Carbon accumulation in peat deposits from northern Sweden to northern Germany during the last millennium

Abstract

Historic carbon accumulation rates in four bogs on a north to south transect from Sweden to Germany were calculated by using the bulk densities and carbon concentrations of 1-cm peat layers and a fine-resolution radiocarbon chronology. Carbon accumulation rates were compared to environmental data to explore the effects of climatic factors. Carbon accumulation rates in a period without clear human impact on the bog ecosystems ( c.ad 1700–ad 1800) ranged from 25 g C/m2/yr in the most northern site to 50 g C/m2/yr in the southernmost site, which coincided with increasing annual temperatures from north to south. This suggests that temperature or growing season length is a major factor influencing carbon accumulation rates at different geographical sites. The temporal variations in carbon accumulation rates within the sites tentatively suggest that carbon accumulation rates may still increase with further warming in northern peat bogs, but decrease in southern peat bogs.

Holocene peatland carbon dynamics in the circum-Arctic region: An introduction

“…They found that autogenic processes driven by the accumulation of organic matter have played a primary role in causing vegetation change from herbaceous (sedge-dominated) to Sphagnum-dominated peatlands, influencing carbon accumulation during the Holocene, while climate has played only a secondary, but important, role in changing species abundance. Van der Linden et al (2014) present peat-core analysis results from four bogs along a latitudinal gradient from northern Germany to northern Sweden to investigate climate influence on peat carbon accumulation during the last millennium. They found that southern sites have higher accumulation rates than northern sites, suggesting the importance of temperature in affecting carbon accumulation.…”

“…Peatland extent is from Yu et al (2010). New peatland sites and regions discussed in the contributions of this Special Issue (shown as open boxes from western Europe to eastern Canada) are from 1 – Van der Linden et al (2014); 2 – Mathijssen et al (2014); 3 – Pluchon et al (2014); 4 – Zhao et al (2014); 5 – Nichols et al (2014); 6 – Yu et al (2014); 7 – Packalen and Finkelstein (2014); 8 – Holmquist and MacDonald (2014); 9 – Shiller et al (2014); 10 – Magnan and Garneau (2014); and 11 – Garneau et al (2014).…”

“…Van der Linden et al (2014) present peat-core analysis results from four bogs along a latitudinal gradient from northern Germany to northern Sweden to investigate climate influence on peat carbon accumulation during the last millennium. They found that southern sites have higher accumulation rates than northern sites, suggesting the importance of temperature in affecting carbon accumulation.…”

The final meltdown of dead-ice at the Holocene Thermal Maximum (8500–7400 cal. yr BP) in western Latvia, eastern Baltic

“…The TOC/TN (C:N ratio) values are expressed as atomic ratios and were calculated to estimate the origin of the organic material (Meyers and Teranes, 2001). In addition, carbon accumulation rates (CAR, g C m −2 yr −1 ) were estimated for each depth where C concentration measurements were available according to van der Linden et al (2014): CAR = r × C × ρ , where r is the sediment accumulation rate, C is the carbon concentration and ρ is the bulk density.…”

Forest history, peatland development and mid- to late Holocene environmental change in the southern taiga forest of central European Russia

“…Conifers replaced broadleaved deciduous species, which had been abundant during the Holocene thermal maximum (8000–5500 cal yr BP), apparently due to climatic cooling and increased land surface wetness (e.g., Seppä and Birks, 2001; Novenko et al, 2009b; Olchev and Novenko, 2011), in combination with increasing anthropogenic disturbance (Clear et al, 2015; Novenko et al, 2015). During recent decades, a large number of studies have explored the paleoecology of eastern Europe and European Russia, including studies focused on vegetation history, wetland development, and carbon accumulation by peatlands (Arslanov et al, 1999; Stančikaite et al, 2006; Niinemets and Saarse, 2009; Heikkilä and Seppä, 2010; Mauquoy et al, 2002; Mauquoy and Yeloff, 2008; Mitsch et al, 2013; Tuittila et al, 2014; van der Linden et al, 2014). Substantial knowledge gaps remain, however.…”