Microbial Functional Gene Abundance-Integrated Modeling of Global Methane Sinks in Upland Soils Under Future Climate Change

TY - JOUR

T1 - Microbial Functional Gene Abundance-Integrated Modeling of Global Methane Sinks in Upland Soils Under Future Climate Change

AU - Xiao, Wensheng

AU - Zhou, Xiaoqi

AU - Cheng, Li

AU - Bodelier, Paul L.E.

AU - Wang, Gangsheng

AU - Yang, Zhifeng

AU - Zhou, Jizhong

N1 - Data archiving: no NIOO data

PY - 2026/7/28

Y1 - 2026/7/28

N2 - Methanotrophs are key microbial regulators of soil methane (CH4) sinks, but the global impact of their functional gene abundance on CH4 oxidation remains unquantified. This gap limits the integration of key functional genes abundance parameters (e.g., pmoA) into soil CH4 sink model. We integrated meta-analysis, machine learning, and process-based modeling to assess the relationship between pmoA gene abundance and soil CH4 uptake. Our developed Functional Gene Abundance-Based Methanotrophy Model (FGA-MeMo) incorporates pmoA as a proxy for CH4 oxidation capacity, significantly improving model simulations. FGA-MeMo estimates global upland soil CH4 uptake at 45.74 ± 0.26 Tg year−1, which is 56%–58% higher than MeMo model. Under SSP5-8.5 scenario, this increases to 64.68 ± 0.35 Tg year−1 by 2100, with mid- and high-latitude regions showing enhanced CH4 oxidation due to greater pmoA abundance. These findings highlight the importance of integrating microbial functional genes into Earth system models for improved CH4 cycle predictions.

AB - Methanotrophs are key microbial regulators of soil methane (CH4) sinks, but the global impact of their functional gene abundance on CH4 oxidation remains unquantified. This gap limits the integration of key functional genes abundance parameters (e.g., pmoA) into soil CH4 sink model. We integrated meta-analysis, machine learning, and process-based modeling to assess the relationship between pmoA gene abundance and soil CH4 uptake. Our developed Functional Gene Abundance-Based Methanotrophy Model (FGA-MeMo) incorporates pmoA as a proxy for CH4 oxidation capacity, significantly improving model simulations. FGA-MeMo estimates global upland soil CH4 uptake at 45.74 ± 0.26 Tg year−1, which is 56%–58% higher than MeMo model. Under SSP5-8.5 scenario, this increases to 64.68 ± 0.35 Tg year−1 by 2100, with mid- and high-latitude regions showing enhanced CH4 oxidation due to greater pmoA abundance. These findings highlight the importance of integrating microbial functional genes into Earth system models for improved CH4 cycle predictions.

KW - functional gene abundance

KW - methane process

KW - methane sink

KW - model

KW - pmoA

U2 - 10.1111/gcb.71026

DO - 10.1111/gcb.71026

M3 - Article

C2 - 42517205

AN - SCOPUS:105046122812

SN - 1354-1013

VL - 32

JO - Global Change Biology

JF - Global Change Biology

IS - 7

M1 - e71026

ER -