Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Depth distribution of microbial production and oxidation of methane in northern boreal peatlands

  • Published:
Microbial Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The depth distributions of anaerobic microbial methane production and potential aerobic microbial methane oxidation were assessed at several sites in both Sphagnum- and sedge-dominated boreal peatlands in Sweden, and compared with net methane emissions from the same sites. Production and oxidation of methane were measured in peat slurries, and emissions were measured with the closed-chamber technique. Over all eleven sites sampled, production was, on average, highest 12 cm below the depth of the average water table. On the other hand, highest potential oxidation of methane coincided with the depth of the average water table. The integrated production rate in the 0–60 cm interval ranged between 0.05 and 1.7 g CH4 m −2 day− and was negatively correlated with the depth of the average water table (linear regression: r 2 = 0.50, P = 0.015). The depth-integrated potential CH4-oxidation rate ranged between 3.0 and 22.1 g CH4 m−2 day−1 and was unrelated to the depth of the average water table. A larger fraction of the methane was oxidized at sites with low average water tables; hence, our results show that low net emission rates in these environments are caused not only by lower methane production rates, but also by conditions more favorable for the development of CH4-oxidizing bacteria in these environments.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Alperin MJ, Reeburgh WS (1985) Inhibition experiments on anaerobic methane oxidation. Appl Environ Microbiol 50:940–945

    Google Scholar 

  2. Armentano TV, Menges ES (1986) Patterns of change in the carbon balance of organic soil-wetlands of the temperate zone. J Ecol 74:755–774

    Google Scholar 

  3. Box GEP, Hunter WG, Hunter JS (1978) Statistics for experimenters—an introduction to design, data analysis, and model building. John Wiley & Sons, New York

    Google Scholar 

  4. Brown A, Mathur SP, Kushner DJ (1989) An ombrotrophic bog as a methane reservoir. Global Biogeochem Cycles 3:205–213

    Google Scholar 

  5. Cicerone RJ, Oremland RS (1988) Biogeochemical aspects of atmospheric methane. Global Biogeochem Cycles 2:299–327

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Clymo RS (1965) Experiments on breakdown of Sphagnum in two bogs. J Ecol 53:747–758

    Google Scholar 

  7. Conrad R (1989) Control of methane production in terrestial ecosystems. In: Andreae MO, Shimel DS (eds) Exchange of trace gases between terrestial ecosystems and the atmosphere. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, pp 39–58

    Google Scholar 

  8. Conrad R, Rothfuss F (1991) Methane oxidation in the soil surface layer of a flooded rice field and the effect of ammonium. Biol Fertil Soils 12:28–32

    Google Scholar 

  9. Coulson JC, Butterfield J (1978) An investigation of the biotic factors determining the rates of plant decomposition on blanket bog. J Ecol 66:631–650

    Google Scholar 

  10. Eurola S, Hicks S, Kaakinen E (1984) Key to Finnish mire types. In: Moore P (ed) European mires. Academic Press, London, pp 11–117

    Google Scholar 

  11. Farrish KW, Grigal DF (1988) Decomposition in an ombrotrophic bog and a minerotrophic fen in Minnesota. Soil Sci 145:353–358

    Google Scholar 

  12. Fechner EJ, Hemond HF (1992) Methane transport and oxidation in the unsaturated zone of a Sphagnum peatland. Global Biogeochem Cycles 6:33–44

    Google Scholar 

  13. Fung I, John J, Lemer J, Matthews E, Prather M, Steele LP, Fraser PJ (1991) Three-dimensional model synthesis of the global methane cycle. J Geophys Res 96:13,033–13,065

    Google Scholar 

  14. Galchenko VF, Lein A, Ivanov M (1989) Biological sinks of methane. In: Andreae MO, Shimel DS (eds) Exchange of trace gases between terrestial ecosystems and the atmosphere. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, pp 59–71

    Google Scholar 

  15. Gorham E (1991) Northern peatlands: role in the carbon cycle and probable responses to climatic warming. Ecol Appl 1:182–195

