Effect of water table drawdown on northern peatland methane dynamics: Implications for climate change

Effect of water table drawdown on northern peatland methane dynamics: Implications for climate change

[1] As natural sources of methane (CH4), peatlands play an important role in the global carbon cycle. Climate models predict that evapotranspiration will increase under a 2 CO2 scenario due to increased temperatures leading to lowered water tables at many northern latitudes. Given that the position of the water table within a peatland can have a large effect on CH4 emissions, climate change may...

Responses of carbon dioxide flux and plant biomass to water table drawdown in a treed peatland in northern Alberta: a climate change perspective

Northern peatland ecosystems represent large carbon (C) stocks that are susceptible to changes such as accelerated mineralization due to water table lowering expected under a climate change scenario. During the growing seasons (1 May to 31 October) of 2011 and 2012 we monitored CO2 fluxes and plant biomass along a microtopographic gradient (hummocks-hollows) in an undisturbed dry continental bo...

Aquitard Effect on Drawdown in Water Table Aquifers

Response of vegetation and net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange at different peatland microforms following water table drawdown

[1] Northern peatlands are significant stocks of terrestrial soil carbon, and it has been predicted that warmer temperatures and lower water tables resulting from climate change will convert these ecosystems into sources for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). However, these predictions do not consider the potential for hydrologically induced ecological succession or the spatial variability of ca...

Methane and climate change

The New Zealand government has indicated that it will ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which means that legally binding targets will be set for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In “preferred” policies to achieve these targets, the agricultural sector will not be taxed directly but is expected to contribute to research leading to methane mitigation. A wide range of possibilities other than red...