Recent climate change has driven divergent hydrological shifts in high-latitude peatlands

Zhang, H; Väliranta, Minna; Swindles, Graeme T.; Aquino‐López, Marco A.; Mullan, Donal; Tan, Ning; Amesbury, Matthew J.; Babeshko, Kirill V.; Bao, Kunshan; Bobrov, Anatoly; Chernyshov, Viktor A.; Davies, Marissa A.; Diaconu, Andrei‐Cosmin; Feurdean, Angelica; Finkelstein, Sarah A.; Garneau, Michelle; Guo, Zhengtang; Jones, Miriam C.; Kay, Martin; Klein, E. S.; Lamentowicz, Mariusz; Magnan, Gabriel; Marcisz, Katarzyna; Mazei, Natalia; Mazei, Yuri; Payne, Richard J.; Pelletier, Nicolas; Piilo, Sanna; Pratte, Steve; Roland, Thomas P.; Saldaev, Damir; Shotyk, William; Sim, Thomas G.; Sloan, Thomas J.; Słowiński, Michael; Talbot, Julie; Taylor, Liam; Tsyganov, Andrey N.; Wetterich, Sebastian; Wang, Xing; Zhao, Yan

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-32711-4

Cited by 33 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…However, our studied peatland was dominated by S. fuscum during the bog phase and we found lower accumulation rates for the upper sections in the catotelm layer during the bog phase (789–111 cal year BP), suggesting the dominant role of external forcing in the CAR of our studied peat core. Other previous researches with similar conditions to ours (i.e., vegetation shift caused by volcanic eruption) also reported this pattern (Ratcliffe et al, 2020; Zhang, Smol, et al, 2022; Zhang, Väliranta, et al, 2022). They used measured CAR in their studies due to the high impacts of external forcing.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Previous studies also found that an acidic SO 2 plume derived from volcanic ash facilitated Sphagnum establishment and carbon accumulation in peatlands (Loisel & Bunsen, 2020; Ratcliffe et al, 2020). Phosphorus (P) can be released from tephra for decades and therefore we believe P concentration during the bog phase after tephra deposition was not too low, which was reported in previous findings in the same area as our study (Zhang, Smol, et al, 2022; Zhang, Väliranta, et al, 2022) and in the Utasai Bog in Japan (Hughes et al, 2013). The peatland was most likely more limited by N than by P, affecting both decomposition and CAR.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

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Comparison of carbon and nitrogen accumulation rate between bog and fen phases in a pristine peatland with the fen‐bog transition

Yang,

Liu,

Bai

2023

Global Change Biology

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Long‐term carbon and nitrogen dynamics in peatlands are affected by both vegetation production and decomposition processes. Here, we examined the carbon accumulation rate (CAR), nitrogen accumulation rate (NAR) and δ13C, δ15N of plant residuals in a peat core dated back to ~8500 cal year BP in a temperate peatland in Northeast China. Impacted by the tephra during 1160 and 789 cal year BP and climate change, the peatland changed from a fen dominated by vascular plants to a bog dominated by Sphagnum mosses. We used the Clymo model to quantify peat addition rate and decay constant for acrotelm and catotelm layers during both bog and fen phases. Our studied peatland was dominated by Sphagnum fuscum during the bog phase (789 to −59 cal year BP) and lower accumulation rates in the acrotelm layer was found during this phase, suggesting the dominant role of volcanic eruption in the CAR of the peat core. Both mean CAR and NAR were higher during the bog phase than during the fen phase in our study, consistent with the results of the only one similar study in the literature. Because the input rate of organic matter was considered to be lower during the bog phase, the decomposition process must have been much lower during the bog phase than during the fen phase and potentially controlled CAR and NAR. During the fen phase, CAR was also lower under higher temperature and summer insolation, conditions beneficial for decomposition. δ15N of Sphagnum hinted that nitrogen fixation had a positive effect on nitrogen accumulation, particular in recent decades. Our study suggested that decomposition is more important for carbon and nitrogen sequestration than production in peatlands in most conditions and if future climate changes or human disturbance increase decomposition rate, carbon sequestration in peatlands will be jeopardized.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Comparison of carbon and nitrogen accumulation rate between bog and fen phases in a pristine peatland with the fen‐bog transition

Yang,

Liu,

Bai

2023

Global Change Biology

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“…In turn, water level drawdown experiments on high‐latitude peatlands have shown that drier conditions result in shrub domination over mosses and forbs, such conditions also sustaining high belowground production (Mäkiranta et al, 2018). However, in the northeast Canada, a regime sift from sedges to Sphagnum domination has been documented (Magnan et al, 2022) and centennial peatland drying trend in low latitude Europe (Swindles et al, 2019) and high latitude Eurasian continent is observed from other peatland proxies (testate amoebas) but with more variable signal for North American continent (Zhang et al, 2022). Our results provide valuable information to add on the understanding of global peatland vegetation changes, their response sensitiveness, and complement the hydrological information produced by testate amoebas.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Warming that generally increases evapotranspiration has been predicted to result in drying of northern peatlands (Helbig et al, 2020; Swindles et al, 2019), and studies suggest that northern peatlands especially respond to changes in moisture conditions quicker and more prominently than more southern peatland types (Gong et al, 2013; Kokkonen et al, 2019; Tahvanainen, 2011). A new data compilation based on hydrologically sensitive organisms, testate amoebae, indicates a large‐scale change of high‐latitude Eurasian peatlands toward drier conditions, while in North American continent, the signal is weaker (Zhang et al, 2022). However, in permafrost peatlands, warming may lead to abrupt or more gradual thawing and consequent wetting (Hugelius et al, 2020; Turetsky et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consistent centennial‐scale change in European sub‐Arctic peatland vegetation toward Sphagnum dominance—Implications for carbon sink capacity