    Google Scholar 

  16. Holzapfel-Pschorn A, Conrad R, Seiler W (1985) Production, oxidation and emission of methane in rice paddies. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 31:343–351

    Google Scholar 

  17. Johnson LC, Damman AWH (1991) Species-controlled Sphagnum decay on a south Swedish raised bog. Oikos 61:234–242

    Google Scholar 

  18. Kelly CA, Chynoweth DP (1980) Comparison of in situ and in vitro rates of methane release in freshwater sediments. Appl Environ Microbiol 40:287–293

    Google Scholar 

  19. Kelly CA, Chynoweth DP (1981) The contributions of temperature and of the input of organic matter in controlling rates of sediment methanogenesis. Limnol Oceanogr 26:891–897

    Google Scholar 

  20. King GM, Berman T, Wiebe WJ (1981) Methane formation in the acidic peats of Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia. Am Mid Nat 105:386–389

    Google Scholar 

  21. King GM, Roslev P, Skovgaard H (1990) Distribution and rate of methane oxidation in sediments of the Florida Everglades. Appl Environ Microbiol 56:2902–2911

    Google Scholar 

  22. Koponen T, Isoviita P, Lammes T (1977) The bryophytes of Finland: an annotated checklist. Flora Fennica 6:1–77

    Google Scholar 

  23. Lid J (1963) Norsk og svensk flora (in Norwegian). Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo

    Google Scholar 

  24. Moore TR, Knowles R (1990) Methane emissions from fen, bog and swamp peadands in Quebec. Biogeochemistry 11:45–61

    Google Scholar 

  25. Moore TR, Roulet NT (1993) Methane flux: water table relations in northern wetlands. Geophys Res Lett 20:587–590

    Google Scholar 

  26. Moore TR, Roulet NT, Knowles R (1990) Spatial and temporal variations of methane flux from subarctic/northern boreal fens. Global Biogeoch Cycles 4:29–46

    Google Scholar 

  27. Oremland RS (1988) Biogeochemistry of methanogenic bacteria. In: Zehnder AJB (ed) Biology of anaerobic microorganisms. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, pp 641–705

    Google Scholar 

  28. Örlygsson J, Houwen FP, Svensson BH Anaerobic degradation of protein and the role of methane formation in steady state thermophilic enrichment cultures. Swedish J Agric Sci 23:45–54, 1993

    Google Scholar 

  29. Panikov NS, Belyaev AS, Semenov AM, Zelenev VV (1993) Methane production and uptake in some terrestial ecosystems of the former USSR. In: Oremland RS (ed) Biogeochemistry of global change—radiatively active trace gases. Chapman & Hall, New York, London, pp 221–244

    Google Scholar 

  30. Reeburgh WS (1980) Anaerobic methane oxidation: rates and rate depth distributions in Skan Bay sediments. Earth Planet Sci Lett 47:345–352

    Google Scholar 

  31. Reeburgh WS, Whalen SC (1992) High-latitude ecosystems as CH4 sources. In: Ojima DS, Svensson BH (eds) Trace gas exchange in a global perspective. Ecol Bull (Copenhagen) 42:62–70

  32. Rochefort L, Vitt DH, Bayley SE (1990) Growth, production and decomposition dynamics of Sphagnum under natural and experimentally acidified conditions. Ecology 71:1986–2000

    Google Scholar 

  33. Roulet NT, Ash R, Moore TR (1992) Low boreal wetlands as a source of atmospheric methane. J Geophys Res 97:3739–3749

    Google Scholar 

  34. Roulet NT, Moore TR, Bubier J, LaFleur P (1992) Northern fens: methane flux and climatic change. Tellus 44B:100–105

    Google Scholar 

  35. Santelmann MV (1992) Cellulose mass loss in ombrotrophic bogs of northeastern North America. Can J Bot 70:2378–2383

    Google Scholar 

  36. Sass RL, Risher FM, Harcombe PA, Turner FT (1990) Methane production and emission in a Texas rice field. Global Biogeoch Cycles 4:47–68

