Vascular plant controls on methane emissions from northern peatforming wetlands.

Methane emissions from wetlands are highly variable, both spatially and temporally and at scales ranging from microtopographic to regional differences. To comprehend this variation fully and also to predict responses to climate change, an understanding of the intimate linkage between carbon cycling and methane emission in these systems is needed. The presence of vascular plants has been recognized recently as one of the key factors controlling the scale of methane fluxes because it affects processes coupled to transport, production and consumption of methane. A wide area of research has therefore opened up, calling for investigations into details of the impact of vascular plants on methane emissions.