Seasonal dynamics of methane cycling microbial communities in Amazonian floodplain sediments.

Abstract

The Amazonian floodplain forests are dynamic ecosystems of great importance for the regional hydrological and biogeochemical cycles and provide a significant contribution to the global carbon balance. Unique geochemical factors may drive the microbial community composition and, consequently, affect CH4 emissions across floodplain areas. Here we provide the first report of the in situ seasonal dynamics of CH4 cycling microbial communities in Amazonian floodplains. We asked how abiotic factors may affect both overall and CH4 cycling microbial communities and further investigated their responses to seasonal changes. We collected sediment samples during wet and dry seasons from three different types of floodplain forests, along with upland forest soil samples, from the Eastern Amazon, Brazil. We used high-resolution sequencing of archaeal and bacterial 16S rRNA genes combined with real-time PCR to quantify Archaea and Bacteria, as well as key functional genes indicative of the methanogenic (methyl coenzyme-M reductase - mcrA) and methanotrophic (particulate methane monooxygenase - pmoA) metabolisms. Methanogens were found to be present in high abundance in floodplain sediments and they seem to resist to dramatic seasonal environmental changes. Methanotrophs known to use different pathways to oxidise CH4 were detected, including anaerobic archaeal and bacterial taxa, indicating that a wide metabolic diversity may be harboured in this highly variable environment. The floodplain environmental variability, which is affected by the river origin, drives not only the sediment chemistry, but also the composition of the microbial communities. The results presented may contribute to the understanding of the current state of CH4 cycling in this region.