Piilo

Väliranta

Amesbury

et al. 2022

Global Change Biology

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Climate warming is leading to permafrost thaw in northern peatlands, and current predictions suggest that thawing will drive greater surface wetness and an increase in methane emissions. Hydrology largely drives peatland vegetation composition, which is a key element in peatland functioning and thus in carbon dynamics. These processes are expected to change. Peatland carbon accumulation is determined by the balance between plant production and peat decomposition. But both processes are expected to accelerate in northern peatlands due to warming, leading to uncertainty in future peatland carbon budgets. Here, we compile a dataset of vegetation changes and apparent carbon accumulation data reconstructed from 33 peat cores collected from 16 sub‐arctic peatlands in Fennoscandia and European Russia. The data cover the past two millennia that has undergone prominent changes in climate and a notable increase in annual temperatures toward present times. We show a pattern where European sub‐Arctic peatland microhabitats have undergone a habitat change where currently drier habitats dominated by Sphagnum mosses replaced wetter sedge‐dominated vegetation and these new habitats have remained relatively stable over the recent decades. Our results suggest an alternative future pathway where sub‐arctic peatlands may at least partly sustain dry vegetation and enhance the carbon sink capacity of northern peatlands.

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“…Peatland contains a large amount of plant litter and humus, which is vulnerable to fire due to lightning strikes or human activities in extreme drought conditions (Rein et al, 2008). As global warming becomes more pronounced, climate change and human activities are decreasing the depth of the water table of peatlands (Swindles et al, 2019; Zhang et al, 2022), which is leading to high frequency peat fire incidents (Turetsky et al, 2014; Virtanen et al, 2013). For example, during the summers of 2002 and 2010, additional peat megafires occurred in central Russia, resulting in months of peat‐burning smog in Moscow and a 1.6‐fold increase in mortality (Chubarova et al, 2008, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerobic and anaerobic burning alter trace metal availability in peat soils: evidence from laboratory experiments

Xiao

Wang

et al. 2023

European J Soil Science

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As global warming becomes more pronounced, climate change and human activities are leading to frequent peat fire incidents. Fire plays an important role in the environmental distribution of trace metals in peat soils. In the current study, we collected peat soils from six peatlands of the Great Khingan Mountains in Northeast China, where wildfires have often occurred in recent decades. To investigate the transformation of trace metals in peat soils by fire, burning experiments at 250°C (light) or 600°C (severe) and under aerobic (AE, flaming) and anaerobic (AN, smouldering) conditions (AE250, AE600, AN250, AN600) were carried out in the laboratory to investigate the effect of different burning intensities on the distribution of Cu, As, Pb, and Cd in peat soils. The European Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) sequential extraction method for metal fractions was applied for partitioning four fractions (exchangeable, reducible, oxidizable, and residual). The results showed that AE600 significantly decreased the percentages of oxidizable Cu, As, Cd and Pb (Cuoxi, Asoxi Cdoxi and Pboxi) compared with those of the original samples, e.g., Cuoxi decreased from 68.84% ± 12.76% to 15.82% ± 8.02% in peat under moss, which might result from organic matter decrease. Under AN250 conditions, the exchangeable As (Asexc) and Pb (Pbexc) significantly increased by more than twice. Different burning intensities significantly changed the various fractions of Cu, e.g., more than 20% Cuoxi transferred to exchangeable and reducible fractions as the temperature increased. Most of the available fractions of As transformed to residual As after burning. Our study suggests that the AE600 treatment increased the ecotoxicity and bioavailability of Cu, Pb and Cd in peat soils, while AN250 burning decreased the potential ecotoxicity of Cu, As, and Pb. Compared with lower temperature flaming burning (AE250), the ecotoxicity and bioavailability of Cu and Pb were greater in high temperature (AE600) conditions. Smouldering fires at both temperatures (AN250 and AN600) maintained a high potential ecotoxicity and bioavailability of Cu and Pb in peat soils.

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Recent climate change has driven divergent hydrological shifts in high-latitude peatlands

Cited by 33 publications

References 31 publications

Comparison of carbon and nitrogen accumulation rate between bog and fen phases in a pristine peatland with the fen‐bog transition

Comparison of carbon and nitrogen accumulation rate between bog and fen phases in a pristine peatland with the fen‐bog transition

Consistent centennial‐scale change in European sub‐Arctic peatland vegetation toward Sphagnum dominance—Implications for carbon sink capacity

Aerobic and anaerobic burning alter trace metal availability in peat soils: evidence from laboratory experiments

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