Decomposition and Peat Accumulation in Rich Fens of Boreal Alberta, Canada

Vitt, Dale H.; Wieder, R. Kelman; Scott, Kimberli D.; Faller, Susan

doi:10.1007/s10021-009-9228-6

Cited by 57 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The drained and experimental sites had consistently increasing emissions in the hollows and decreasing emissions at the hummocks from 2011 to 2013, although the emissions at the experimental site were highest. These net loss values of CO 2 -C at the short-and longer-term drained sites compare well with those of other experimentally drained peatlands as reported by Von-Arnold et al (2005), Cai et al (2010) and Simola et al (2012). The rapid decline in the water table at the experimental site possibly initiated vegetation desiccation that progressed through the study years.…”

Section: Water Table Manipulation Effectssupporting

confidence: 86%

“…In northern bogs, the balance could shift towards a shrub-or tree-dominated system (Weltzin et al, 2001;Lohila et al, 2011), which in combination with deeper water tables could lead to an increase in both soil (Ise et al, 2008) and plant respiration (Tarnocai et al, 2009). A shift in species dominance after drainage in a Swedish peatland accelerated soil respiration rates, ranging from 513 to 6516 g CO 2 m −2 d −1 (Von-Arnold et al, 2005). The shifts in species dominance (coverage) and composition varied between microforms (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Carbon dioxide flux and net primary production of a boreal treed bog: Responses to warming and water-table-lowering simulations of climate change

et al. 2015

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Abstract. Midlatitude treed bogs represent significant carbon (C) stocks and are highly sensitive to global climate change. In a dry continental treed bog, we compared three sites: control, recent (1-3 years; experimental) and older drained (10-13 years), with water levels at 38, 74 and 120 cm below the surface, respectively. At each site we measured carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) fluxes and estimated tree root respiration (R r ; across hummock-hollow microtopography of the forest floor) and net primary production (NPP) of trees during the growing seasons (May to October) of 2011-2013. The CO 2 -C balance was calculated by adding the net CO 2 exchange of the forest floor (NE ff − R r ) to the NPP of the trees.From cooler and wetter 2011 to the driest and the warmest 2013, the control site was a CO 2 -C sink of 92, 70 and 76 g m −2 , the experimental site was a CO 2 -C source of 14, 57 and 135 g m −2 , and the drained site was a progressively smaller source of 26, 23 and 13 g CO 2 -C m −2 . The short-term drainage at the experimental site resulted in small changes in vegetation coverage and large net CO 2 emissions at the microforms. In contrast, the longer-term drainage and deeper water level at the drained site resulted in the replacement of mosses with vascular plants (shrubs) on the hummocks and lichen in the hollows leading to the highest CO 2 uptake at the drained hummocks and significant losses in the hollows. The tree NPP (including above-and belowground growth and litter fall) in 2011 and 2012 was significantly higher at the drained site (92 and 83 g C m −2 ) than at the experimental (58 and 55 g C m −2 ) and control (52 and 46 g C m −2 ) sites.We also quantified the impact of climatic warming at all water table treatments by equipping additional plots with open-top chambers (OTCs) that caused a passive warming on average of ∼ 1 • C and differential air warming of ∼ 6 • C at midday full sun over the study years. Warming significantly enhanced shrub growth and the CO 2 sink function of the drained hummocks (exceeding the cumulative respiration losses in hollows induced by the lowered water level × warming). There was an interaction of water level with warming across hummocks that resulted in the largest net CO 2 uptake at the warmed drained hummocks. Thus in 2013, the warming treatment enhanced the sink function of the control site by 13 g m −2 , reduced the source function of the experimental by 10 g m −2 and significantly enhanced the sink function of the drained site by 73 g m −2 . Therefore, drying and warming in continental bogs is expected to initially accelerate CO 2 -C losses via ecosystem respiration, but persistent drought and warming is expected to restore the peatland's original CO 2 -C sink function as a result of the shifts in vegetation composition and productivity between the microforms and increased NPP of trees over time.

