Vegetation increases CH4 emissions and methanotroph diversity in marine sediments

Abstract

Seagrass meadows are key blue carbon (C) ecosystems, storing large amounts of organic C over centuries. Their climate benefits may be reduced by methane (CH) emissions, whose microbial and environmental descriptors in Zostera noltei meadows, dominant seagrass in North-Western Europe, remain poorly understood. We studied CH fluxes, CH-producing and consuming microbial communities and sediment physico-chemical parameters in Z. noltei meadows and adjacent bare sediments across seven sites in Arcachon Bay, France. In situ CH fluxes were measured at low tide and microbial communities were characterised using targeted metagenomics of three functional genes (mcrA, mmoX, pmoA) and quantitative PCR. CH fluxes were higher in vegetated than bare sediments (24.4 {+/-} 2.6 vs. 9.4 {+/-} 0.7 {micro}mol m-{superscript 2} d-{superscript 1}). Mixed linear models and random forest analyses identified C accumulation rate and CO2 flux as the strongest positive descriptors of CH fluxes. Vegetated sediments hosted more diverse methanotrophs, while methanogens showed no habitat differences. Four genera (mcrA-Methanolobus, mmoX-Methylocella, pmoA-Methylococcus, Methyloglobulus) emerged as abundant, seagrass-associated, correlated with CH fluxes, and highlighted by models. Functional diversity, especially pmoA richness, was a stronger microbial descriptor of CH fluxes than gene abundance or a specific genus. Findings indicate Z. noltei meadows enhance C burial and CH emission, with methanotroph diversity potentially mitigating CH emissions. Our results provide the first integrated assessment of CH fluxes and their descriptors in Z. noltei meadows, highlighting the intertwined nature of C burial and CH emissions and the need to account for both in blue C climate assessments.