, whether CH4 uptake by forest soils is affected by global environmental change is unknown. We measured soil to atmosphere net CH4 fluxes in temperate forests at two long-term ecological research sites in the northeastern United States from the late 1990s to the mid-2010s. We found that annual soil CH4 uptake decreased by 62% and 53% in urban and rural forests in Baltimore, Maryland and by 74% and 89% in calcium-fertilized and reference forests at Hubbard Brook, New Hampshire over this period. This decrease occurred despite marked declines in nitrogen deposition and increases in atmospheric CH4 concentration and temperature, which should lead to increases in CH4 uptake. This decrease in soil CH4 uptake appears to be driven by increases in precipitation and soil hydrological flux. Furthermore, an analysis of CH4 uptake around the globe showed that CH4 uptake in forest soils has decreased by an average of 77% from 1988 to 2015, particularly in forests located from 0 to 60 °N latitude where precipitation has been increasing. We conclude that the soil CH4 sink may be declining and overestimated in several regions across the globe.

Synergistic effects of dissolved organic carbon and inorganic nitrogen on methane uptake in forest soils without and with freezing treatment.

There is limited knowledge about how the interaction of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and inorganic nitrogen (N) released into the soil just after freezing can affect methane (CH4) uptake in forest soils. Here, we present how freezing treatment and glucose, as a DOC source, can affect the roles of NH4+-N and NO3−-N in inhibiting soil CH4 uptake, by using soil-core incubation experiments. A long-term freezing at low temperature reduced cumulative CH4 uptake in the soils sampled from two temperate forest stands without carbon (C) and N addition. The inhibition effects of N addition as NH4Cl and KNO3 on the soil CH4 uptake were much larger than C addition. Freezing treatment eliminated the inhibition effect of NH4Cl and KNO3 addition on CH4 uptake, and this response was affected by glucose addition and forest types. The addition of glucose eliminated the inhibition effect of NO3−-N on CH4 uptake in the forest soils without and with freezing treatment, while the addition of NH4+-N and glucose inhibited synergistically the soil CH4 uptake. The results highlight the importance of synergistic effects of DOC and N inputs on the soil CH4 uptake under forest stands during soil wetting and thawing periods.

Methane uptake in forest soils along an urban-to-rural gradient in Pearl River Delta, South China.

We investigated soil CH4 fluxes from six forests along an urban-to-rural gradient in Guangzhou City metropolitan area, South China. The most significant CH4 consumption was found in the rural site, followed by suburban, and then urban forest sites. The rates of CH4 uptake were significantly higher (by 38% and 44%, respectively for mixed forest and broadleaf forest) in the rural than in the urban forest site. The results indicate that soil water filled pore space (WFPS) is the primary factor for controlling CH4 consumption in subtropical forests. The reductions of soil CH4 uptake in urban forests were also influenced by the higher rates of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition and increases in soil nitrate (NO3−) and aluminum (Al3+) contents as a result of urbanization. Results from this work suggest that environmental changes associated with urbanization could decrease soil CH4 consumption in subtropical forests and potentially contribute to increase of atmospheric CH4 concentration.