Methane formation in aerobic environments

Frank Keppler; Mihály Boros; Christian Frankenberg; Jos Lelieveld; Andrew McLeod; Anna Maria Pirttilä; Thomas Röckmann; Jörg-Peter Schnitzler

doi:10.1071/EN09137

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Methane formation in aerobic environments

Frank Keppler ^A ^H , Mihály Boros ^B , Christian Frankenberg ^C , Jos Lelieveld ^A , Andrew McLeod ^D , Anna Maria Pirttilä ^E , Thomas Röckmann ^F and Jörg-Peter Schnitzler ^G

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry, D-55128 Mainz, Germany.

^B Institute of Surgical Research, University of Szeged, H-6722 Szeged, Hungary.

^C Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON), Sorbonnelaan 2, NL-3584 CA Utrecht, the Netherlands.

^D School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Crew Building, The King’s Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JN, United Kingdom.

^E Department of Biology, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland.

^F Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht University, NL-3584 CC Utrecht, the Netherlands.

^G Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-IFU), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, D-82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

^H Corresponding author. Email: frank.keppler@mpic.de

Environmental Chemistry 6(6) 459-465 https://doi.org/10.1071/EN09137
Submitted: 3 November 2009 Accepted: 17 November 2009 Published: 18 December 2009

Environmental context. Methane is an important greenhouse gas and its atmospheric concentration has drastically increased since pre-industrial times. Until recently biological methane formation has been associated exclusively with anoxic environments and microbial activity. In this article we discuss several alternative formation pathways of methane in aerobic environments and suggest that non-microbial methane formation may be ubiquitous in terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

Abstract. Methane (CH₄), the second principal anthropogenic greenhouse gas after CO₂, is the most abundant reduced organic compound in the atmosphere and plays a central role in atmospheric chemistry. Therefore a comprehensive understanding of its sources and sinks and the parameters that control emissions is prerequisite to simulate past, present and future atmospheric conditions. Until recently biological CH₄ formation has been associated exclusively with anoxic environments and methanogenic activity. However, there is growing and convincing evidence of alternative pathways in the aerobic biosphere including terrestrial plants, soils, marine algae and animals. Identifying and describing these sources is essential to complete our understanding of the biogeochemical cycles that control CH₄ in the atmospheric environment and its influence as a greenhouse gas.

Acknowledgements

We thank N. Brüggemann, E. Damm, M. Ghyczy, A. Jugold, C. Kammann, D. Messenger, A. Sessitsch, J. Stefels, I. Vigano, Z. Wang and A. Wishkerman for presenting their work at the ‘First workshop on aerobic methane formation in the environment including plants and animals’ held on 26 and 27 February 2009 at the MPI for Chemistry in Mainz. We are grateful to J. Hamilton and K. Smith for reviewing the manuscript. We thank EON Ruhrgas for financial support of the workshop. F. Keppler is supported by the European Science Foundation (European Young Investigator Award) and the German Science Foundation (KE 884/2–1).

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Methane formation in aerobic environments

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