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
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
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