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Methane-eating microorganisms help regulate emissions from wetlands
(Please note, NSF publication-copyright concerns are nil.)
https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=135306
[font face=Serif][font size=5]Methane-eating microorganisms help regulate emissions from wetlands[/font]
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[font size=4]Without this process, methane emissions from freshwater wetlands could be 30 to 50 percent higher[/font]
[font size=3]June 30, 2015
Though they occupy a small fraction of Earth's surface, freshwater wetlands are the largest natural source of methane emitted into the atmosphere. New research identifies an unexpected process that acts as a key gatekeeper in regulating methane emissions from these freshwater environments.
The study results are published this week in the journal Nature Communications by biologist Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia and colleagues.
The researchers report that high rates of anaerobic (no oxygen) methane oxidation in freshwater wetlands substantially reduce atmospheric emissions of methane.
New attention
The process of anaerobic methane oxidation was once considered insignificant in freshwater wetlands, but scientists now think very differently about its importance.
"Some microorganisms actually eat methane, and recent decades have seen an explosion in our understanding of the way they do this," says Matt Kane, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research. "These researchers demonstrate that if it were not for an unusual group of methane-eating microbes that live in freshwater wetlands, far more methane would be released into the atmosphere."
Although anaerobic methane oxidation in freshwater has been gathering scientific attention, the environmental relevance of this process was unknown until recently, Joye says.
"This paper reports a previously unrecognized sink for methane in freshwater sediments, soils and peats: microbially-mediated anaerobic oxidation of methane," she says. "The fundamental importance of this process in freshwater wetlands underscores the critical role that anaerobic oxidation of methane plays on Earth, even in freshwater habitats."
Without this process, Joye says, methane emissions from freshwater wetlands could be 30 to 50 percent greater.
…[/font][/font]
[HR]
[font size=4]Without this process, methane emissions from freshwater wetlands could be 30 to 50 percent higher[/font]
[font size=3]June 30, 2015
Though they occupy a small fraction of Earth's surface, freshwater wetlands are the largest natural source of methane emitted into the atmosphere. New research identifies an unexpected process that acts as a key gatekeeper in regulating methane emissions from these freshwater environments.
The study results are published this week in the journal Nature Communications by biologist Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia and colleagues.
The researchers report that high rates of anaerobic (no oxygen) methane oxidation in freshwater wetlands substantially reduce atmospheric emissions of methane.
New attention
The process of anaerobic methane oxidation was once considered insignificant in freshwater wetlands, but scientists now think very differently about its importance.
"Some microorganisms actually eat methane, and recent decades have seen an explosion in our understanding of the way they do this," says Matt Kane, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research. "These researchers demonstrate that if it were not for an unusual group of methane-eating microbes that live in freshwater wetlands, far more methane would be released into the atmosphere."
Although anaerobic methane oxidation in freshwater has been gathering scientific attention, the environmental relevance of this process was unknown until recently, Joye says.
"This paper reports a previously unrecognized sink for methane in freshwater sediments, soils and peats: microbially-mediated anaerobic oxidation of methane," she says. "The fundamental importance of this process in freshwater wetlands underscores the critical role that anaerobic oxidation of methane plays on Earth, even in freshwater habitats."
Without this process, Joye says, methane emissions from freshwater wetlands could be 30 to 50 percent greater.
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