ISSN:
1573-515X
Keywords:
atmospheric methane
;
forest soils
;
methane production
;
methane oxidation
;
soil air spaces
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Geosciences
Notes:
Abstract Forest soils are thought to be an important sink for atmospheric methane. To evaluate methane consumption,14C-labeled methane was added to the headspace of intact soil cores collected from a mixed mesophytic forest and from a red spruce forest located in the central Appalachian Mountains. Both soils consumed the added methane at initially high rates that decreased as the methane mixing ratio of the air decreased. The mixed mesophytic forest soil consumed an average of 2 mg CH4 m−2 d−1 versus 1 mg CH, m−2 d−1 for the spruce forest soil. The addition of acetylene to the headspace completely suppressed methane consumption by the soils, suggesting that an aerobic methane-consuming microorganism mediated the process. At both forest sites, methane mixing ratios in soil air spaces were greater than that in the air overlying the soil surface, indicating that these soils had the ability to produce methane. Models of methane emission from forest soils to the atmosphere must represent methane flux as the balance between production and consumption of methane, which are controlled by very different factors
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00002716
Permalink