Editorial for the virtual special issue: The role of plants in regulating aquatic methane fluxes

Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) - CH4 of non-fossil origin has a global warming potential (GWP) of 27.0 on a 100-year time scale -and strongly contributes to climate change (Table 7.15 in Forster et al. 2021). Approximately half of the CH4 emitted to the atmosphere originates from aquatic systems (Rosentreter et al.2021). While the estimate of aquatic CH4 commissions comes with large uncertainties, this applies even more for the contribution of CH4 emissions from vegetated aquatic areas. This is related to uncertainties in both the emission intensities as well as the areal extent of vegetated aquatic areas (Bodmer et al. 2021).