Methane emissions offset atmospheric carbon dioxide uptake in coastal macroalgae, mixed vegetation and sediment ecosystems.

ABSTRACT: Coastal ecosystems can efficiently remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and are thus promoted for nature-based climate change mitigation. Natural methane (CH₄) emissions from these ecosystems may counterbalance atmospheric CO₂ uptake. Still, knowledge of mechanisms sustaining such CH₄ emissions and their contribution to net radiative forcing remains scarce for globally prevalent macroalgae, mixed vegetation, and surrounding depositional sediment habitats. Here we show that these habitats emit CH₄ in the range of 0.1 - 2.9 mg CH₄ m^-2 d^-1 to the atmosphere, revealing in situ CH₄ emissions from macroalgae that were sustained by divergent methanogenic archaea in anoxic microsites. Over

SUBMITTER: Roth F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9810657 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature