Moss-covered ditches in dried peatlands are releasing less methane into the atmosphere than previously thought. This has been reported by the Finnish Natural Resources Institute.
Methane is considered one of the most effective greenhouse gases contributing to global warming. Marshes and peatlands are an important source of this gas. About 5.9 million hectares of Finnish peatland, about 17% of Finland’s land area, has been drained for forestry. This reduced methane emissions from peat soil, but drainage ditches were a source of methane emissions instead of soil.
The study found that moss-covered ditches produce very little methane emissions—eight times less than water-covered ditches. Thus, estimates of methane emissions from drained swamps turned out to be overestimated. Presumably, the observed effect is related to microbial activity.
“Methanotrophs, methane-consuming bacteria, live in and on algae and consume methane before it is released into the atmosphere. It is also possible that organic compounds released by algae inhibit the activity of methanogenic microbes that produce methane,” the scientists say.
This observation can be used to reduce methane emissions from forestry. Now, on the contrary, the standard action is to clear the ditches of moss.
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