[1] Global wetlands are, at estimate ranging 115 -237 Tg CH 4 /yr, the largest single atmospheric source of the greenhouse gas methane (CH 4 ). We present a dataset on CH 4 flux rates totaling 12 measurement years at sites from Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia and Siberia. We find that temperature and microbial substrate availability (expressed as the organic acid concentration in peat water) combined explain almost 100% of the variations in mean annual CH 4 emissions. The temperature sensitivity of the CH 4 emissions shown suggests a feedback mechanism on climate change that could validate incorporation in further developments of global circulation models.

This paper investigates how vascular plants affect carbon flow and the formation and emission of the greenhouse gas methane (CH4) in an arctic wet tundra ecosystem in NE Greenland. We present a field experiment where we studied, in particular, how species‐specific root exudation patterns affect the availability of acetate, a hypothesized precursor of CH4 formation. We found significantly higher acetate formation rates in the root vicinity of Eriophorum scheuchzeri compared with another dominating sedge in the wetland, i.e. Dupontia psilosantha. Furthermore a shading treatment, which reduced net photosynthesis, resulted in significantly decreased formation rates of acetate. We also found that the potential CH4 production of the peat profile was highly positively correlated to the concentration of acetate at the respective depths, whereas it was negatively correlated to the concentration of total dissolved organic carbon. This suggests that acetate is a substrate of importance to the methanogens in the studied ecosystem and that acetate concentration in this case can serve as a predictor of substrate quality. To further investigate the importance of acetate as a predecessor to CH4, we brought an intact peat‐plant monolith system collected at the field site in NE Greenland to the laboratory, sealed it hermetically and studied the decomposition of 14C‐labelled acetate injected at the depth of methanogenic activity. After 4 h, 14CH4 emission from the monolith could be observed. In conclusion, allocation of recently fixed carbon to the roots of certain species of vascular plants affects substrate quality and influence CH4 formation.

The treatment performance of the Keiskammahoek Sewage Treatment Plant (KSTP), was assessed in terms of pH, conductivity, and COD and nutrients removal from the influent. The contributions from this and other smaller point sources in the town to these parameters in the receiving Keiskamma River were determined by simultaneously monitoring the parameters in the river over a period of about 1 month. The COD and orthophosphate in effluents exceed the SA Effluent Quality Standards for these parameters in effluents to be discharged into a river. Also, significant pollution of the receiving Keiskamma River was indicated for orthophosphate, COD and NH 4-N.

Abstract. In this study, we present summertime concentrations and fluxes of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) measured at a sub-arctic wetland in northern Sweden using a disjunct eddy-covariance (DEC) technique based on a proton transfer reaction mass spectrometer (PTR-MS). The vegetation at the site was dominated by Sphagnum, Carex and Eriophorum spp. The measurements reported here cover a period of 50 days (1 August to 19 September 2006), approximately one half of the growing season at the site, and allowed to investigate the effect of day-to-day variation in weather as well as of vegetation senescence on daily BVOC fluxes, and on their temperature and light responses. The sensitivity drift of the DEC system was assessed by comparing H 3 O + -ion cluster formed with water molecules (H 3 O + (H 2 O) at m37) with water vapour concentration measurements made using an adjacent humidity sensor, and the applicability of the DEC method was analysed by a comparison of sensible heat fluxes for high frequency and DEC data obtained from the sonic anemometer. These analyses showed no significant PTR-MS sensor drift over a period of several weeks and only a small flux-loss due to high-frequency spectrum omissions. This loss was within the range expected from other studies and the theoretical considerations.Standardised (20 • C and 1000 µmol m −2 s −1 PAR) summer isoprene emission rates found in this study of 329 µg C m −2 (ground area) h −1 were comparable with findings from more southern boreal forests, and fen-like ecosystems. On a diel scale, measured fluxes indicated a stronger temperature dependence than emissions from temperate or (sub)tropical ecosystems. For the first time, to our knowledge, we report ecosystem methanol fluxes from a sub-arctic Correspondence to: T. Holst (thomas.holst@nateko.lu.se) ecosystem. Maximum daytime emission fluxes were around 270 µg m −2 h −1 (ca. 100 µg C m −2 h −1 ), and during most nights small negative fluxes directed from the atmosphere to the surface were observed.

Abstract. High latitude wetlands play an important role for the surface-atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ), but fluxes of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) in these ecosystems have to date not been extensively studied. This is despite BVOC representing a measurable proportion of the total gaseous C fluxes at northern locations and in the face of the high temperature sensitivity of these systems that requires a much improved process understanding to interpret and project possible changes in response to climate warming. We measured emission of isoprene and photosynthetic gas exchange over two growing seasons (2005)(2006) in a subarctic wetland in northern Sweden with the objective to identify the physiological and environmental controls of these fluxes on the leaf scale. The sedge species Eriophorum angustifolium and Carex rostrata were both emitters of isoprene. Springtime emissions were first detected after an accumulated diurnal mean temperature above 0 • C of about 100 degree days. Maximum measured growing season standardized (basal) emission rates (20 • C, 1000 µmol m −2 s −1 ) were 1075 (2005) Over the growing season, basal isoprene emission varied in response to the temperature history of the last 48 h. Seasonal basal isoprene emission rates decreased with leaf nitrogen (N), which may be explained by the typical growth and resource allocation pattern of clonal sedges as the leaves age. The observations were used to model emissions over the growing season, accounting for effects of temperature history, links to leaf assimilation rate and the light and temperature dependencies of the cold-adapted sedges.