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Northern Sphagnum-dominated peatlands and northern temperate forest soils are a major source and sink of methane (CH4), a greenhouse gas. CH4 produced in these ecosystems is mainly oxidized by aerobic methanotrophic bacteria. While studies have been conducted separately on the diversity and ecology of methanotrophic bacteria communities in peat, Sphagnum moss and temperate forest soils, methantroph diversity and abundances between these habitats have rarely been contrasted in a single study. We investigated methanotrophic bacterial diversity in the (i) organic horizon of forest soils, (ii) oxic surface peat, and (iii) Sphagnum moss tissues from Cranesville Swamp Preserve, West Virginia, using Illumina® MiSeq multiplex sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicons. Sequences related to methanotrophs were identified and counted from over 50,000 unique taxa and over 1 million reads. Methanotrophic bacteria constitute < 2% of microbiota in these environments. Over 63 sequences affiliated with known groups of methanotrophs in the Methylococcaceae, Methylocystaceae and potential methanotrophs in the Beijerinckiaceae were uncovered. However, Methylacidiphilum-like methanotrophs were not detected. Analyses of sequences from the Methylococcaceae and Methylocystaceae indicate the majority of methanotrophs in peat and Sphagnum moss tend to occur in only one habitat (Sphagnum moss only or peat only) or both habitats (Sphagnum moss and peat), whereas those in soil taxa tend to co-occur in all three habitats. |