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Dean JF, Billett MF, Turner TE, Garnett MH, Andersen R, McKenzie RM, Dinsmore KJ, Baird AJ, Chapman PJ, Holden J. Peatland pools are tightly coupled to the contemporary carbon cycle. Glob Chang Biol 2024; 30:e16999. [PMID: 37921241 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2023] [Revised: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023]
Abstract
Peatlands are globally important stores of soil carbon (C) formed over millennial timescales but are at risk of destabilization by human and climate disturbance. Pools are ubiquitous features of many peatlands and can contain very high concentrations of C mobilized in dissolved and particulate organic form and as the greenhouses gases carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and methane (CH4 ). The radiocarbon content (14 C) of these aquatic C forms tells us whether pool C is generated by contemporary primary production or from destabilized C released from deep peat layers where it was previously stored for millennia. We present novel 14 C and stable C (δ13 C) isotope data from 97 aquatic samples across six peatland pool locations in the United Kingdom with a focus on dissolved and particulate organic C and dissolved CO2 . Our observations cover two distinct pool types: natural peatland pools and those formed by ditch blocking efforts to rewet peatlands (restoration pools). The pools were dominated by contemporary C, with the majority of C (~50%-75%) in all forms being younger than 300 years old. Both pool types readily transform and decompose organic C in the water column and emit CO2 to the atmosphere, though mixing with the atmosphere and subsequent CO2 emissions was more evident in natural pools. Our results show little evidence of destabilization of deep, old C in natural or restoration pools, despite the presence of substantial millennial-aged C in the surrounding peat. One possible exception is CH4 ebullition (bubbling), with our observations showing that millennial-aged C can be emitted from peatland pools via this pathway. Our results suggest that restoration pools formed by ditch blocking are effective at preventing the release of deep, old C from rewetted peatlands via aquatic export.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua F Dean
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Michael F Billett
- Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
| | - T Edward Turner
- water@leeds, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
- Forestry and Land Scotland, Dumfries, UK
| | - Mark H Garnett
- National Environmental Isotope Facility Radiocarbon Laboratory, East Kilbride, UK
| | - Roxane Andersen
- Environmental Research Institute, University of the Highlands and Islands, Thurso, UK
| | | | | | - Andy J Baird
- water@leeds, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Pippa J Chapman
- water@leeds, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Joseph Holden
- water@leeds, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
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Dean JF, Meisel OH, Martyn Rosco M, Marchesini LB, Garnett MH, Lenderink H, van Logtestijn R, Borges AV, Bouillon S, Lambert T, Röckmann T, Maximov T, Petrov R, Karsanaev S, Aerts R, van Huissteden J, Vonk JE, Dolman AJ. East Siberian Arctic inland waters emit mostly contemporary carbon. Nat Commun 2020; 11:1627. [PMID: 32242076 PMCID: PMC7118085 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15511-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2019] [Accepted: 03/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Inland waters (rivers, lakes and ponds) are important conduits for the emission of terrestrial carbon in Arctic permafrost landscapes. These emissions are driven by turnover of contemporary terrestrial carbon and additional pre-aged (Holocene and late-Pleistocene) carbon released from thawing permafrost soils, but the magnitude of these source contributions to total inland water carbon fluxes remains unknown. Here we present unique simultaneous radiocarbon age measurements of inland water CO2, CH4 and dissolved and particulate organic carbon in northeast Siberia during summer. We show that >80% of total inland water carbon was contemporary in age, but pre-aged carbon contributed >50% at sites strongly affected by permafrost thaw. CO2 and CH4 were younger than dissolved and particulate organic carbon, suggesting emissions were primarily fuelled by contemporary carbon decomposition. Our findings reveal that inland water carbon emissions from permafrost landscapes may be more sensitive to changes in contemporary carbon turnover than the release of pre-aged carbon from thawing permafrost.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua F Dean
- Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
| | - Ove H Meisel
- Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Melanie Martyn Rosco
- Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Luca Belelli Marchesini
- Department of Sustainable Agro-ecosystems and Bioresources, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all'Adige, Italy
- Department of Landscape Design and Sustainable Ecosystems, Agrarian-Technological Institute, RUDN University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Mark H Garnett
- Natural Environment Research Council Radiocarbon Facility, East Kilbride, UK
| | - Henk Lenderink
- Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Richard van Logtestijn
- Department of Ecological Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | | | - Steven Bouillon
- Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | | | - Thomas Röckmann
- Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Trofim Maximov
- Institute for Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone, Siberian Branch Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russia
- North-Eastern Federal University, Yakutsk, Russia
| | - Roman Petrov
- Institute for Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone, Siberian Branch Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russia
- North-Eastern Federal University, Yakutsk, Russia
| | - Sergei Karsanaev
- Institute for Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone, Siberian Branch Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russia
- North-Eastern Federal University, Yakutsk, Russia
| | - Rien Aerts
- Department of Ecological Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | | | - Jorien E Vonk
- Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - A Johannes Dolman
- Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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