Acidic peatlands dominated by Sphagnum mosses are responsible for an important fraction of the methane reaching the Earth's atmosphere. The atmospheric concentration of methane, a greenhouse gas over 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, has doubled over the last two centuries.. The microbial processes leading to methane production in acidic peatlands are particularly poorly understood. Indeed, only a few indigenous microorganisms have been cultured from these bogs, and no methanogens capable of growth under the bog conditions have been isolated. Without an understanding of the organisms responsible for methane production in these habitats, it is difficult to predict the effects of potential global climate change on their activities.

The goal of our NSF Microbial Observatories project is to use diverse techniques to characterize microbial populations involved in methane production in peat bogs. These techniques include culturing microorganisms as well applying molecular biological, microscopic, and chemical techniques to their study. Our primary study site is McLean Bog, a small acidic peat bog near Cornell University in upstate New York. We are also comparing results from this bog with those from other nearby wetlands including Chicago Bog, a larger peat bog, Michigan Hollow, a neutral pH fen, and Labrador Hollow, a forested peat bog with varying pH conditions. These studies will lead to a better understanding of microbial populations in these habitats and will lead to the isolation of novel microorganisms that may have biotechnological uses because of the unusual conditions under which they grow.

Mclean Bog in July. There are about a billion microbes per gram of peat material that can be detected by microscopy as shown in figure at right.	Microorganisms (bright green) attached to decaying plant material (orange) from Mclean Bog. They were stained with the fluorescent dye acridine orange. Who are these guys???