Wayne, This is the paper that the program was referring to: Keppler et al. 2006 Methane emissions from terrestrial plants under aerobic conditions. Nature 439, 187-191.
I don't think there was any direct evidence of CO2 influencing the rate of methane production, but the methane efflux showed a strong temperature relationship, so the show may have been discussing the indirect impact of rising CO2. The study used gamma-irradiated leaves to minimize the potential of methane-producing bacteria causing the signal, but I don't think that methanotrophic bacteria were considered. Cheers, Danielle Way University of Toronto Wayne Tyson wrote: According to an English-language TV program originating in Germany, researchers at the Max Planck Institute have demonstrated that plants emit methane into the atmosphere. The report implied that more research is needed to determine whether or not this "greenhouse gas" is increasing because of increased levels of atmospheric CO2. First, does anyone know whether or not my interpretation is correct, in error, or incomplete? Second, I noted that there was no mention of the influence of methanotrophic bacteria, leaving the impression, with me at least, that methanotrophic activitiy was not part of their calculations. Is anyone familiar enough with this research to clarify this? Did the TV producers simply leave this aspect of the research out of the report or do the researchers consider it irrelevant or insignificant? WT
