{"id":1279,"date":"2022-11-24T00:01:19","date_gmt":"2022-11-24T00:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-soils\/?p=1279"},"modified":"2022-12-05T09:36:30","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T09:36:30","slug":"world-soils-day-blog-4-tree-methane-getting-to-the-root-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-soils\/2022\/11\/24\/world-soils-day-blog-4-tree-methane-getting-to-the-root-of-it\/","title":{"rendered":"World Soil Day Blog #4: Tree methane \u2013 Getting to the root of it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Holly Blincow, PhD Student, Lancaster Environment Centre<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

h.blincow@lancaster.ac.uk <\/a><\/span>Twitter: @HollyBlincow<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>When you think of trees, you often associate them with providing oxygen, up-taking carbon dioxide (CO<\/span>2<\/span>) and playing a vital role in mitigating against global warming. Whilst all that is true, more recent discoveries have shown they emit methane (CH<\/span>4<\/span>), particularly in wetlands and peatlands across the world\u2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Soils contain the largest pool of actively cycled carbon from on-land ecosystems<\/span>1<\/span> and play an important role in carbon sequestration to counteract global warming. So far, when studying greenhouse gas (GHG) release from soil, much of the research has focussed primarily on CO<\/span>2<\/span>, but there is a growing importance to study methane. CH<\/span>4 <\/span>is the second most impactful anthropogenic GHG after CO<\/span>2<\/span>2<\/span> and has a global warming potential 28 times greater than CO<\/span>2<\/span> over a 100 year time period<\/span>3<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wetlands cover 12.1 million km<\/span>2<\/span> of the Earth\u2019s surface<\/span>4<\/span>, but they store huge quantities of carbon (<\/span>535 Gt<\/span>)<\/span>5<\/span>. They play a vital role in sequestering carbon but in forested wetlands, trees may be providing a pathway for this carbon to be emitted in the form of CH<\/span>4<\/span>6<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So far, scientists have discovered that trees emit more CH<\/span>4<\/span> in tropical wetland forests than anywhere else in the world<\/span>7<\/span>, but the source of this methane is still undiscovered. This is where my study comes in\u2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Research has shown that trees themselves have the ability to produce CH<\/span>4 <\/span>in their stems and bark but there is still question as to whether methane is also produced in the soil.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My study aims to understand CH<\/span>4<\/span> processes that occur below-ground and understand if any of the methane emitted from trees is sourced from soil, and if so, what factors affect this.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My research will be focussed on the Brazilian Amazon rainforest which encounters yearly flood events that lasts up to 6 months and as a results, the rainforest become a huge wetland and releases vast quantities of methane. So for my recipe, I have chosen to honour the tasty fruit that grows on trees in Amazonia \u2013 the Acai fruit.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Pronounced \u2018<\/span>ah-sigh-ee\u2019,<\/span><\/i> this fruit is very difficult to get hold of in the UK, but well worth a try!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recipe: Acai Bowl\u200b<\/h2>\n

Here is a recipe for a Acai bowl by Jessica Randhawa on The Forked Spoon<\/a>. A super healthy dish, packed with flavour.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/h3>\n