Abstract
To understand the underlying factors affecting the seasonal variation of the methane concentration in a cool temperate freshwater marsh vegetated with Carex lasiocarpa in the Sanjiang Plain of northeast China, we measured methane emission from, and the concentrations of methane, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and acetate in, water samples taken from the standing water surface to the top of the gley soil layer in the C. laisocarpa marsh, before and after plants were covered with a black cloth at the three growing stages of June, July and August 2002. The methane oxidation rate was also measured in situ by applying acetylene, a methane oxidation inhibitor, to whole plants, and the methane production rate in water sampled in June and July was measured via the anaerobic incubation in the laboratory. The methane production rate in water samples was significantly correlated with acetate concentration rather than DOC concentration, whereas the mean acetate concentration in water samples was higher in June than in July and August. Hence, the low methane concentration in June did not result from a lack of acetate for methane production. The mean methane and DOC concentrations in water samples were enhanced by 22.3 and 31.1% in June, 2.1 and 5.0% in July, and 3.4 and 15.2% in August, respectively, after plants were covered with a black cloth. The methane oxidation rate and redox potential in the freshwater marsh decreased from June to July or August. These results suggest that there was more oxygen in the rhizome and rhizosphere in June than in July and August, which not only accentuated methane oxidation but also reduced methane production. Therefore, the high methane concentration in water in July and August could be ascribed to both an increase in temperature and a decrease in redox potential or oxygen concentration in the rhizosphere.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amaral JA, Knowles R (1995) Growth of methanotrophs in oxygen and methane counter gradients. FEMS Microbiol Lett 126:215–220
Bergman I, Svensson BH, Nilsson M (1998) Regulation of methane production in a Swedish acid mire by pH, temperature and substrate. Soil Biol Biochem 30:729–741
Bergman I, Klarqvist M, Nilsson M (2000) Seasonal variation in rates of methane production from peat of various botanical origins: effects of temperature and substrate quality. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 33:181–189
Bridgham SD, Richardson CJ (1992) Mechanisms controlling soil respiration (CO2 and CH4) in southern peatlands. Soil Biol Biochem 24:1089–1099
Bubier JL (1995) The relationship of vegetation to methane emission and hydrochemical gradients in northern peatlands. J Ecol 83:403–420
Cao M, Marshall S, Gregson K (1996) Global carbon exchange and methane emissions from natural wetlands: application of a process-based model. J Geophys Res 101:14399–14414
Chasar LS, Chanton JP (2000) Radiocarbon and stable carbon isotopic evidence for transport and transformation of dissolved organic carbon, dissolved inorganic carbon and CH4 in a northern Minnesota peatland. Glob Biogeochem Cycles 14:1095–1108
Chidthaisong A, Inubushi K, Watanabe I (1996) Methanogenic characteristics of flooded rice soils in response to glucose amendment. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 42:645–649
Chin KJ, Lukow T, Stubner S, Conrad R (1999) Structure and function of the methanogenic archaeal community in stable cellulose degrading enrichment cultures at two different temperatures (15°C and 30°C). FEMS Microbiol Ecol 30:313–326
Conrad R (1989) Control of methane production in terrestrial ecosystems. In: Andrea MO, Schimel DS (eds) Exchange of trace gases between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. Wiley, New York, pp 39–58
Conrad R (2002) Control of microbial methane production in wetland rice fields. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 64:59–69
Ding WX, Cai ZC, Tsuruta H, Li XP (2002) Effect of standing water depth on methane emissions from freshwater marshes in northeast China. Atmos Environ 36:5149–5157
Drake HL, Aumen NG, Kuhner C, Wagner C, Griesshammer A, Schmittroth M (1996) Anaerobic microflora of Everglades sediments: effects of nutrients on population profiles and activities. Appl Environ Microbiol 62:486–493
GroßKopf R, Janssen PH, Liesack W (1998) Diversity and structure of the methanogenic community in anoxic rice paddy soil microcosms as examined by cultivation and direct 16S rRNA gene sequence retrieval. Appl Environ Microbiol 64:960–969
