Stress-Induced Changes in Methanotrophic Communities of Agricultural Soils

Examining the response of soil community components, which play the crucial eco-biospheric roles, to natural or anthropogenic disturbances is the key approach to assessment of ecosystem resilience to stresses. Soil methanotrophs, which regulate atmospheric methane concentrations, represent a particularly promising focus for such research. Microcosms of sod-podzolic soil from the Moscow region were used to assess the impact of drying, ammonium salts, and their combined effects on the activity and taxonomic structure of methanotrophic communities. Furthermore, we experimentally validated the hypothesis that the introduction of an active methanotrophic consortium, derived from Chernevaya taiga soil, can effectively restore the methane-oxidizing capacity of agricultural soils.