Recovery of paddy soil methanotrophs from long term drought

Air-dried paddy soils stored for 1-18 years were used to examine the resistance of methanotrophs to drought. Older air-dried soils representing longer-lasting drought events reduced methanotrophic diversity, and adversely affected methane oxidation rate after re-wetting. In early incubations the type II methanotrophs are outperformed by the less abundant type I.