METHANE CONSUMPTION AND EMISSION BY TAIGA

Taiga or boreal forest environments are a poorly understood component of the global CH4 budget. Results from a 1-year study of CH4 fluxes at a range of representative floodplain and upland taiga sites in the Bonanza Creek long term ecological research area show that soil consumption of atmospheric CH4 was the dominant process. Methane emission occurred only sporadically in the earliest successional stages in the floodplain system; all other floodplain and upland sites were net CH4 consumers. Our results suggest that upland and floodplain taiga soils are an atmospheric CH4 sink of up to 0.8 Tg yr(-1). Point-source bogs and fens are the only important CH4-emitting sites in taiga.