Effect of land use on the rate of methane uptake by surface soils in Northern Europe

The effect of historical land use change on methane uptake by aerobic soils has been studied by measurements on paired sites (forest/woodland and agricultural land) in Scotland, Denmark and Poland. Rates were observed in the range 0.01–3.3 mg CH4 m−2 d−1. The mean reduction in uptake rates resulting from conversion to agriculture was 60%; this change is greater than that reported for the effect of nitrogen inputs through fertilisation or atmospheric deposition. The total current methane sink in forest soils in Europe is estimated at about 0.6 Tg CH4 yr−1, and the corresponding sink in agricultural land at 0.23 Tg CH4 yr−1.