Authors: WAGNER, DIRK¹; GATTINGER, ANDREAS²; EMBACHER, ARNDT³; PFEIFFER, EVA-MARIA¹; SCHLOTER, MICHAEL³; LIPSKI, ANDRÉ⁴

Source: Global Change Biology, Volume 13, Number 5, May 2007 , pp. 1089-1099(11)

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Abstract:

Permafrost environments within the Siberian Arctic are natural sources of the climate relevant trace gas methane. In order to improve our understanding of the present and future carbon dynamics in high latitudes, we studied the methane concentration, the quantity and quality of organic matter, and the activity and biomass of the methanogenic community in permafrost deposits. For these investigations a permafrost core of Holocene age was drilled in the Lena Delta (72°22′N, 126°28′E). The organic carbon of the permafrost sediments varied between 0.6% and 4.9% and was characterized by an increasing humification index with permafrost depth. A high CH₄ concentration was found in the upper 4 m of the deposits, which correlates well with the methanogenic activity and archaeal biomass (expressed as PLEL concentration). Even the incubation of core material at −3 and −6°C with and without substrates showed a significant CH₄ production (range: 0.04-0.78 nmol CH₄ h⁻¹ g⁻¹). The results indicated that the methane in Holocene permafrost deposits of the Lena Delta originated from modern methanogenesis by cold-adapted methanogenic archaea. Microbial generated methane in permafrost sediments is so far an underestimated factor for the future climate development.

Keywords: methane; methane release; methanogenesis; permafrost deposits; phospholipid biomarker; psychrophiles

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01331.x

Affiliations: 1: Research Department Potsdam, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Telegrafenberg A45, 14473 Potsdam, Germany, 2: Chair of Soil Ecology, Technical University of Munich, 85758 Oberschleissheim, 3: GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health, Institute of Soil Ecology, Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany, 4: Department of Microbiology, University Osnabrück, 49069 Osnabrück, Germany

Publication date: 2007-05-01

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