Higher temperature sensitivity of forest soil methane oxidation in colder climates.

Jiang, Baizhi; Chen, Hongyang; Wei, Zhenyu; Zhang, Junqi; Guo, Muxi; Yang, Taoge; Zhou, Xuhui · Nat Commun · 2025

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Forest soils, serving as an important sink for atmospheric methane (CH<sub>4</sub>), modulate the global CH<sub>4</sub> budget. However, the direction and magnitude of the forest soil CH<sub>4</sub> sink under warming remain uncertain, partly because the temperature response of microbial CH<sub>4</sub> oxidation varies substantially across geographical scales. Here, we reveal the spatial variation in the response of forest soil microbial CH<sub>4</sub> oxidation to warming, along with the driving factors, across 84 sites spanning a broad latitudinal gradient in eastern China. Our results show that the temperature sensitivity of soil microbial CH<sub>4</sub> oxidation significantly declines with increasing site mean annual temperature, with a range of 0.03 to 0.77 μg CH<sub>4</sub> g<sup>-1</sup> soil d<sup>-1</sup> °C<sup>-1</sup>. Moreover, soil resources and type II methanotrophs play crucial roles in shaping the temperature sensitivity of soil microbial CH<sub>4</sub> oxidation. Our findings highlight the importance of incorporating climate, soil resources, and methanotroph groups into biogeochemical models to more realistically predict forest soil CH<sub>4</sub> sink under warming.