    Google Scholar 

  37. Schütz H, Seiler W, Conrad R (1989) Processes involved in formation and emission of methane in rice paddies. Biogeochemistry 7:33–53

    Google Scholar 

  38. Silvola J (1986) Carbon dioxide dynamics in mires reclaimed for forestry in eastern Finland. Ann Bot Fennici 23:59–67

    Google Scholar 

  39. Sinke AJC, Cornelese AI, Cappenberg TE, Zehnder AJB (1992) Seasonal variation in sulfate reduction and methanogenesis in peaty sediments of eutrophic Lake Loosdrecht, The Netherlands. Biogeochemistry 16:43–61

    Google Scholar 

  40. Sundh I, Mikkelä C, Nilsson M, Svensson BH (in press in Soil. Biol. Biochem.) Potential aerobic methane oxidation in a Sphagnum dominated peatand-controlling factors and relation to methane emission.

  41. Svensson BH, Rosswall T (1984) In situ methane production from acid peat in plant communities with different moisture regimes in a subarctic mire. Oikos 43:341–350

    Google Scholar 

  42. Svensson BH, Sundh I (1992) Factors affecting methane producton in peat soils. Suo 43:183–190

    Google Scholar 

  43. Valentine DW, Holland EA, Schimel DS (1994) Ecosystem and physiological controls over methane production in northern wetlands. J. Geophys. Res. Atm. 99:D1 1563–1571

    Google Scholar 

  44. 44. Whalen SC, Reeburgh WS, Reimers CE (in press) Control of tundra methane emission by microbial oxidation. In: Reynolds JF, Tenhunen JD (eds) Landscape function: implications for ecosystem response to disturbane, A case study in Arctic tundra. Springer-Verlag, Berlin

  45. Whalen SC, Reeburgh WS (1992) Interannual variation in tundra methane emission: a 4-year-time series at fixed sites. Global Biogeochem Cycles 6:139–159

    Google Scholar 

  46. Wieder RK, Yavitt JB, Lang GE (1990) Methane production and sulfate reduction in two Appalachian peatlands. Biogeochemistry 10:81–104

    Google Scholar 

  47. Williams RT, Crawford RL (1984) Methane production in Minnesota peatlands. Appl Environ Microbiol 47:1266–1271

    Google Scholar 

  48. Yavitt JB, Lang GE, Wieder RK (1987) Control of carbon mineralization to CH4 and CO2 in anaerobic, Sphagnum-derived peat from Big Run Bog, West Virginia. Biogeochemistry 4:141–157

    Google Scholar 

  49. Yavitt JB, Lang GE, Downey DM (1988) Potential methane production and methane oxidation rates in peatland ecosystems of the Appalachian Mountains, United States. Global Biogeochem Cycles 2:253–268

    Google Scholar 

  50. Yavitt JB, Lang GE (1990) Methane production in contrasting wetland sites: response to organic-chemical components of peat and to sulfate reduction. Geomicrobiol J 8:27–46

    Google Scholar 

  51. Yavitt JB, Downey DM, Lancaster E, Lang GE (1990) Methane consumption in decomposing Sphagnum-derived peat. Soil Biol Biochem 22:441–447

    Google Scholar 

  52. Zehnder AJB, Stumm W (1988) Geochemistry and biogeochemistry of anaerobic habitats. In: Zehnder AJB (ed) Biology of anaerobic microorganisms. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, pp 641–705

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7025, S-750 07, Uppsala, Sweden

    I. Sundh & B. H. Svensson

  2. Department of Forest Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, S-901 83, Umeå, Sweden

    M. Nilsson & G. Granberg

Authors
  1. I. Sundh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. Nilsson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. G. Granberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. B. H. Svensson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Correspondence to: I. Sundh.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sundh, I., Nilsson, M., Granberg, G. et al. Depth distribution of microbial production and oxidation of methane in northern boreal peatlands. Microb Ecol 27, 253–265 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00182409

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00182409

Keywords

Search

Navigation