Spatiotemporal evolution of paludification associated with autogenic and allogenic factors in the black spruce–moss boreal forest of Québec, Canada

Stum‐Boivin, Éloise Le; Magnan, Gabriel; Garneau, Michelle; Fenton, Nicole J.; Grondin, Pierre; Bergeron, Yves

doi:10.1017/qua.2018.101

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…Thus for the infilling of a bedrock depression, or for peatlands more generally once the peat surface rises above local/regional groundwater flow, depressions that are larger in area ought to be able to support deeper peat accumulation in the long‐term (assuming otherwise favourable conditions and under steady state). However, greater long‐term peat accumulation is possible if the peatlands are able to paludify the surrounding landscape, as has been shown for peatlands developing on mineral soils (e.g., Le Stum‐Boivin et al, 2019). To our knowledge, paludification of Sphagnum mosses onto bare rock has not been documented in the academic literature.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…However, greater long-term peat accumulation is possible if the peatlands are able to paludify the surrounding landscape, as has been shown for peatlands developing on mineral soils (e.g., Le Stum-Boivin et al, 2019). To our knowledge, paludification of Sphagnum mosses onto bare rock has not been documented in the academic literature.…”

Section: Implications For Peatland Developmentmentioning

confidence: 87%

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Peat depth as a control onSphagnummoisture stress during seasonal drought

Moore

Didemus

Furukawa

et al. 2021

Hydrological Processes

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Peatlands are globally important long-term sinks of carbon, however there is concern that enhanced peat decomposition and moss moisture stress due to climate change mediated drought will reduce moss productivity making these ecosystems vulnerable to carbon loss and associated long-term degradation. Peatlands are resilient to summer drought moss stress because of negative ecohydrological feedbacks that generally maintain a wet peat surface, but where feedbacks may be contingent on peat depth. We tested this 'survival of the deepest' hypothesis by examining water table (WT) position, near-surface moisture content, and soil water tension in peatlands that differ in size, peat depth, and catchment area during a summer drought. All shallow sites (<40 cm depth) lost their WT (i.e., the groundwater well was dry) for considerable time during the drought period. Near-surface soil water tension increased dramatically at shallow sites following WT loss, increasing~5-7.5× greater at shallow sites compared to deep sites (≥40 cm depth). During a mid-summer drought intensive field survey, we found that 60-67% of plots at shallow sites exceeded a 100 mb tension threshold used to infer moss water stress. Unlike the shallow sites, tension typically did not exceed this 100 mb threshold at the deep sites. Using species dependent water contentchlorophyll fluorescence thresholds and relations between volumetric water content and WT depth, Monte Carlo simulations suggest that moss had nearly twice the likelihood of being stressed at shallow sites (0.38 ± 0.24) compared to deep sites (0.22 ± 0.18). This study provides evidence that mosses in shallow peatland may be particularly vulnerable to warmer and drier climates in the future, but where species composition may play an important role. We argue that a critical 'threshold' peat depth specific for different hydrogeological and hydroclimatic regions can be used to assess what peatlands are especially vulnerable to climate change mediated drought.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Implications For Peatland Developmentmentioning

confidence: 87%

Peat depth as a control onSphagnummoisture stress during seasonal drought

Moore

Didemus

Furukawa

et al. 2021

Hydrological Processes

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“…Here, the term “forested peatlands” refers to peatlands with trees over 4 m in height having a canopy coverage ≥ 25% 59 . The studied forested peatland site was selected based on previous studies conducted in the Clay Belt to ensure its regional representativeness 24 , 41 , 60 . Its selection was based on ecoforestry maps 61 to identify black spruce– Sphagnum -dominated stands and field observations to choose a forested peatland presenting a range in organic layer thickness.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peat deposits store more carbon than trees in forested peatlands of the boreal biome

Beaulne

Garneau

Magnan

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Peatlands are significant carbon (C) stores, playing a key role in nature-based climate change mitigation. While the effectiveness of non-forested peatlands as C reservoirs is increasingly recognized, the C sequestration function of forested peatlands remains poorly documented, despite their widespread distribution. Here, we evaluate the C sequestration potential of pristine boreal forested peatlands over both recent and millennial timescales. C stock estimates reveal that most of the carbon stored in these ecosystems is found in organic horizons (22.6–66.0 kg m−2), whereas tree C mass (2.8–5.7 kg m−2) decreases with thickening peat. For the first time, we compare the boreal C storage capacities of peat layers and tree biomass on the same timescale, showing that organic horizons (11.0–12.6 kg m−2) can store more carbon than tree aboveground and belowground biomass (2.8–5.7 kg m−2) even over a short time period (last 200 years). We also show that forested peatlands have similar recent rates of C accumulation to boreal non-forested peatlands but lower long-term rates, suggesting higher decay and more important peat layer combustion during fire events. Our findings highlight the significance of forested peatlands for C sequestration and suggest that greater consideration should be given to peat C stores in national greenhouse gas inventories and conservation policies.

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“…Depending on terrain slopes, peat accumulation can be limited to a small area or depression for centuries to millennia until the peat column grows tall enough or expand quickly over a flat plain (Bauer et al, 2003;Loisel et al, 2013;Broothaerts et al, 2014;Le Stum-Boivin et al, 2019). This heterogeneity and complexity in lateral expansion of newly established peatlands is not represented by the model used here.…”

Section: Driver Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global peatlands under future climate – seamless model projections from the Last Glacial Maximum

Müller

Joos

2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Peatlands are diverse wetland ecosystems distributed mostly over the northern latitudes and tropics. Globally they store a large portion of the global soil organic carbon and provide important ecosystem services. The future of these systems under continued anthropogenic warming and direct human disturbance has potentially large impacts on atmospheric CO2 and climate. We performed global long term projections of peatland area and carbon over the next 5000 years using a dynamic global vegetation model forced with climate anomalies from ten models of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) and three scenarios. These projections are continued from a transient simulation from the Last Glacial Maximum to the present to account for the full transient history. Our results suggest short to long term net losses of global peatland area and carbon, with higher losses under higher emission scenarios. Large parts of today's active northern peatlands are at risk. Conditions for peatlands in the tropics and, in case of mitigation, eastern Asia and western north America improve. Factorial simulations reveal committed historical changes and future rising temperature as the main driver of future peatland loss and increasing precipitations as driver for regional peatland expansion. Additional simulations forced with two CMIP6 scenarios extended transiently beyond 2100, show qualitatively similar results to the standard scenarios, but highlight the importance of extended future scenarios for long term carbon cycle projections. The spread between simulations forced with different climate model anomalies suggests a large uncertainty in projected peatland variables due to uncertain climate forcing. Our study highlights the importance of quantifying the future peatland feedback to the climate system and its inclusion into future earth system model projections.

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Spatiotemporal evolution of paludification associated with autogenic and allogenic factors in the black spruce–moss boreal forest of Québec, Canada

Cited by 12 publications

References 83 publications

Peat depth as a control onSphagnummoisture stress during seasonal drought

Peat depth as a control onSphagnummoisture stress during seasonal drought

Peat deposits store more carbon than trees in forested peatlands of the boreal biome

Global peatlands under future climate – seamless model projections from the Last Glacial Maximum

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