Transport of Methane in Trees
Abstract
Although overall methane (CH4) emissions for croplands, wetlands, and forests have been measured, the exact dynamics of CH4 transport through trees is not well understood. What roles transport mechanisms play in emission rates has been thoroughly investigated for rice, but is fairly unknown for trees. Better defined plant transport mechanisms yield more accurate determination of greenhouse gas flux and its variations, contributing to a comprehensive theory quantifying greenhouse gas emissions globally. CH4 emissions from the common wetland tree species black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) native to the Pacific Northwest have been measured under hydroponic conditions in order to separate plant transport processes from the influence of soil processes. Canopy emissions of CH4 have been measured via canopy enclosure. Measurements of CH4 flux from each of 16 trees have indicated that emissions are normally constant over the half-hour sampling period. Samples for stable carbon isotope composition have been taken during these experiments and measured on a mass spectrometer. Compared to the isotopic composition of root water CH4, canopy CH4 is depleted in 13C; this indicates that CH4 moving through the tree is not following a bulk flow pathway (where no depletion would occur), but instead moves either diffusively or through other cell or tissue barriers. No correlation was found to exist between leaf area and CH4 emission; this is vital to upscaling tree-level emissions to the global scale since leaf area index (LAI) cannot be treated as an appropriate parameter to upscale flux. Correctly informing global-scale CH4 fluxes from plants requires an association between the role plant physiology plays in the production and transport of CH4 and magnitudes of flux. This research was supported by the Office of Science (BER), U. S. Department of Energy, Grant No. DE-FG02-08ER64515. Supported in part through NASA / Oregon Space Grant Consortium, grant NNG05GJ85H.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011AGUFM.B11H..06K
- Keywords:
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- 0315 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Biosphere/atmosphere interactions;
- 0330 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Geochemical cycles;
- 0414 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Biogeochemical cycles;
- processes;
- and modeling;
- 0454 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Isotopic composition and chemistry