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Scaling Behavior of Peat Properties during the Holocene: A Case Study from Central European Russia. LAND 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/land11060862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
A better understanding of past climate change is vital to our ability to predict possible future environmental dynamics. This study attempts to investigate the dynamic features of the temporal variability of peat humification, water table depth and air temperature by analyzing palaeoecological data from the Valdai Uplands region (Central European Russia). The regression analysis revealed the presence of a periodicity of about 6000 years in the reconstructed peat humification timeseries. Nonlinear analysis showed that humification time variability, water table depth and air temperature exhibit persistent long-range correlations of 1/f type. This indicates that a fluctuation in these variables in the past is very likely to be followed by a similar one in the future, but is magnified by 1/f power-law. In addition, it dictates that humification, water table depth and temperature are key parameters of a system that implies the existence of a special structure, such as self-organized criticality, operating close to a minimum stability configuration, and achieves it without any fine adjustment by external forcing. These conclusions point to new avenues for modeling future ecosystem disturbances and, in particular, for predicting relevant extreme events.
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Andrews LO, Rowson JG, Caporn SJM, Dise NB, Barton E, Garrett E, Gehrels WR, Gehrels M, Kay M, Payne RJ. Plant community responses to experimental climate manipulation in a Welsh ombrotrophic peatland and their palaeoenvironmental context. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:1596-1617. [PMID: 34800308 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/26/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
We test whether vegetation community composition from a 10-year climate manipulation experiment on a Welsh peat bog resembles vegetation communities during periods of climate change inferred from a peat core. Experimentally warmed and combined warmed and droughted treatments drove significant increases in ericaceous shrubs but Sphagnum was unaffected. Similarly, Calluna vulgaris seeds increase during inferred warmer periods in the palaeoecological record. Experimental short-term episodic drought (four 4-week drought treatments) did not affect vegetation. Plant community composition has undergone several abrupt changes throughout the past c. 1500 years, often in response to human disturbance. Only slight changes occurred during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (c. 950-1250 Common Era [CE]) in vegetation and hydrology, while abrupt changes occurred during the Little Ice Age (c. 1300-1850 CE) when water tables were highest, suggesting that these shifts were driven by changes in water table, modulated by climate. A period of water table drawdown c. 1800, synchronous with historical records of increased drainage, corresponds with the development of the present-day vegetation community. Modern analogues for fossil material, characterized by abundant Rhynchospora alba and Sphagnum pulchrum, are more common after this event. Vegetation changes due to climate inferred from the palaeo record differ from those observed in the experiments, possibly relating to differences in the importance of drivers of vegetation change over varying timescales. Whereas temperature is frequently identified as the dominant driver of plant community change in experiments, sustained changes in water table appear to be more important in the long-term record. We find evidence that recent climate change and other anthropogenic stressors (e.g. drainage, heavy metal and nitrogen pollution) may promote the development of novel plant communities without analogues in the fossil record. These communities may be poorer at sequestering carbon and may respond differently to future climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luke O Andrews
- Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York, UK
| | - James G Rowson
- Department of Geography and Geology, Edge Hill University, Lancashire, UK
| | - Simon J M Caporn
- Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
| | | | - Eleanor Barton
- Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York, UK
| | - Ed Garrett
- Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York, UK
| | - W Roland Gehrels
- Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York, UK
| | - Maria Gehrels
- Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York, UK
| | - Martin Kay
- Geography, School of Environment, Education and Development, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Richard J Payne
- Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York, UK
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Loisel J, Bunsen M. Abrupt Fen-Bog Transition Across Southern Patagonia: Timing, Causes, and Impacts on Carbon Sequestration. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Ratcliffe JL, Campbell DI, Schipper LA, Wall AM, Clarkson BR. Recovery of the CO 2 sink in a remnant peatland following water table lowering. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2020; 718:134613. [PMID: 31839309 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2019] [Revised: 09/16/2019] [Accepted: 09/21/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Peatland biological, physical and chemical properties change over time in response to alterations in long-term water table position. Such changes complicate our ability to predict the response of peatland carbon stocks to sustained drying. In order to better understand the effect of sustained lowering of the water table on peatland carbon dynamics, we re-visited a drainage-affected bog, repeating eddy covariance measurements of CO2 flux after a 16-year interval. We found the ecosystem CO2 sink to have strengthened across the intervening period, despite a deep and fluctuating water table. This was mostly due to an increase in CO2 uptake through photosynthesis associated with increased shrub growth. We also observed a decline in CO2 loss through ecosystem respiration. These changes could not be attributed to environmental conditions. Air temperature was the only significant contemporaneous driver of monthly anomalies in CO2 fluxes, with higher temperatures decreasing the net CO2 sink via increased ecosystem respiration. However, the effect of air temperature was weak in comparison to the underlying differences between time periods. Therefore, we demonstrate that for drying peatlands, long-term changes within the ecosystem can be of primary importance as drivers of CO2 exchange. In this peatland, the ecosystem carbon sink has shown resilience to water table drawdown, with internal feedbacks leading to a recovery of the CO2 sink after a 16-year interval.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua L Ratcliffe
- School of Science and Environmental Research Institute, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand; Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden.
