Tissue humidity and pH as important species traits regulating tree methane emissions in floodplain wetland forests

Despite the increasing number of studies investigating tree methane fluxes, the relationships between tree methane fluxes and species traits remain mostly unexplored. We measured leaf and stem methane fluxes of five tree species (Acer saccharinum, Fraxinus nigra, Ulmus americana, Salix nigra, and Populus spp.) in the floodplain of Lake St-Pierre (Québec) and examined how these fluxes vary with species traits (wood density, humidity, pH; leaf water content, pH, stomatal conductance; methanogen and methanotroph relative abundances (RAs) in leaf, wood, and bark). Tree methane fluxes differed among tree species according to traits linked to the transport of soil-produced methane and chemical conditions associated with the regulation of methane-cycling microorganisms. Tree fluxes were correlated positively with heartwood and leaf pH and negatively with their humidity. Stem emissions were positively correlated with methanogen RA in heartwood, and leaf emissions were negatively correlated with the RA of leaf epiphytic methanotrophs, suggesting a contribution of tree microbiota in the regulation of methane fluxes. We demonstrated for the first time that tissue pH may be a particularly important trait influencing tree methane fluxes via the regulation of microbial mechanisms. Species with low tissue pH show potential for methane release mitigation.