Click on image to view larger version.



Fig. 1. One example each of incubations from 25°C (A and B) and 4°C (C and D). Monitored over time were CH4 uptake, CO2 production (A and C), and the {delta}13C of each of these gases (B and D). Solid symbols represent CH4 while open symbols represent CO2. In every incubation (n = 7 at 4°C and n = 10 at 25°C), the CH4 uptake rate was greater than the CO2 production rate. From the isotopic composition of methane oxidized (calculated with Eq. [5]) and the measured {delta}13C of soil organic matter, we were able to partition the CO2 produced from these two sources (Eq. [6]) to determine the apportionment of CH4 to methanotrophic biomass and respiration, respectively ("carbon utilization", Table 6). Note the different times scales on the x axes