| | - David I Campbell
- School of Science and Environmental Research Institute, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand
| | - Louis A Schipper
- School of Science and Environmental Research Institute, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand
| | - Aaron M Wall
- School of Science and Environmental Research Institute, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand
| | - Beverley R Clarkson
- Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, Gate 10 Silverdale Road, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3216, New Zealand
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Loisel J, Yu Z, Beilman DW, Kaiser K, Parnikoza I. Peatland Ecosystem Processes in the Maritime Antarctic During Warm Climates. Sci Rep 2017; 7:12344. [PMID: 28955055 PMCID: PMC5617846 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-12479-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2017] [Accepted: 09/11/2017] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
We discovered a 50-cm-thick peat deposit near Cape Rasmussen (65.2°S), in the maritime Antarctic. To our knowledge, while aerobic ‘moss banks’ have often been examined, waterlogged ‘peatlands’ have never been described in this region before. The waterlogged system is approximately 100 m2, with a shallow water table. Surface vegetation is dominated by Warnstorfia fontinaliopsis, a wet-adapted moss commonly found in the Antarctic Peninsula. Peat inception was dated at 2750 cal. BP and was followed by relatively rapid peat accumulation (~0.1 cm/year) until 2150 cal. BP. Our multi-proxy analysis then shows a 2000-year-long stratigraphic hiatus as well as the recent resurgence of peat accumulation, sometime after 1950 AD. The existence of a thriving peatland at 2700–2150 cal. BP implies regionally warm summer conditions extending beyond the mid-Holocene; this finding is corroborated by many regional records showing moss bank initiation and decreased sea ice extent during this time period. Recent peatland recovery at the study site (<50 years ago) might have been triggered by ongoing rapid warming, as the area is experiencing climatic conditions approaching those found on milder, peatland-rich sub-Antarctic islands (50–60°S). Assuming that colonization opportunities and stabilization mechanisms would allow peat to persist in Antarctica, our results suggest that longer and warmer growing seasons in the maritime Antarctic region may promote a more peatland-rich landscape in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie Loisel
- Department of Geography, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA. .,Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, USA.
| | - Zicheng Yu
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, USA
| | - David W Beilman
- Department of Geography, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, USA
| | - Karl Kaiser
- Department of Marine Sciences, Texas A&M University, Galveston, USA
| | - Ivan Parnikoza
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, National Academy of Sciences, Kyiv, Ukraine
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Alexandrov GA, Brovkin VA, Kleinen T. The influence of climate on peatland extent in Western Siberia since the Last Glacial Maximum. Sci Rep 2016; 6:24784. [PMID: 27095029 PMCID: PMC4837369 DOI: 10.1038/srep24784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2015] [Accepted: 04/04/2016] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Boreal and subarctic peatlands are an important dynamical component of the earth system. They are sensitive to climate change, and could either continue to serve as a carbon sink or become a carbon source. Climatic thresholds for switching peatlands from sink to source are not well defined, and therefore, incorporating peatlands into Earth system models is a challenging task. Here we introduce a climatic index, warm precipitation excess, to delineate the potential geographic distribution of boreal peatlands for a given climate and landscape morphology. This allows us to explain the present-day distribution of peatlands in Western Siberia, their absence during the Last Glacial Maximum, their expansion during the mid-Holocene, and to form a working hypothesis about the trend to peatland degradation in the southern taiga belt of Western Siberia under an RCP 8.5 scenario for the projected climate in year 2100.
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Affiliation(s)
- G. A. Alexandrov
- A. M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pyzhevsky 3, Moscow, 119017, Russia
| | - V. A. Brovkin
- Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Bundesstrasse 53, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
| | - T. Kleinen
- Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Bundesstrasse 53, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
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Kettridge N, Binley A, Comas X, Cassidy NJ, Baird AJ, Harris A, van der Kruk J, Strack M, Milner AM, Waddington JM. Do peatland microforms move through time? Examining the developmental history of a patterned peatland using ground-penetrating radar. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1029/2011jg001876] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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