Declines in methane uptake in forest soils.

ABSTRACT: Forest soils are a sink for atmospheric methane (CH₄) and play an important role in modulating the global CH₄ budget. However, whether CH₄ uptake by forest soils is affected by global environmental change is unknown. We measured soil to atmosphere net CH₄ fluxes in temperate forests at two long-term ecological research sites in the northeastern United States from the late 1990s to the mid-2010s. We found that annual soil CH₄ uptake decreased by 62% and 53% in urban and rural forests in Baltimore, Maryland and by 74% and 89% in calcium-fertilized and reference forests at Hubbard Brook, New Hampshire over this period. This decrease occurred despite marked declines in nitrogen deposition and increases in atmospheric CH₄ concent

SUBMITTER: Ni X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6112695 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature