Metabolic and trophic interactions modulate methane production by Arctic peat microbiota in response to warming

Microorganisms are key players in emissions of the greenhouse gas (GHG) methane from anoxic carbon-rich peat soils of the Arctic permafrost region. Although available data and modeling suggest a significant temperature-induced increase of GHG emissions from these regions by the end of this century,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Main Authors: Tveit, Alexander Tøsdal, Urich, Tim, Frenzel, Peter, Svenning, Mette Marianne
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: National Academy of Sciences 2015
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Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4434766/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25918393
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1420797112
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Summary:Microorganisms are key players in emissions of the greenhouse gas (GHG) methane from anoxic carbon-rich peat soils of the Arctic permafrost region. Although available data and modeling suggest a significant temperature-induced increase of GHG emissions from these regions by the end of this century, the controls of and interactions within the underlying microbial networks are largely unknown. This temperature-gradient study of an Arctic peat soil using integrated omics techniques reveals critical temperatures at which microbial adaptations cause changes in metabolic bottlenecks of anaerobic carbon-degradation pathways. In particular taxonomic shifts within functional guilds at different levels of the carbon degradation cascade enable a fast adaptation of the microbial system resulting in high methane emissions at all temperatures.