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Global change

A green source of surprise

Nature volume 439, pages 148–149 (2006)Cite this article

Living terrestrial vegetation emits large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. This unexpected finding, if confirmed, will have an impact on both greenhouse-gas accounting and research into sources of methane.

On page 187 of this issue, Keppler et al.1 report the remarkable discovery that terrestrial plants emit methane into the atmosphere. Their results are startling, for two reasons. First, because the methane emissions they document occur under normal physiological conditions, in the presence of oxygen, rather than through bacterial action in anoxic environments. Second, because the estimated emissions are large, constituting 10–30% of the annual total of methane entering Earth's atmosphere.

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Figure 1: Methane sources and sinks.

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  1. the Tropospheric Physics and Chemistry Group, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Private Bag, Wellington, 14901, New Zealand

    David C. Lowe

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  1. David C. Lowe
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Lowe, D. A green source of surprise. Nature 439, 148–149 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/439148a

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