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Section: Water Table Manipulation Effectssupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon dioxide flux and net primary production of a boreal treed bog: Responses to warming and water-table-lowering simulations of climate change

et al. 2015

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“…the total volume of water withheld by the peat is 497,767 m 3 (table 3), accounting for approximately 83.7 % of the total volume of the peatland. these values are similar to those observed in peatlands of the northern hemisphere, where water is estimated to occupy an average of approximately 90 % of the total volume of the peatland (Holden & Burt, 2003;rieley et al, 2008;Vitt et al, 2009).…”

Section: Water In the Peatland Ecosystemsupporting

confidence: 71%

Mapping, organic matter mass and water volume of a peatland in Serra do Espinhaço Meridional

Campos

Silva

Vidal‐Torrado

2012

Rev. Bras. Ciênc. Solo

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José ricardo da rocha campos (2) , alexandre christófaro silva (3) & pablo Vidal-torrado (4) suMMarY peatlands form in areas where net primary of organic matter production exceeds losses due to the decomposition, leaching or disturbance. due to their chemical and physical characteristics, bogs can influence water dynamics because they can store large volumes of water in the rainy season and gradually release this water during the other months of the year. in diamantina, Minas gerais, Brazil, a peatland in the environmental protection area of pau-de-fruta ensures the water supply of 40,000 inhabitants. the hypothesis of this study is that the peat bogs in pau-de-fruta act as an environment for carbon storage and a regulator of water flow in the córrego das pedras basin. the objective of this study was to estimate the water volume and organic matter mass in this peatland and to study the influence of this environment on the water flow in the córrego das pedras basin. the peatland was mapped using 57 transects, at intervals of 100 m. along all transects, the depth of the peat bog, the universal transverse Mercator (utM) coordinates and altitude were recorded every 20 m and used to calculate the area and volume of the peatland. the water volume was estimated, using a method developed in this study, and the mass of organic matter based on samples from 106 profiles. the peatland covered 81.7 hectares (ha), and stored 497,767 m 3 of water, representing 83.7 % of the total volume of the peat bog. the total amount of organic matter (OM) was 45,148 t, corresponding to 552 t ha -1 of OM. the peat bog occupies 11.9 % of the area covered by the córrego das pedras basin and stores 77.6 % of the annual water surplus, thus controlling the water flow in the basin and consequently regulating the water course. index terms: histosols, water retention, water flow.

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“…Gorham (1991), based on extensive Canadian datasets, reported an average bulk density of 112 kg m −3 and a carbon density of 51.7 % of dry mass. Turunen et al (2002) found the average dry bulk density of Finnish geological mires to be 91 kg m −3 and Vitt et al (2009) found that peat bulk density in Canada typically varies between 90 kg m −3 and 120 kg m −3 whereas Chason and Siegel (1986) found peat bulk density to vary between 60 and 140 kg m −3 in Northern Minnesota.…”

Section: Peatland Area and Peat Depthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil temperature response to 21st century global warming: the role of and some implications for peat carbon in thawing permafrost soils in North America

et al. 2011

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Abstract. Northern peatlands contain a large terrestrial carbon pool that plays an important role in the Earth's carbon cycle. A considerable fraction of this carbon pool is currently in permafrost and is biogeochemically relatively inert; this will change with increasing soil temperatures as a result of climate warming in the 21st century. We use a geospatially explicit representation of peat areas and peat depth from a recently-compiled database and a geothermal model to estimate northern North America soil temperature responses to predicted changes in air temperature. We find that, despite a widespread decline in the areas classified as permafrost, soil temperatures in peatlands respond more slowly to increases in air temperature owing to the insulating properties of peat. We estimate that an additional 670 km 3 of peat soils in North America, containing ∼33 Pg C, could be seasonally thawed by the end of the century, representing ∼20 % of the total peat volume in Alaska and Canada. Warming conditions result in a lengthening of the soil thaw period by ∼40 days, averaged over the model domain. These changes have potentially important implications for the carbon balance of peat soils.

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Decomposition and Peat Accumulation in Rich Fens of Boreal Alberta, Canada

Cited by 57 publications

References 33 publications

Carbon dioxide flux and net primary production of a boreal treed bog: Responses to warming and water-table-lowering simulations of climate change

Carbon dioxide flux and net primary production of a boreal treed bog: Responses to warming and water-table-lowering simulations of climate change

Mapping, organic matter mass and water volume of a peatland in Serra do Espinhaço Meridional

Soil temperature response to 21st century global warming: the role of and some implications for peat carbon in thawing permafrost soils in North America

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