Fig. 2: Methanotrophic and heterotrophic carbon (C) consumption rates measured in incubations.
From: The role of methanotrophy in the microbial carbon metabolism of temperate lakes
a Total methanotrophic (n = 93) and heterotrophic (n = 16) C consumption along the gradient in CH4:O2 molar ratio. Plotted trend lines are loess curves and shaded area around lines indicates 95% confidence interval. b Ratio between total methanotrophic and heterotrophic C consumption (MCC and HCC, respectively)–calculated on the predicted values of the loess curves in a–along the gradient in CH4:O2 molar ratio. The dashed horizontal line indicates MCC = HCC and the dashed vertical line crosses the x axis at 0.6. c C consumption per unit biomass (specific activity) of methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) (n = 31) and heterotrophic prokaryotes (HP) (n = 16). Boxplots represent median, first and third quartiles (hinges), and 1.5 x interquartile range (whiskers). Different letters indicate statistical difference (p = 0.002, two-sided t-test (t = −3.3, d.f. = 30.8)). Note log scale of both axes in a and b, and of y axis in c.
