Tropical peatland carbon storage linked to global latitudinal trends in peat recalcitrance

Hodgkins, S. B.; Richardson, Curtis J.; Dommain, René; Wang, Hongjun; Glaser, Paul H.; Verbeke, B. A.; Winkler, Bärbel; Cobb, Ale×ander R.; Rich, V. I.; Missilmani, Malak; Flanagan, Neal E.; Ho, Mengchi; Hoyt, Alison M.; Harvey, Charles F.; Vining, S. Rose; Hough, Moira; Moore, Tim R.; Richard, Pierre J. H.; Cruz, Florentino B. De La; Toufaily, Joumana; Hamdan, Rasha; Cooper, William T.; Chanton, Jeffrey P.

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06050-2

Cited by 154 publications

(196 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…In northern peatlands, peat is mainly derived from mosses, sedges, and herbs which contain a high carbohydrate and lower aromatic content (Hodgkins et al, 2018). This supports higher CH 4 production in northern peatlands, despite lower temperatures (Sundh, Nilsson, Granberg, & Svensson, 1994;Updegraff, Pastor, Bridgham, & Johnston, 1995).…”

Section: Comparison Of Nee-ch 4 With Other Studiesmentioning

confidence: 75%

Impact of forest plantation on methane emissions from tropical peatland

Deshmukh¹,

Julius²,

Evans

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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Tropical peatlands are a known source of methane (CH4) to the atmosphere, but their contribution to atmospheric CH4 is poorly constrained. Since the 1980s, extensive areas of the peatlands in Southeast Asia have experienced land‐cover change to smallholder agriculture and forest plantations. This land‐cover change generally involves lowering of groundwater level (GWL), as well as modification of vegetation type, both of which potentially influence CH4 emissions. We measured CH4 exchanges at the landscape scale using eddy covariance towers over two land‐cover types in tropical peatland in Sumatra, Indonesia: (a) a natural forest and (b) an Acacia crassicarpa plantation. Annual CH4 exchanges over the natural forest (9.1 ± 0.9 g CH4 m−2 year−1) were around twice as high as those of the Acacia plantation (4.7 ± 1.5 g CH4 m−2 year−1). Results highlight that tropical peatlands are significant CH4 sources, and probably have a greater impact on global atmospheric CH4 concentrations than previously thought. Observations showed a clear diurnal variation in CH4 exchange over the natural forest where the GWL was higher than 40 cm below the ground surface. The diurnal variation in CH4 exchanges was strongly correlated with associated changes in the canopy conductance to water vapor, photosynthetic photon flux density, vapor pressure deficit, and air temperature. The absence of a comparable diurnal pattern in CH4 exchange over the Acacia plantation may be the result of the GWL being consistently below the root zone. Our results, which are among the first eddy covariance CH4 exchange data reported for any tropical peatland, should help to reduce the uncertainty in the estimation of CH4 emissions from a globally important ecosystem, provide a more complete estimate of the impact of land‐cover change on tropical peat, and develop science‐based peatland management practices that help to minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

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Section: Comparison Of Nee-ch 4 With Other Studiesmentioning

confidence: 75%

Impact of forest plantation on methane emissions from tropical peatland

Deshmukh¹,

Julius²,

Evans

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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“…This disagreement, we assume, could result from the latent role of changing plant communities and their associated ecological and biogeochemical processes-a commonly occurring state shift in peatlands induced by persistent climate change (14). Changes in plant communities among mosses, sedges, shrubs and trees may bring forth substantial top-down and bottom-up regulations (17) on the peatland ecosystem through alteration of plant-microbe traits, specifically plant/soil chemistry (18) and microbial composition/function (5,(19)(20)(21). Although temperature dominantly controls microbial metabolism of soil carbon in monoculture or a constant environment, the long-term feedback between climate change and soil carbon processes (especially some evolutional acclimations in plant/microbial physiology and community composition in peatlands (11,(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)) is still unclear and possibly one of the major uncertainties and challenges in projecting future climate in the Earth System Models (25).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation and Microbes Interact to Preserve Organic Matter in Wooded Peatlands

