Climate-driven shifts in sediment chemistry enhance methane production in northern lakes.

ABSTRACT: Freshwater ecosystems are a major source of methane (CH₄), contributing 0.65 Pg (in CO₂ equivalents) yr^-1 towards global carbon emissions and offsetting ~25% of the terrestrial carbon sink. Most freshwater CH₄ emissions come from littoral sediments, where large quantities of plant material are decomposed. Climate change is predicted to shift plant community composition, and thus change the quality of inputs into detrital food webs, with the potential to affect CH₄ production. Here we find that variation in phenol availability from decomposing organic matter underlies large differences in CH₄ production in lake sediments. Production is at least 400-times higher from sediments composed of macrophyte litter compared to terrestr

SUBMITTER: Emilson EJS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5935729 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature