Impact of Anthropogenic Disturbances on Methanotrophs Abundance in Dry Tropical Forest Ecosystems, India

Impact of Anthropogenic Disturbances on Methanotrophs Abundance in Dry Tropical Forest Ecosystems, India

Dry tropical forest soil contributes the highest methane (CH4) consumption rates on a global scale. Methane oxidation in soils is mostly accomplished by methanotrophic bacteria (MB). Several workers have demonstrated that the anthropogenic activity on natural forests disturbs the CH4 sink attribute of the soil. However, there is no information concerning the impact of anthropogenic disturbances in dry tropical forests for soil methanotrophs densitydynamics. Impact of soil differences in different forest types (afforested and disturbed stands) on methanotrophs density was investigated in dry tropical region, India.