Response of methanotrophic communities to afforestation and reforestation in New Zealand

Methanotrophs use methane (CH 4 ) as a carbon source. They are particularly active in temperate forest soils. However, the rate of change of CH 4 oxidation in soil with afforestation or reforestation is poorly understood. Here, soil CH 4 oxidation was examined in New Zealand volcanic soils under reg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The ISME Journal 2011-11, Vol.5 (11), p.1832-1836
Main Authors: Nazaries, Loïc, Tate, Kevin R, Ross, Des J, Singh, Jagrati, Dando, John, Saggar, Surinder, Baggs, Elizabeth M, Millard, Peter, Murrell, J Colin, Singh, Brajesh K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158/2445
631/158/672
631/326/2565/855
631/326/41
Afforestation
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Carbon sources
Climate Change
Ecology
Emissions
Evolutionary Biology
Forest soils
Land use
Life Sciences
Methane
Methane - metabolism
Microbial Ecology
Microbial Genetics and Genomics
Microbiology
New Zealand
Oxidation
Oxidation-Reduction
Pasture
Reforestation
Short Communication
Soil - chemistry
Soil Microbiology
Temperate forests
Trees
Volcanic Eruptions
Volcanic soils
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Summary:Methanotrophs use methane (CH 4 ) as a carbon source. They are particularly active in temperate forest soils. However, the rate of change of CH 4 oxidation in soil with afforestation or reforestation is poorly understood. Here, soil CH 4 oxidation was examined in New Zealand volcanic soils under regenerating native forests following burning, and in a mature native forest. Results were compared with data for pasture to pine land-use change at nearby sites. We show that following soil disturbance, as little as 47 years may be needed for development of a stable methanotrophic community similar to that in the undisturbed native forest soil. Corresponding soil CH 4 -oxidation rates in the regenerating forest soil have the potential to reach those of the mature forest, but climo-edaphic fators appear limiting. The observed changes in CH 4 -oxidation rate were directly linked to a prior shift in methanotrophic communities, which suggests microbial control of the terrestrial CH 4 flux and identifies the need to account for this response to afforestation and reforestation in global prediction of CH 4 emission.
ISSN:1751-7362
1751-7370
DOI:10.1038/ismej.2011.62