Holocene peatland and ice-core data constraints on the timing and magnitude of CO2 emissions from past land use
Timing, extent, and impacts of preindustrial agricultural expansion are uncertain, yet crucial for understanding the role of humans in the Earth’s environmental history. The buildup of northern peatlands, initiated after ice-age conditions, was a major carbon sink and could have compensated large CO...
| Published in: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
|---|---|
| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
National Academy of Sciences
2017
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5321034/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28137849 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1613889114 |
| Summary: | Timing, extent, and impacts of preindustrial agricultural expansion are uncertain, yet crucial for understanding the role of humans in the Earth’s environmental history. The buildup of northern peatlands, initiated after ice-age conditions, was a major carbon sink and could have compensated large CO2 emissions from land use, given timing matches. We present observation- and model-based reconstructions of past peatland carbon and land-use CO2 emission estimates based on all published scenarios. Our analyses of the terrestrial carbon balance reveal a large nonpeatland land carbon source after the Mid-Holocene climate optimum, not explained by land use, and we find that previously suggested links between CO2 and population and land-use history are not supported. |
|---|