Stability of peatland carbon to rising temperatures

R. M. Wilson (), A. M. Hopple, M. M. Tfaily, S. D. Sebestyen, C. W. Schadt, L. Pfeifer-Meister, C. Medvedeff, K. J. McFarlane, J. E. Kostka, M. Kolton, R.K. Kolka, L. A. Kluber, J. K. Keller, T. P. Guilderson, N. A. Griffiths, J. P. Chanton, S. D. Bridgham and P. J. Hanson
Additional contact information
R. M. Wilson: Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Florida State University
A. M. Hopple: Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon
M. M. Tfaily: Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory—Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
S. D. Sebestyen: USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station
C. W. Schadt: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
L. Pfeifer-Meister: Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon
C. Medvedeff: Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University
K. J. McFarlane: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
J. E. Kostka: School of Biological Sciences and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
M. Kolton: School of Biological Sciences and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
R.K. Kolka: USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station
L. A. Kluber: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
J. K. Keller: Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University
T. P. Guilderson: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
N. A. Griffiths: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
J. P. Chanton: Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Florida State University
S. D. Bridgham: Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon
P. J. Hanson: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Peatlands contain one-third of soil carbon (C), mostly buried in deep, saturated anoxic zones (catotelm). The response of catotelm C to climate forcing is uncertain, because prior experiments have focused on surface warming. We show that deep peat heating of a 2 m-thick peat column results in an exponential increase in CH4 emissions. However, this response is due solely to surface processes and not degradation of catotelm peat. Incubations show that only the top 20–30 cm of peat from experimental plots have higher CH4 production rates at elevated temperatures. Radiocarbon analyses demonstrate that CH4 and CO2 are produced primarily from decomposition of surface-derived modern photosynthate, not catotelm C. There are no differences in microbial abundances, dissolved organic matter concentrations or degradative enzyme activities among treatments. These results suggest that although surface peat will respond to increasing temperature, the large reservoir of catotelm C is stable under current anoxic conditions.

Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13723 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms13723

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13723

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().