..................................................................................................................................................... xi Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.0 Introduction .............................................................................

[1] There is intense debate about whether terrestrial vegetation contributes substantially to global methane emissions. Although trees may act as a conduit for methane release from soils to atmosphere, the debate centers on whether vegetation directly produces methane by an uncharacterized, abiotic mechanism. A second mechanism of direct methane production in plants occurs when methanogens – mi...

Methane oxidation associated with the belowground tissues of a common aquatic macrophyte, the burweed Sparganium eurycarpum, was assayed in situ by a chamber technique with acetylene or methyl fluoride as a methanotrophic inhibitor at a headspace concentration of 3 to 4%. Acetylene and methyl fluoride inhibited both methane oxidation and peat methanogenesis. However, inhibition of methanogenesi...

Dietary lipids can suppress methane emission from ruminants, but effects are variable. Especially the role of bacteria, archaea, fungi and protozoa in mediating the lipid effects is unclear. In the present in vitro study, archaea, fungi and protozoa were selectively inhibited by specific agents. This was fully or almost fully successful for fungi and protozoa as well as archaeal activity as det...

Methane emissions account for 8 % of the EU-15 GHG emissions and livestock generates 40 % of these emissions (European Commission, 2009). These fluxes are mainly measured in metabolic chambers with the drawback of bringing the cattle in an unfamiliar environment. Recent technological advances in spectroscopy now permit methane flux measurement using eddy covariance. This micrometeorological met...

This paper presents estimates of current and future global anthropogenic methane emissions, their technical mitigation potential and associated costs for the period 2005 to 2030. The analysis uses the GAINS model framework to estimate emissions, mitigation potentials and costs for all major sources of anthropogenic methane for 83 countries/regions, which are aggregated to produce global estimat...

Climate change is seen as a major threat to the survival of many species, ecosystems and the sustainability of livestock production systems in many parts of the world. Green house gases (GHG) are released in the atmosphere both by natural sources and anthropogenic (human related) activities. An attempt has been made in this article to understand the contribution of ruminant livestock to climate...

Background: Due to the greenhouse gases emission caused by human activities there is wide agreement about global warming. Methane is one of the most dangerous greenhouse gases in the global warming process which is produced through human activities and natural processes. In addition, the use of fertilizers and chemical pesticides would produce nitrogen monoxide in the atmosphere. This gas is an...