Methane emissions may be driven by hydrogenotrophic methanogens inhabiting the stem tissues of poplar
Huili Feng, Jiahuan Guo, Xuehong Ma, Menghua Han, Daniel Kneeshaw, Hui Sun, Saadatullah Malghani, Huai Chen, Weifeng Wang
Abstract
Summary Living trees in forests emit methane (CH 4 ) from their stems. However, the magnitudes, patterns, drivers, origins, and biogeochemical pathways of these emissions remain poorly understood. We measured in situ CH 4 fluxes in poplar stems and soils using static chambers and investigated the microbial communities of heartwood and sapwood by sequencing bacterial 16S, archaeal 16S, and fungal ITS rRNA genes. Methane emissions from poplar stems occurred throughout the sampling period. The mean CH 4 emission rate was 2.7 mg m −2 stem d −1 . Stem CH 4 emission rate increased significantly with air temperature, humidity, soil water content, and soil CH 4 fluxes, but decreased with increasing sampling height. The CO 2 reduction and methylotrophic methanogenesis were the major methanogenic pathways in wood tissues. The dominant methanogen groups detected in stem tissues were Methanobacterium , Methanobrevibacter , Rice Cluster I, Methanosarcina , Methanomassiliicoccus , Methanoculleus , and Methanomethylophilaceae. In addition, three methanotrophic genera were identified in the heartwood and sapwood – Methylocystis , Methylobacterium , and Paracoccus . Overall, stem CH 4 emissions can originate directly from the internal tissues or co‐occur from soils and stems. The co‐existence of methanogens and methanotrophs within heartwood and sapwood highlights a need for future research in the microbial mechanisms underlying stem CH 4 exchange with the atmosphere.