Effects of Peat Development and Wildfire on Permafrost Peatland Carbon Stocks in the Northwest Territories, Canada
Permafrost responses to wildfire range from rapid recovery to irreversible thaw with large consequences for ecosystem function and carbon cycling. This study used a chronosequence of permafrost peat plateau sites in Northwest Territories, Canada that vary in time-following-fire to ask questions abou...
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University of Guelph
2023
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ftunivguelph:oai:atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca:10214/27711 2024-06-23T07:55:42+00:00 Effects of Peat Development and Wildfire on Permafrost Peatland Carbon Stocks in the Northwest Territories, Canada McCuaig, Jessica Turetsky, Merritt 2023-06-09 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10214/27711 en eng University of Guelph https://hdl.handle.net/10214/27711 All items in the Atrium are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. Permafrost Wildfire Carbon cycling Peat Thesis 2023 ftunivguelph 2024-06-04T23:58:45Z Permafrost responses to wildfire range from rapid recovery to irreversible thaw with large consequences for ecosystem function and carbon cycling. This study used a chronosequence of permafrost peat plateau sites in Northwest Territories, Canada that vary in time-following-fire to ask questions about active layer and organic carbon stock recovery during post-fire succession. Radiocarbon dating of basal peat layers showed the sites varied in the timing of peat initiation from 2416 - 8619 cal yr BP. Cumulative organic carbon stocks increased with peatland initiation age and peat thickness, with older peatlands experiencing more recent fire activity. Overall results show that permafrost plateau organic carbon stocks were driven more by variation in peat initiation than time-following-last fire and that, at least for top-down active layer thickening, carbon stocks can be resistant to fire. We suggest direct or indirect measurement of peat initiation age may be useful information for fire managers. Thesis Northwest Territories Peat Peat plateau permafrost University of Guelph: DSpace digital archive Northwest Territories Canada |
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Open Polar |
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University of Guelph: DSpace digital archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivguelph |
language |
English |
topic |
Permafrost Wildfire Carbon cycling Peat |
spellingShingle |
Permafrost Wildfire Carbon cycling Peat McCuaig, Jessica Effects of Peat Development and Wildfire on Permafrost Peatland Carbon Stocks in the Northwest Territories, Canada |
topic_facet |
Permafrost Wildfire Carbon cycling Peat |
description |
Permafrost responses to wildfire range from rapid recovery to irreversible thaw with large consequences for ecosystem function and carbon cycling. This study used a chronosequence of permafrost peat plateau sites in Northwest Territories, Canada that vary in time-following-fire to ask questions about active layer and organic carbon stock recovery during post-fire succession. Radiocarbon dating of basal peat layers showed the sites varied in the timing of peat initiation from 2416 - 8619 cal yr BP. Cumulative organic carbon stocks increased with peatland initiation age and peat thickness, with older peatlands experiencing more recent fire activity. Overall results show that permafrost plateau organic carbon stocks were driven more by variation in peat initiation than time-following-last fire and that, at least for top-down active layer thickening, carbon stocks can be resistant to fire. We suggest direct or indirect measurement of peat initiation age may be useful information for fire managers. |
author2 |
Turetsky, Merritt |
format |
Thesis |
author |
McCuaig, Jessica |
author_facet |
McCuaig, Jessica |
author_sort |
McCuaig, Jessica |
title |
Effects of Peat Development and Wildfire on Permafrost Peatland Carbon Stocks in the Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_short |
Effects of Peat Development and Wildfire on Permafrost Peatland Carbon Stocks in the Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_full |
Effects of Peat Development and Wildfire on Permafrost Peatland Carbon Stocks in the Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Effects of Peat Development and Wildfire on Permafrost Peatland Carbon Stocks in the Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effects of Peat Development and Wildfire on Permafrost Peatland Carbon Stocks in the Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_sort |
effects of peat development and wildfire on permafrost peatland carbon stocks in the northwest territories, canada |
publisher |
University of Guelph |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10214/27711 |
geographic |
Northwest Territories Canada |
geographic_facet |
Northwest Territories Canada |
genre |
Northwest Territories Peat Peat plateau permafrost |
genre_facet |
Northwest Territories Peat Peat plateau permafrost |
op_relation |
https://hdl.handle.net/10214/27711 |
op_rights |
All items in the Atrium are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
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1802648370841387008 |