Induction of enhanced CH4 oxidation in soils: NH4+ inhibition patterns

doi:10.1016/S0038-0717(03)00122-6

Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Volume 35, Issue 7, July 2003, Pages 907-913

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0038-0717(03)00122-6 Get rights and content

Abstract

The influence of NH₄⁺ on microbial CH₄ oxidation is still poorly understood. Therefore, the influence of NH₄Cl and (NH₄)₂SO₄ on CH₄ oxidation was studied in soils at the different stages of the induction of enhanced methanotrophic activity. After a brief peak in the methanotrophic activity, a steady state was observed in which NH₄⁺ inhibited CH₄ oxidation at low CH₄ concentrations, and stimulated CH₄ oxidation at high concentrations. Chloride did not strongly inhibit CH₄ oxidation during this phase. During a second phase methanotrophic activity increased again. Ammonium no longer stimulated CH₄ oxidation, and Cl⁻ became an important source of uncompetitive inhibition. It was hypothesized that type I methanotrophs dominated during the first, soil-N-dependent phase while N₂-fixing type II methanotrophs dominated the second, soil-N-independent phase.

Introduction

The most poorly understood factor affecting microbial CH₄ oxidation in soils is the NH₄⁺ concentration in the soil. Most studies, especially at atmospheric CH₄ concentrations, show that NH₄⁺ inhibits CH₄ oxidation, e.g. in the case of NH₄⁺ fertilizer application (Hütsch et al., 1993). Some studies, on the other hand, indicate that when NH₄⁺ is added to soils exposed to high CH₄ concentrations, it can stimulate CH₄ oxidation (Bender and Conrad, 1995, Boeckx et al., 1996, Bodelier et al., 2000). Little is known about the cause of these differences.

King and Schnell, 1994a, King and Schnell, 1994b found that the inhibitory effect of NH₄⁺ on CH₄ oxidation increased with increasing CH₄ concentrations, and attributed the effect to NO₂⁻ formation. However, increasing the CH₄ concentration decreased the NO₂⁻ formation in experiments of Dunfield and Knowles (1995). Gulledge and Schimel (1998) concluded that the increasing inhibition effect of CH₄ oxidation with increasing CH₄ concentration observed by King and Schnell, 1994a, King and Schnell, 1994b was due to Cl⁻, the counter-ion of NH₄⁺ in their study. Whalen (2000) also attributed NH₄Cl inhibition effects to Cl⁻. Still, the increasing inhibition effect with increasing CH₄ concentration has been observed with (NH₄)₂SO₄ as well (King and Schnell, 1998). All of these studies were performed with soils that were adapted to atmospheric CH₄ concentrations.

Exposure of soils to high CH₄ mixing ratios alters the microbial ecology of soils considerably. De Visscher et al., 1999, De Visscher et al., 2001 found that NH₄⁺ tended to stimulate CH₄ oxidation when it was added after a brief exposure (about 1 week) of the soil to high CH₄ concentrations, but tended to inhibit CH₄ oxidation when added after a long exposure (>1 month) to high CH₄ concentrations. Since these studies were performed with NH₄Cl, Cl⁻ cannot be ruled out as a potential influencing factor.

Issues on the effect of NH₄⁺ on CH₄ oxidation in landfill cover soils are of practical importance because of the growing interest in engineered landfill cover materials, like compost-amended soils, which contain high inorganic N concentrations (Humer and Lechner, 1999).

Some of the issues raised above might be resolved if it can be assumed that inhibition patterns change over time. Therefore, our aim was to investigate how the ability of soils to oxidize CH₄ develops while it is exposed to high CH₄ mixing ratios, and how the response to NH₄⁺ and Cl⁻ evolves during this development.

Section snippets

Soil characteristics and soil handling

The soil used in this study was the same as that used by De Visscher et al. (2001), but it had been stored air-dry for about 2 y before use. It originates from the cover of a landfill near Antwerp, Belgium. The soil properties were: 60% sand; 31.6% silt; 8.4% clay (sandy loam according to USDA classification); 1.7% C; soil pH_H2O 6.6. One week after rewetting the soil to 140 g H₂O kg⁻¹ air-dry soil, three incubation columns were filled up with a 50 cm layer of soil. The columns were Plexiglas

Moisture content

Fig. 1 shows the moisture content of the soil samples from the three incubation cylinders, as a function of sampling time. The moisture contents stay fairly constant for about 2 months. After day 60 the moisture contents differed considerably. This might have been the result of a drying front (at 1% CH₄) or a wetting front (at 10% CH₄) moving up the column. That would mean that the condition of the soil was not homogeneous throughout the column. In principle, changes of the microbial ecology

Methanotrophic activity

The methanotrophic activity declined considerably when the inorganic N content reached a steady state, indicating that the activity decline was a response to N shortage. Later on the methanotrophic activity was uncoupled from the N transformations in the soil: it increased in spite of the low inorganic N content of the soil. Thus two phases can be distinguished: first a phase of soil-N-dependent methanotrophic activity comprising the first peak and the steady state, and then a phase of

Acknowledgements

Eric Gillis and Danny Pauwels are acknowledged for their contributions to the analyses.

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Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Soil characteristics and soil handling

Moisture content

Methanotrophic activity

Acknowledgements

References (20)

Effect of CH₄ concentrations and soil conditions on the induction of CH₄ oxidation activity

Soil Biology & Biochemistry

Methane emission from a landfill and the methane oxidising capacity of its covering soil

Soil Biology & Biochemistry

Different NH₄⁺-inhibition patterns of soil CH₄ consumption: a result of different CH₄-oxidizer populations across sites?

Soil Biology & Biochemistry

Long-term effects of nitrogen fertilization on methane oxidation in soil of the Broadbalk wheat experiment

Soil Biology & Biochemistry

Stimulation by ammonium-based fertilizers of methane oxidation in soil around rice roots

Nature

Revised taxonomy of the methanotrophs: description of Methylobacter gen. nov., emendation of Methylococcus, validation of Methylosinus and Methylocystis species, and a proposal that the family Methylococcaceae includes only the group I methanotrophs

International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology

Methane oxidation in simulated landfill cover soil environments

Environmental Science and Technology

Short-term kinetic response of enhanced methane oxidation to environmental factors

Biology and Fertility of Soils

Kinetics of inhibition of methane oxidation by nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium in a humisol

Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Factors affecting competition between type I and type II methanotrophs in two-organism, continuous-flow reactors

Microbial Ecology

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