Rewetting degraded peatlands for climate and biodiversity benefits: Results from two raised bogs

Renou‐Wilson, Florence; Moser, Gerald M.; Fallon, David J.; Farrell, Catherine; Müller, Christoph; Wilson, David

doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2018.02.014

Cited by 94 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 69 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…To the best of our knowledge, the only other peatland restoration sites reporting long‐term datasets are the work of Renou‐Wilson, Müller, Moser, and Wilson (, ) and Bellacorick, a re‐wetted industrial cutaway peatland in Ireland. At 7 through 12 years post‐re‐wetting, the re‐wetted Irish peatland displayed considerably higher inter‐annual variation relative to our restored Canadian peatland and other intact peatlands (Figure ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi‐year net ecosystem carbon balance of a restored peatland reveals a return to carbon sink

Nugent

Strachan

Strack

et al. 2018

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Peatlands after drainage and extraction are large sources of carbon (C) to the atmosphere. Restoration, through re-wetting and revegetation, aims to return the C sink function by re-establishing conditions similar to that of an undrained peatland. However, the time needed to re-establish C sequestration is not well constrained due to the lack of multi-year measurements. We measured over 3 years the net ecosystem exchange of CO (NEE), methane ( F CH 4 ), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) at a restored post-extraction peatland (RES) in southeast Canada (restored 14 years prior to the start of the study) and compared our observations to the C balance of an intact reference peatland (REF) that has a long-term continuous flux record and is in the same climate zone. Small but significant differences in winter respiration driven by temperature were mainly responsible for differences in cumulative NEE between years. Low growing season inter-annual variability was linked to constancy of the initial spring water table position, controlled by the blocked drainage ditches and the presence of water storage structures (bunds and pools). Half-hour F CH 4 at RES was small except when Typha latifolia-invaded drainage ditches were in the tower footprint; this effect at the ecosystem level was small as ditches represent a minor fraction of RES. The restored peatland was an annual sink for CO (-90 ± 18 g C m year ), a source of CH (4.4 ± 0.2 g C m year ), and a source of DOC (6.9 ± 2.2 g C m year ), resulting in mean net ecosystem uptake of 78 ± 17 g C m year . Annual NEE at RES was most similar to wetter, more productive years at REF. Integrating structures to increase water retention, alongside re-establishing key species, have been effective at re-establishing the net C sink rate to that of an intact peatland.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi‐year net ecosystem carbon balance of a restored peatland reveals a return to carbon sink

Nugent

Strachan

Strack

et al. 2018

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Rewetted peatlands may experience a decrease in CO 2 fluxes and respiration rates after rising water level (Komulainen et al 1999;Tuittila et al 1999;Hendriks et al 2007;Waddington, Strack, and Greenwood 2010b;Urbanová, Picek, and Bárta 2011;Urbanová et al 2012;Strack and Zuback 2013;Cui et al 2017;Kareksela et al 2015;Knox et al 2015;Karki et al 2016;Wilson et al 2016;Lee et al 2017;Musarika et al 2017;Swenson et al 2019;Renou-Wilson et al 2019;Holl, Pfeiffer, and Kutzbach 2020;Rodriguez, Gerber, and Daroub 2020). For example, the CO 2 emission level decreased by 31% in agricultural fens after raising the water level by 20 cm (Matysek et al 2019).…”

Section: Effects Of Water Level Alteration On Co 2 Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Overall, drainage tends to cause a higher global warming potential (GWP) in peatlands despite reduced CH 4 , because of increased CO 2 emissions (Funk et al 1994;Renou-Wilson et al 2019). In contrast, GWP is generally lower after rewetting because increased CO 2 uptake outweighs increased CH 4 emissions, especially over time (Frolking, Roulet, and Fuglestvedt 2006;Jungkunst and Fiedler 2007;Dise 2009;Wilson et al 2009;Cui et al 2017;Evans, Renou-Wilson, and Strack 2016;Jordan et al 2016;Taft, Cross, and Jones 2018;Günther et al 2020).…”

Section: Effects Of Water Level Alteration On Ch 4 Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of water level alteration on carbon cycling in peatlands

Zhong

Jiang

Middleton

2020

Ecosyst Health Sustain

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Globally, peatlands play an important role in the carbon (C) cycle. High water level is a key factor in maintaining C storage in peatlands, but water levels are vulnerable to climate change and anthropogenic disturbance. This review examines literature related to the effects of water level alteration on C cycling in peatlands to summarize new ideas and uncertainties emerging in this field. Peatland ecosystems maintain their function by altering plant community structure to adapt to changing water levels. Regarding primary production, woody plants are more productive in unflooded, well-aerated conditions, while Sphagnum mosses are more productive in wetter conditions. The responses of sedges to water level alteration are species-specific. While peat decomposition is faster in unflooded, well aerated conditions, increased plant production may counteract the C loss induced by increased ecosystem respiration (ER) for a period of time. In contrast, rising water table maintains anaerobic conditions and enhances the role of the peatland as a C sink. Nevertheless, changes in DOC flux during water level fluctuation is complicated and depends on the interactions of flooding with environment. Notably, vegetation also plays a role in C flux but particular species vary in their ability to sequester and transport C. Bog ecosystems have a greater resilience to water level alteration than fens, due to differences in biogeochemical responses to hydrology. The full understanding of the role of peatlands in global C cycling deserves much more study due to uncertainties of vegetation feedbacks, peat-water interactions, microbial mediation of vegetation, wildfire, and functional responses after hydrologic restoration.

show abstract

“…A few studies have examined the GHG fluxes from restored peatlands using periodic (non-continuous) chamber measurements (e.g. Strack and Zuback 2013, Renou-Wilson et al 2019, Swenson et al 2019 but the spatial and temporal extrapolation required to achieve an annual balance introduces errors (Bubier et al 1999), limiting its utility to investigate climate impacts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prompt active restoration of peatlands substantially reduces climate impact

Nugent

Strachan

Roulet

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Restoration of peatlands after peat extraction could be a benefit to the climate system. However a multi-year ecosystem-scale assessment of net carbon (C) sequestration is needed. We investigate the climate impact of active peatland restoration (rewetting and revegetating) using a chronosequence of C gas exchange measurements across post-extraction Canadian peatlands. An atmospheric perturbation model computed the instantaneous change in radiative forcing of CO 2 and CH 4 emissions/ uptake over 500 years. We found that using emission factors specific to an active restoration technique resulted in a radiative forcing reduction of 89% within 20 years compared to IPCC Tier 1 emission factors based on a wide range of rewetting activities. Immediate active restoration achieved a neutral climate impact (excluding C losses in the removed peat) about 155 years earlier than did a 20 year delay in restoration. A management plan that includes prompt active restoration is key to utilizing peatland restoration as a climate change mitigation strategy.

show abstract

Rewetting degraded peatlands for climate and biodiversity benefits: Results from two raised bogs

Cited by 94 publications

References 69 publications

Multi‐year net ecosystem carbon balance of a restored peatland reveals a return to carbon sink

Multi‐year net ecosystem carbon balance of a restored peatland reveals a return to carbon sink

Effects of water level alteration on carbon cycling in peatlands

Prompt active restoration of peatlands substantially reduces climate impact

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About