Impact of long‐term water level drawdown on functional plant trait composition of northern peatlands

Laine, Anna; Korrensalo, Aino; Kokkonen, Nicola; Tuittila, Eeva‐Stiina

doi:10.1111/1365-2435.13883

Cited by 21 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Alarmingly, since the Industrial Revolution, more than half of wetlands have been degraded by anthropogenic activities, including drainage, deforestation, afforestation, agricultural expansion, urbanization, and climate change [4][5][6][7][8] . A phenomenon commonly associated with wetland degradation is the lowering of the water table, which exposes carbon pools above the water table to decomposition and releases CO2, while simultaneously altering the natural exchange of other greenhouse gases (GHGs) including methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) [9][10][11] . Given that degraded wetlands are important sources of GHG emissions to the atmosphere [11][12][13][14] , there is a critical need to determine the impact of widespread wetland degradation on GHG exchanges, but also to assess the potential for wetland restoration in reducing GHG emissions.…”

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confidence: 99%

Rewetting global wetlands effectively reduces major greenhouse gas emissions

Zou

Ziegler²,

Chen

et al. 2022

Nat. Geosci.

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confidence: 99%

Rewetting global wetlands effectively reduces major greenhouse gas emissions

Zou

Ziegler²,

Chen

et al. 2022

Nat. Geosci.

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“…Overall, despite several decades of WT manipulation, the vegetation differences between sites are subtle. Laine et al (2021) present a conceptual model of the impact of water level drawdown on vascular plants which suggests that sites with greater average WTD will have lower vascular SLA and greater height, particularly for generalist species which have greater trait plasticity. We observed this effect on height for C. calyculata in hummocks only, and not for graminoids (Table 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chivers et al, 2009; Strack et al, 2006; Strack & Waddington, 2007), there are few studies that have examined shrubification in response to multi‐decadal hydrological alterations (e.g. Chimner et al, 2017; Laine et al, 2021; Miller et al, 2015). Moreover, most long‐term WT drawdown studies are from peatlands drained for forestry and agriculture by ditching (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the peatland shrubification‐evapotranspiration feedback following multi‐decadal water table manipulation

Moore

Pypker

Hribljan

et al. 2022

Hydrological Processes

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Northern peatlands are globally important long‐term sinks of carbon due to their predominantly saturated conditions. However, these ecosystems are expected to become drier with climate change, potentially leading to shrubification. As such, the response of the shrubification–evapotranspiration (ET) feedback may be of critical importance to future peatland energy, water and carbon dynamics. We examined the effect of multi‐decadal peatland water table (WT) alteration at three adjacent sites with increasing depth to WT (WET, INTermediate, and DRY). In order to better understand the WT–shrubification–ET feedback, we measured peatland vegetation composition, microtopography and ET partitioning, where ET was measured at the ecosystem, microform, and leaf level using eddy covariance (EC), chambers and porometry, respectively. Averaged across microforms and WT treatments, there was a difference in the median measured leaf resistance (rleaf) between plant functional types ranging from 213 s m−1 for erect dwarf shrubs, 325 s m−1 for graminoids/sedges, and 520 s m−1 for prostrate dwarf shrubs. Scaled based on LAI, the low rleaf of erect dwarf shrubs dominated hummocks, where sites with a higher proportion of hummocks had lower median canopy resistance (rv) of 141, 133 and 130 s m−1 at the WET, INT and DRY sites respectively. Nevertheless, ET was highest at the WET site and similar between the INT and DRY sites, with greater evaporation from the moss surface at the WET site. Porometry and EC data along with a three‐source model were used to independently assess the evaporative contribution from the moss surface, which ranged from 17% to 40%. For moderate and persistent changes in WT from land‐use or climate change, our results suggest vegetation succession is minimal, but the microtopographic development and the concomitant differences in LAI for the various plant functional types is key to understanding changes in total ET and partitioning.

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“…Consequently, soil drying may make microhabitats unsuitable for bryophyte growth and reproduction (Oke & Hager, 2020;Laine et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, N addition may accelerate soil water depletion by stimulating vascular plant growth and transpiration (Graham et al, 2016). Consequently, soil drying may make microhabitats unsuitable for bryophyte growth and reproduction (Oke & Hager, 2020; Laine et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cryptogams and dwarf evergreen shrubs are vulnerable to nitrogen addition in a boreal permafrost peatland of Northeast China

Wang

Lin

Zhang

et al. 2022

Applied Vegetation Science

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Aim: Boreal peatlands are very sensitive to nitrogen (N) enrichment due to the low soil N availability. Our aim was to reveal how increased N availability altered plant composition in boreal permafrost peatlands with dense vascular plants (>50%).Location: Greater Khingan Mountains, Northeast China.Methods: A nitrogen addition experiment with four N addition levels (0, 3, 6, and 12 g N m −2 year −1 ) was conducted in a poor fen in the continuous permafrost zone with vascular plant coverage above 60%. Plant diversity, community composition, and above-ground biomass were investigated after four, six, and eight years of N addition.Results: Nitrogen addition decreased species richness and diversity but enhanced total above-ground biomass. Plant height determined the plants' responses to N addition, and the magnitudes increased with N addition level and experimental duration. The relative coverage of high-stature (>50 cm) species increased, but the relative coverage of low-stature (<50 cm) species decreased with elevating N addition levels.When N addition proceeded, the relative coverage and above-ground biomass of tall deciduous shrubs and nitrophilous grasses increased, whereas the relative coverage and above-ground biomass of dwarf evergreen shrubs, mosses, and lichens declined.Regardless of N addition levels, cryptogams (i.e., mosses and lichens) and a dwarf evergreen shrub (Chamaedaphne calyculata) disappeared after eight-year N addition.Conclusions: Cryptogams and dwarf evergreen shrubs are highly vulnerable to increased N availability, and N enrichment-induced biodiversity loss, especially the disappearance of cryptogams, will deteriorate ecosystem structure and function in boreal permafrost peatlands.

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Impact of long‐term water level drawdown on functional plant trait composition of northern peatlands

Abstract: This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as

Cited by 21 publications

References 72 publications

Rewetting global wetlands effectively reduces major greenhouse gas emissions

Rewetting global wetlands effectively reduces major greenhouse gas emissions

Examining the peatland shrubification‐evapotranspiration feedback following multi‐decadal water table manipulation

Cryptogams and dwarf evergreen shrubs are vulnerable to nitrogen addition in a boreal permafrost peatland of Northeast China

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