Methanogenesis and Its Role in Climate-Change Alleviation

Abstract

Methanogenesis is the biological generation of methane (CH4) by anaerobic microbes belonging to the Archaea domain, also known as methanogens. Understanding how microbial methanogenesis reacts to temperature is crucial for anticipating how this powerful greenhouse gas will interact with climate change. Microorganisms in the environment play a significant role in both global and terrestrial methane emissions and sinks. Climate change mitigation efforts strive to reduce and prevent the emission of harmful greenhouse gases. Researchers have expanded on the importance of methylotrophic communities in global carbon cycle and reducing the influence of greenhouse gases such as methane, carbon dioxide, water vapours, and indirectly carbon derivatives in the environment because of their function in climate change mitigation. The positive response of the methylotrophic community is therefore changing the warm ground surface to cooler temperatures, resulting in a more adaptable habitat for species to survive. The reaction of respiratory carbon (C) emission to temperature change can be reduced over time by a compensatory thermal response in microbial activity. The mass-specific CH4 respiration rates of the methanogens drop with warming and rise with cooling, implying that microbial methanogenesis has temperature-dependent compensatory responses. However, a complete mechanistic understanding of the reaction of methane cycle to global warming is still deficient. This chapter discusses the role of the methylotrophic community in reducing greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.