Linkage among Vegetation, Microbes and Methanogenic Pathways in Alaskan Peatlands

Abstract:

Northern wetlands are thought to account for one third of the naturally emitted CH₄. However, methane production pathways in northern peatlands are poorly understood, yet are predicted to change in response to vegetation shifts due to warming. Previous studies noted that acetate conversion to methane (acetoclastic methanogenesis, AM) in northern wetlands is largely impeded and acetate accumulates, however AM tends to increase with minerotrophy. To understand methanogenic pathways and to provide linkage among pathways, we studied Alaskan wetlands in 2013 and 2014. In 2013, laboratory incubations were conducted in three peatlands representing trophic gradients from bogs to fens. During 2014, 37 different sites in Fairbanks and Anchorage were studied that represented wetlands with pH values from 3.5 to 5.5 and vegetation from primarily Sphagnum to sedges. Measurements in 2014 included vegetation composition, gases (CH₄, CO₂, H₂, and CO), ¹³CH₄ and ¹³CO₂, volatile fatty acids, DOC, other electron acceptors. Further incubation studies are being conducted to decipher controls on decomposition pathways. Gene sequencing was used to characterize microbial community composition, and metagenomic and transcriptomics were conducted to describe community activity. Results showed that methanogenesis was higher in fens than bogs, but hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis (HM) was dominant at all sites. End product ratios showed that AM was occurring in fens, albeit slowly. Fermentation was an important end-point in decomposition and microbial syntrophy was weak. These data, regardless of trophic status, differed greatly from data obtained from temperate wetlands in which terminal respiratory processes were strong and C flow through syntrophy was important. Trophic status influenced C flow in the Alaskan sites, but terminal processes were weak and end product formation tended to end at primary fermentation, which dominated as the terminal step in decomposition.