CH4 production, oxidation and emission in a U.K. ombrotrophic peat bog: Influence of SO42− from acid rain

doi:10.1016/0038-0717(95)00018-A

Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Volume 27, Issue 7, July 1995, Pages 893-903

https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-0717(95)00018-A Get rights and content

Abstract

Factors influencing the rates of production and emission of CH₄, CH₄ oxidation and rates of SO₄²⁻ reduction, were measured in the peat of an ombrotrophic bog in New Galloway, Scotland. Vertical concentration profiles of CH₄ and O₂ showed that the water table essentially represented the oxic-anoxic boundary in the peat. This boundary was usually at the surface in the case of peat-bog hollows, but up to 20 cm of oxic peat occurred above the water table in peat-bog hummocks. Penetration of O₂ into the peat increased under illumination when photosynthesis was active, but decreased in the dark. Emission of CH₄ from the peat surface was faster from peat-bog hollows than from hummocks, where most CH₄ was reoxidized before emission. CH₄ emission rates also varied seasonally, being greatest during summer. For most of the year the amount of organic C oxidized to CO₂ by SO₄²⁻ reduction by anaerobic bacteria exceeded that being transformed to CH₄ by methanogenic bacteria, except during summer when SO₄²⁻ reduction became SO₄²⁻ limited. Laboratory experiments showed that the addition of SO₄²⁻ to peat inhibited CH₄ formation, confirming that there was competitive inhibition of CH₄ formation by active SO₄²⁻ reduction, as demonstrated in other environments. The degree of acid rain deposition of SO₄²⁻ onto peat bogs may therefore be extremely important in regulating the production and emission of CH₄ from peat. CH₄ formation was most active in the strata of peat 5–15 cm below the water table, although actual rates of CH₄ formation were slower in the peat beneath hummocks than that below hollows. In contrast, CH₄ oxidation occurred nearer the peat surface (only 3–7 cm below the water table) where the methanotrophic bacteria could intercept vertically migrating CH₄. Surprisingly, the peak for CH₄ oxidation potential occurred at about 5 cm below the water table, in peat which was apparently anoxic. This may reflect either a transiently oxic peat environment, in which aerobic CH₄-oxidizing bacteria persisted, or the presence of a community of facultatively anaerobic CH₄-oxidizing bacteria which, in anoxic conditions, metabolized substrates other than CH₄. There was no evidence of anaerobic CH₄ oxidation.

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CH4 production, oxidation and emission in a U.K. ombrotrophic peat bog: Influence of SO42− from acid rain

Abstract

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science

FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Soil Biology & Biochemistry

Soil Biology & Biochemistry

Soil Biology & Biochemistry

Soil Biology & Biochemistry

Soil Biology & Biochemistry

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

Waste Management Research

FEMS Microbiology Ecology

FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Environmental Pollution

FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

Soil Biology & Biochemistry

Seasonal temperature as a factor influencing bacterial sulfate reduction in a saltmarsh sediment

Microbial Ecology

Inhibition of methanogenesis by sulphate reducing bacteria competing for transferred hydrogen

Archives for Microbiology

Hydrogen as a substrate for methanogenesis and sulphate reduction in anaerobic saltmarsh sediment

Archives for Microbiology

Inhibition experiments on anaerobic methane oxidation

Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Modelling the process of organic matter degradation and nutrients recycling in sedimentary systems

Spectrophotometric determination of hydrogen sulfide in natural waters

Limnology and Oceanography

Peat

Models of peat growth

Suo

Productivity of Sphagnum (bog-moss) and peat accumulation

Hydrobiologia

A field study of the effect of depth on methane production in peatland waters: equipment and preliminary results

Journal of Ecology

Three-dimensional model synthesis of the global methane cycle

Journal of Geophysical Research

On the chemical composition of some waters from the Moor House nature reserve

Journal of Ecology

Methane flux from northern peatland

Nature, London

CH₄ production, oxidation and emission in a U.K. ombrotrophic peat bog: Influence of SO₄²⁻ from acid rain