Temperature and peat type control CO2 and CH4production in Alaskan permafrost peats
Controls on the fate of ~277 Pg of soil organic carbon (C) stored in permafrost peatland soils remain poorly understood despite the potential for a significant positive feedback to climate change. Our objective was to quantify the temperature, moisture, organic matter, and microbial controls on soil...
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ftuninhampshire:oai:scholars.unh.edu:earthsci_facpub-1258 2023-12-17T10:26:24+01:00 Temperature and peat type control CO2 and CH4production in Alaskan permafrost peats Treat, C C Wollheim, Wilfred M Varner, Ruth Grandy, Andrew S Talbot, Julie Frolking, Steve 2014-08-01T07:00:00Z https://scholars.unh.edu/earthsci_facpub/259 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12572 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12572/full unknown University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository https://scholars.unh.edu/earthsci_facpub/259 doi:10.1111/gcb.12572 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12572/full © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Earth Sciences Arctic boreal carbon climate change methane Peatland permafrost thaw text 2014 ftuninhampshire https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12572 2023-11-23T18:45:01Z Controls on the fate of ~277 Pg of soil organic carbon (C) stored in permafrost peatland soils remain poorly understood despite the potential for a significant positive feedback to climate change. Our objective was to quantify the temperature, moisture, organic matter, and microbial controls on soil organic carbon (SOC) losses following permafrost thaw in peat soils across Alaska. We compared the carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions from peat samples collected at active layer and permafrost depths when incubated aerobically and anaerobically at −5, −0.5, +4, and +20 °C. Temperature had a strong, positive effect on C emissions; global warming potential (GWP) was >3× larger at 20 °C than at 4 °C. Anaerobic conditions significantly reduced CO2 emissions and GWP by 47% at 20 °C but did not have a significant effect at −0.5 °C. Net anaerobic CH4 production over 30 days was 7.1 ± 2.8 μg CH4-C gC−1 at 20 °C. Cumulative CO2 emissions were related to organic matter chemistry and best predicted by the relative abundance of polysaccharides and proteins (R2 = 0.81) in SOC. Carbon emissions (CO2-C + CH4-C) from the active layer depth peat ranged from 77% larger to not significantly different than permafrost depths and varied depending on the peat type and peat decomposition stage rather than thermal state. Potential SOC losses with warming depend not only on the magnitude of temperature increase and hydrology but also organic matter quality, permafrost history, and vegetation dynamics, which will ultimately determine net radiative forcing due to permafrost thaw. Text Arctic Climate change Global warming permafrost Alaska University of New Hampshire: Scholars Repository Arctic Global Change Biology 20 8 2674 2686 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of New Hampshire: Scholars Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftuninhampshire |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Arctic boreal carbon climate change methane Peatland permafrost thaw |
spellingShingle |
Arctic boreal carbon climate change methane Peatland permafrost thaw Treat, C C Wollheim, Wilfred M Varner, Ruth Grandy, Andrew S Talbot, Julie Frolking, Steve Temperature and peat type control CO2 and CH4production in Alaskan permafrost peats |
topic_facet |
Arctic boreal carbon climate change methane Peatland permafrost thaw |
description |
Controls on the fate of ~277 Pg of soil organic carbon (C) stored in permafrost peatland soils remain poorly understood despite the potential for a significant positive feedback to climate change. Our objective was to quantify the temperature, moisture, organic matter, and microbial controls on soil organic carbon (SOC) losses following permafrost thaw in peat soils across Alaska. We compared the carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions from peat samples collected at active layer and permafrost depths when incubated aerobically and anaerobically at −5, −0.5, +4, and +20 °C. Temperature had a strong, positive effect on C emissions; global warming potential (GWP) was >3× larger at 20 °C than at 4 °C. Anaerobic conditions significantly reduced CO2 emissions and GWP by 47% at 20 °C but did not have a significant effect at −0.5 °C. Net anaerobic CH4 production over 30 days was 7.1 ± 2.8 μg CH4-C gC−1 at 20 °C. Cumulative CO2 emissions were related to organic matter chemistry and best predicted by the relative abundance of polysaccharides and proteins (R2 = 0.81) in SOC. Carbon emissions (CO2-C + CH4-C) from the active layer depth peat ranged from 77% larger to not significantly different than permafrost depths and varied depending on the peat type and peat decomposition stage rather than thermal state. Potential SOC losses with warming depend not only on the magnitude of temperature increase and hydrology but also organic matter quality, permafrost history, and vegetation dynamics, which will ultimately determine net radiative forcing due to permafrost thaw. |
format |
Text |
author |
Treat, C C Wollheim, Wilfred M Varner, Ruth Grandy, Andrew S Talbot, Julie Frolking, Steve |
author_facet |
Treat, C C Wollheim, Wilfred M Varner, Ruth Grandy, Andrew S Talbot, Julie Frolking, Steve |
author_sort |
Treat, C C |
title |
Temperature and peat type control CO2 and CH4production in Alaskan permafrost peats |
title_short |
Temperature and peat type control CO2 and CH4production in Alaskan permafrost peats |
title_full |
Temperature and peat type control CO2 and CH4production in Alaskan permafrost peats |
title_fullStr |
Temperature and peat type control CO2 and CH4production in Alaskan permafrost peats |
title_full_unstemmed |
Temperature and peat type control CO2 and CH4production in Alaskan permafrost peats |
title_sort |
temperature and peat type control co2 and ch4production in alaskan permafrost peats |
publisher |
University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://scholars.unh.edu/earthsci_facpub/259 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12572 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12572/full |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Global warming permafrost Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Global warming permafrost Alaska |
op_source |
Earth Sciences |
op_relation |
https://scholars.unh.edu/earthsci_facpub/259 doi:10.1111/gcb.12572 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12572/full |
op_rights |
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12572 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
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20 |
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8 |
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2674 |
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2686 |
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