Depth Matters in Peat Bog Nutrient Cycling

Effects of nutrient addition on vegetation and carbon cycling in an ombrotrophic bog

We measured net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE), plant biomass and growth, species composition, peat microclimate, and litter decomposition in a fertilization experiment at Mer Bleue Bog, Ottawa, Ontario. The bog is located in the zone with the highest atmospheric nitrogen deposition for Canada, estimated at 0.8–1.2 g N m 2 yr 1 (wet deposition as NH4 and NO3). To establish the effect of nutrient ...

European Bog Bodies: From the Iron Age Peat Bog to the 21st Century

Well preserved bodies dating from the prehistoric era to the 19th century have been found across northwestern Europe; specifically in the peat bogs of Ireland, Great Britain and Denmark. These discoveries were especially prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when mass peat extraction was at its height. Many of these finds have been dated to the Iron Age and have previously been at...

Linksbetweenmethane£uxand transcriptional activitiesof methanogensandmethaneoxidizers ina blanket peat bog

The relationship between biogeochemical process rates and microbial functional activity was investigated by analysis of the transcriptional dynamics of the key functional genes for methanogenesis (methyl coenzyme M reductase; mcrA) and methane oxidation (particulate methane monooxygenase; pmoA) and in situ methane flux at two peat soil field sites with contrasting net methane-emitting and -oxid...

Nutrient Relationships: Cycling

Nutrient Relationships: Cycling

Figure 1. Nutrients may be tied up in bryophytes for decades, or recycle within months, in forests with abundant bryophytes, as in this forest with Isothecium myosuroides. Photo by Michael Lüth. Few quantitative studies have addressed the role of bryophytes in ecosystem nutrient cycling. Nevertheless, bryophytes may play a significant role in N retention and release in the ecosystem (Figure 1)....