Impacts of temperature and soil characteristics on methane production and oxidation in Arctic tundra

Zheng, Jianqiu; RoyChowdhury, Taniya; Yang, Ziming; Gu, Baohua; Wullschleger, Stan D.; Graham, David E.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6621-2018

Articles | Volume 15, issue 21

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6621-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6621-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 21

Research article

|

08 Nov 2018

Research article |

| 08 Nov 2018

Impacts of temperature and soil characteristics on methane production and oxidation in Arctic tundra

Jianqiu Zheng, Taniya RoyChowdhury, Ziming Yang, Baohua Gu, Stan D. Wullschleger, and David E. Graham

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Final revised paper (published on 08 Nov 2018)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 29 Jan 2018)
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Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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RC1: 'comments on Zheng et al.', Anonymous Referee #1, 02 Mar 2018
- AC1: 'Response to Reviewer #1', David Graham, 29 Apr 2018
RC2: 'comment on Zheng et al.', Anonymous Referee #2, 29 Mar 2018
- AC2: 'Response to Reviewer #2', David Graham, 29 Apr 2018

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (08 Jun 2018) by Minhan Dai

AR by David Graham on behalf of the Authors (16 Jul 2018) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (23 Aug 2018) by Minhan Dai

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (06 Sep 2018)

RR by Anonymous Referee #3 (17 Sep 2018)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

This manuscript reports effects of temperature and soil layers on CH4 production and oxidation rates in the arctic tundra with a soil incubation experiment. I have major comments regarding the incubation methods, which lead to the results and conclusions:
1) The authors introduced that low-centered polygons (LCPs) are wetter than flat-centered polygons (FCPs) and high-centered polygons (HCPs) (P4). Then why not taking samples from wetter LCPs?
2) It is not clear if all soil samples are incubated anaerobically (closed lids)? If not, soil moisture would change over the 90 days of incubation, and thus changing the CH4 oxidation rates. If yes, the aerobic condition would be totally different from that in the field. Also, would the CH4 concentration in the air space be saturated and inhibit further production of CH4?
3) P5. L15. Soil samples were homogenized. Then the soil structure was damaged, compared with that in the field. How does soil texture affect the CH4 production and consumption?
4) How does the microbial community differ (in diversity and density) during the incubation from those in the field? This shift may change the Q10 function if the incubation results would be used to predict the field condition.

Minor comments:
Title: remove “polygon”, which causes confusion to readers.
P2. L14. It is unclear here if the “source strength” means the carbon producing CO2 or CH4.
P3. L7. “In the classical model of CH4 oxidation profiles” –need references.
P4. L13. Describe the diameter of the “SIPRE auger”.
P12. L26. The diffusion should be discussed. This also relates to my previous comment that the soil structure and text determine the diffusion of gas fluxes (CO2 and CH4). Thus, the change in diffusivity may lead to changes in gas effluxes and the response to temperature.

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ED: Reconsider after major revisions (23 Sep 2018) by Minhan Dai

AR by David Graham on behalf of the Authors (29 Sep 2018) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (25 Oct 2018) by Minhan Dai

AR by David Graham on behalf of the Authors (25 Oct 2018)

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Short summary

Arctic soils store vast amounts of frozen carbon that will thaw, fueling microbes that produce carbon dioxide and methane greenhouse gases. We compared methane producing and oxidizing activities in incubated soils and permafrost of Arctic tundra to improve estimates of net emissions. The methane oxidation profile in these soils differs from temperate ecosystems: maximum methane oxidation potential occurs in suboxic soils and permafrost layers, close to the methanogens that produce methane.