Plants, innocent in the case of methane

2009/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Botanika
• Ingurumena

After three years of discussion and research, researchers conclude that plants do not produce methane. The debate arose from the work of researchers at the Max Planck Institute. According to the study published in the journal Science, many plants are capable of producing methane. And not a few, according to them, between 10% and 45% of methane emissions into the atmosphere would come from vegetation. But they did not clarify the mechanism by which they created this methane.

Now, researchers at the University of South Australia have again conducted experiments at the Max Planck Institute, ensuring that there are no sources of methane. The result has been clear: no traces of methane have been detected. In addition, no genus related to methane production has been found in the plant genome. It seems that plants are able to catch the methane in the soil and get rid of the leaves, so this may be the explanation of the results of the 2006 studies. But do not believe.