IPCC (2001) Climate change 2001: the scientific basis, summary for policymakers. Cambridge University Press, New York, USA
Laanbroek H, Veldkamp H (1982) Microbial interactions in sediment communities. Philos Trans R Soc Lond 297:533–550
Lovley DR, Klug MJ (1983) Sulfate reducers can outcompete methanogens at freshwater sulfate concentrations. Appl Environ Microbiol 45:187–192
Ma XH, Yang Q, Liu YL (1996) The change of marsh soil aquatic–physical properties before and after use. In: Chen GQ (ed) Study on marsh in Sanjiang Plain. Science Press, Beijing, China, pp 52–59
Moore TR, Knowles R (1989) The influence of water table levels on methane and carbon dioxide emissions from peatland soils. Can J Soil Sci 69:33–38
Popp TJ, Chanton JP, Whiting GJ, Grant N (2000) Evaluation of methane oxidation in the rhizosphere of a Carex dominated fen in north central Alberta, Canada. Biogeochemistry 51:259–281
Sawyer TE, King GM (1993) Glucose uptake and end product formation in an intertidal marine sediment. Appl Environ Microbiol 59:120–128
Schutz H, Schroder P, Rennenberg H (1991) Role of plants in regulating the methane flux to the atmosphere. In: Sharkey TD, Holland EA, Mooney HA (eds) Trace gas emissions by plant. Academic Press, San Diego, Calif., pp 29–63
Shannon RD, White JR (1996) The effects of spatial and temporal variations in acetate and sulfate on methane cycling in two Michigan peatlands. Limnol Oceanogr 41:435–443
Shannon RD, White JR, Lawson JE, Gilmour BS (1996) Methane efflux from emergent vegetation in peatlands. J Ecol 84:239–246
Valentine DW, Holland EA, Schimel DS (1994) Ecosystem and physiological controls over methane production in northern wetlands. J Geophys Res 99:1563–1571
Van den Pol-van Dasselaar A, van Beusichem ML, Oenema O (1999) Methane emissions from wet grasslands on peat soil in a nature preserve. Biogeochemistry 44:205–210
Van der Nat FJWA, Middelburg JJ (1998) Season variation in methane oxidation by the rhizosphere of Phragmites australis and Scirpus lacustris. Aquat Bot 61:95–110
Walter BP, Heimann M, Shannon RD, White JR (1996) A process-based model to derive methane emission from natural wetlands. Geophys Res Lett 23:3731–3734
Watanabe A, Kimura M (1995) Methane production and its fate in paddy fields. VIII. Seasonal variations in the amount of methane retained in soil. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 41:225–233
Watanabe I, Takada G, Hashimoto T, Inubushi K (1995) Evaluation of alternative substrates for determining methane-oxidizing activities and methanotrophic populations in soils. Biol Fertil Soils 20:101–106
Watson A, Stephen KD, Nedwell DB, Arah JRM (1997) Oxidation of methane in peat: a kinetics of CH4 and O2 removal and the role of plant roots. Soil Biol Biochem 29:1165–1172
Westermann P (1993) Temperature regulation of methanogenesis in wetlands. Chemosphere 26:321–328
Westermann P (1994) The effect of incubation temperature on steady-state concentrations of hydrogen and volatile fatty acids during anaerobic degradation in slurries from wetland sediments. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 13:295–302
Westermann P, Ahring BK, Mah RA (1989) Temperature compensation in Methanosarcina barkeri by modulation of hydrogen and acetate affinity. Appl Environ Microbiol 55:1262–1266
Whiticar MJ, Faber E, Schoell M (1986) Biogenic methane formation in marine and freshwater environments: CO2 reduction vs acetate fermentation-isotope evidence. Geochem Cosmochim Acta 50:693–709
Whiting GJ, Chanton JP (1993) Primary production control of methane emission from wetlands. Nature 364:794–795
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
Yavitt JB, Lang GE, Wider 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
Acknowledgements
The study was financially supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC40471121) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-302). We thank Dr Changchun Song and Baxing Yan at the Sanjiang Mire Wetland Experimental Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for allowing us to carry out this experiment on the marsh. We also thank Mr Youzhe Li and Mingyue Ji for their help with sampling, Mrs Xiaoping Li for her technical assistance and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that considerably improved the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ding, W., Cai, Z. & Tsuruta, H. Factors affecting seasonal variation of methane concentration in water in a freshwater marsh vegetated with Carex lasiocarpa. Biol Fertil Soils 41, 1–8 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-004-0812-9
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-004-0812-9