Microbial methanogenesis reveals compensatory responses to temperature changes

–Arpita  Adhikary, Amity University Kolkata

Methane is a greenhouse gas that plays an important role in future climate change due to global warming. In anaerobic soil concentration of methane increases due to microbial methanogenesis. This study illustrates the compensatory response to temperature change in microbial methanogenesis in anaerobic soil. From the Greater Khingan Range and the Tibetan Plateau anaerobic soil was collected and experimented with for 160 days in +4◦C and -4◦C to analyze the effect of thermal response in microbial CH4 respiration and how these changes affect the microbial community dynamics.

After scrutinizing the experiment, an inversely proportional relationship between temperature and The mass-specific CH4 respiration rates of methanogens is established. This relation suggests that microbial methanogenesis displayed compensatory responses to temperature changes. However, changes in the species composition of the methanogenic community are responsible for the compensatory response in the soils during climate change. CH4 fluxes are a major component of global CH4 emissions, soil microbial methanogenesis can have a positive impact on temperature. In the end, a prediction is made that the stimulatory effect of climate warming on soil microbial-driven CH4 emissions are less than what we thought earlier.

 Reference:

Chen, H., Zhu, T., Li, B. et al. The thermal response of soil microbial methanogenesis decreases in magnitude with changing temperature. Nat Commun 11, 5733 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19549-4