Wang

Tian

Chen

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Peatlands have persisted as massive carbon sinks over millennia, even during past periods of climate change. The commonly accepted theory of abiotic controls (mainly anoxia and low temperature) over carbon decomposition cannot explain how vast low-latitude wooded peatlands consistently accrete peat under warm and seasonally unsaturated conditions. Similarly, that theory cannot accurately project the decomposition rate in boreal peatlands where warming and drought have decreased Sphagnum and increased shrub expansion. Here, by comparing composition and ecological traits of microbes between Sphagnum-and shrub-dominated peatlands, we present a previously unrecognized natural course that curbs carbon loss against climate change. Slow-growing microbes decisively dominate the studied wooded peatlands, concomitant with plant-induced, high recalcitrant carbon and phenolics. The slow-growing microbes inherently metabolize organic matter slowly. However, the fast-growing microbes that dominate our Sphagnum site (most boreal peatlands as well) decomposed labile carbon >30 times faster than the slow-growing microbes. We show that the high-phenolic shrub/tree induced shifts in microbial composition may compensate for positive effects of temperature and/or drought on metabolism over time in peatlands. This biotic self-sustaining process that modulates abiotic controls on carbon cycling may help better project long-term climate-carbon feedbacks in peatlands.

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“…Highly organic "peat" soils form where the rate of primary production exceeds decomposition (Armentano & Menges, 1986;Wieder et al, 2006), resulting in a global carbon sink of between 530 and 694 Gt C (Gallego-Sala et al, 2018). The chemistry of this carbon sink is generally dominated by carbohydrates (largely cellulose and hemicellulose) and other aliphatic compounds, by-products of carbohydrate decomposition, and aromatics (Clymo, 1983;Hammond et al, 1985;Hodgkins et al, 2018;Thormann, 2006;Turetsky et al, 2000;Upton et al, 2018). An aromatic compound of particular importance is lignin, which is found in abundance in peatlands with little to no bryophytes (Bengtsson et al, 2018;Maksimova et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to providing structural support in vascular plants, lignin confers resistance to microbial decomposition of the organic carbon (OC) sink in soils because polysaccharides within cell walls are afforded some protection by the lignin matrix (Bengtsson et al, 2018;Filley et al, 2000;Talbot & Treseder, 2012). The accumulation of organic matter in peatlands has long been attributed to maintenance of a high-water table, anoxia, low pH, low nutrient supply, and the recalcitrance of soil organic components including lignin (Andersen et al, 2013;Bergen et al, 1998;Hodgkins et al, 2014Hodgkins et al, , 2018Leifeld et al, 2012;Moore, 1989;Tfaily et al, 2014). In most temperate and boreal peatlands, the seasonal lowering of the water table, which leads to decomposition of surficial peat layers, is considered a major control over the long-term stability of the carbon sink (Philben et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In most temperate and boreal peatlands, the seasonal lowering of the water table, which leads to decomposition of surficial peat layers, is considered a major control over the long-term stability of the carbon sink (Philben et al, 2014). Recent research, however, has challenged the simplicity of this paradigm (Blankinship et al, 2018;Fenner & Freeman, 2011;Hodgkins et al, 2018;Laiho, 2006;Muhr et al, 2011;Schmidt et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Carbon Chemistry of Intact Versus Chronically Drained Peatlands in the Southeastern USA

et al. 2019

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The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (GDS) is a large temperate swamp in Virginia/North Carolina, USA with peat soils historically resistant to microbial decomposition. However, this peatland has been subject to ~200 years of disturbance during which extensive drainage, fire suppression, and widespread logging have increased decomposition and dramatically decreased the distribution of Atlantic white cedar (AWC). The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of long‐term drainage and AWC loss on the carbon chemistry of GDS peats. Peat cores were collected from three drained GDS vegetation communities (pocosin, AWC, and red maple‐black gum) and compared to cores collected from an intact, undrained AWC peatland at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (AR) in North Carolina. The AR peats had higher lignin content in the deeper peat intervals, and lignin content and percent organic carbon were largely invariant with depth compared to the GDS peats. The concentrations of syringyl group phenols were greater in the surface layers of GDS peats, likely reflecting the selective removal of AWC and transition from gymnosperms to angiosperms. Acid to aldehyde ratios for vanillyl and syringyl group phenols indicated that the GDS peats were more decomposed, particularly at depth, and that this occurred under aerobic conditions. Moreover, solid‐state 13C NMR confirmed a coincident loss of carbohydrates and increase in recalcitrant by‐products of carbohydrate degradation with depth. These data indicate that long‐term drainage has accelerated the decomposition of peat at the GDS, reducing the capacity and stability of the carbon sink.

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Tropical peatland carbon storage linked to global latitudinal trends in peat recalcitrance

Cited by 154 publications

References 82 publications

Impact of forest plantation on methane emissions from tropical peatland

Impact of forest plantation on methane emissions from tropical peatland

Vegetation and Microbes Interact to Preserve Organic Matter in Wooded Peatlands

Carbon Chemistry of Intact Versus Chronically Drained Peatlands in the Southeastern USA

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