Environmental and biological controls on CH4 exchange over an evergreen Mediterranean forest

This study is the first long-term CH4 eddy covariance measurement above a Mediterranean forest and demonstrates that, at present, the ecosystem is a small sink of CH4 when considering both the soil and vegetation processes together, and this sink capacity is strictly connected to the water availability. Future changes in temperature and precipitation patterns may increase CH4 emissions, turning the ecosystem to a source of CH4.