Riverbed methanotrophy sustained by high carbon conversion efficiency.

ABSTRACT: Our understanding of the role of freshwaters in the global carbon cycle is being revised, but there is still a lack of data, especially for the cycling of methane, in rivers and streams. Unravelling the role of methanotrophy is key to determining the fate of methane in rivers. Here we focus on the carbon conversion efficiency (CCE) of methanotrophy, that is, how much organic carbon is produced per mole of CH4 oxidised, and how this is influenced by variation in methanotroph communities. First, we show that the CCE of riverbed methanotrophs is consistently high (~50%) across a wide range of methane concentrations (~10-7000 nM) and despite a 10-fold span in the rate of methane oxidation. Then, we show that this high conversion efficiency is largely conserved (50%± confidence interval 44-56%)

SUBMITTER: Trimmer M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4579481 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature