The challenge of estimating global termite methane emissions

作者：Stephanie J. Law, Steven Allison, Andrew B. Davies, Habacuc Flores‐Moreno, Baptiste Wijas, Abbey R. Yatsko, Yong Zhou, Amy E. Zanne, Paul Eggleton · 发表于：Global Change Biology · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1111/gcb.17390 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Fire effects on ecosystems、Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior、Species Distribution and Climate Change

Abstract Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, more potent than carbon dioxide, and emitted from a variety of natural sources including wetlands, permafrost, mammalian guts and termites. As increases in global temperatures continue to break records, quantifying the magnitudes of key methane sources has never been more pertinent. Over the last 40 years, the contribution of termites to the global methane budget has been subject to much debate. The most recent estimates of termite emissions range between 9 and 15 Tg CH 4 year −1 , approximately 4% of emissions from natural sources (excluding wetlands). However, we argue that the current approach for estimating termite contributions to the global methane budget is flawed. Key parameters, namely termite methane emissions from soil, deadwood, living tree stems, epigeal mounds and arboreal nests, are largely ignored in global estimates. This omission occurs because data are lacking and research objectives, crucially, neglect variation in termite ecology. Furthermore, inconsistencies in data collection methods prohibit the pooling of data required to compute global estimates. Here, we summarise the advances made over the last 40 years and illustrate how different aspects of termite ecology can influence the termite contribution to global methane emissions. Additionally, we highlight technological advances that may help researchers investigate termite methane emissions on a larger scale. Finally, we consider dynamic feedback mechanism...