Relative increases in CH4 and CO2 emissions from wetlands under global warming dependent on soil carbon substrates

15 páginas.- 3 figuras.- 57 referencias.- Supplementary information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01345-6

Compelling evidence has shown that wetland methane emissions are more temperature dependent than carbon dioxide emissions across diverse hydrologic conditions. However, the availability of carbon substrates, which ultimately determines microbial carbon metabolism, has not been adequately accounted for. By combining a global database and a continental-scale experimental study, we showed that differences in the temperature dependence of global wetland methane and carbon dioxide emissions (EM/C) were dependent on soil carbon-to-nitrogen stoichiometry. This can be explained mainly by the positive relationship between soil organic matter decomposability and EM/C. Our study indicates that only 23% of global wetlands will decrease methane relative to carbon dioxide emissions under future warming scenarios when soil organic matter decomposability is considered. Our findings highlight the importance of incorporating soil organic matter biodegradability into model predictions of wetland carbon–climate feedback.

The authors received funding from Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA28030102 to Y.L.), National Natural Scientific Foundation of China (92251305 to M.N., 41622104 to Y.L.), Innovation Program of the Institute of Soil Science (ISSASIP2201 to Y.L.) and Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2016284 to Y.L.).

Peer reviewed