A comment on scaling methane emissions from vegetation and grazing ruminants in New Zealand
Francis M. Kelliher A E , Harry Clark B , Zheng Li C , Paul C. D. Newton B , Anthony J. Parsons B and Gerald Rys DA Landcare Research, PO Box 69, Lincoln, New Zealand.
B Landcare Research, Private Bag 3127, Hamilton, New Zealand.
C AgResearch, Private Bag 11008, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
D Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, PO Box 2526, Wellington, New Zealand.
E Corresponding author. Email: KelliherF@landcareresearch.co.nz
Functional Plant Biology 33(7) 613-615 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP06088
Submitted: 13 April 2006 Accepted: 16 May 2006 Published: 1 June 2006
Abstract
Keppler et al. (2006, Nature 439, 187–191) showed that plants produce methane (CH4) in aerobic environments, leading Lowe (2006, Nature 439, 148–149) to postulate that in countries such as New Zealand, where grazed pastures have replaced forests, the forests could have produced as much CH4 as the ruminants currently grazing these areas. Estimating CH4 emissions from up to 85 million ruminants in New Zealand is challenging and, for completeness, the capacity of forest and pastoral soils to oxidise CH4 should be included. On average, the CH4 emission rate of grazing ruminants is estimated to be 9.6 ± 2.6 g m–2 year–1 (±standard deviation), six times the corresponding estimate for an indigenous forest canopy (1.6 ± 1.1 g m–2 year–1). The forest’s soil is estimated to oxidise 0.9 ± 0.2 g m–2 year–1 more CH4 than representative soils beneath grazed pasture. Taking into account plant and animal sources and the soil’s oxidative capacity, the net CH4 emission rates of forest and grazed ecosystems are 0.6 ± 1.1 and 9.8 ± 2.6 g m–2 year–1, respectively.
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge funding by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, valuable discussions with Tim Clough, Johannes Laubach and Sally Price and spatial data analysis by Peter Newsome. Two anonymous reviewers constructively criticised our original submission.
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