Peatland vascular plant functional types affect dissolved organic matter chemistry

Abstract. Peatlands accumulated large carbon (C) stocks as peat in historical times. Currently however, many peatlands are on the verge of becoming sources with their C sequestration function becoming sensitive to environmental changes such as increases in temperature, decreasing water table and enhanced nitrogen deposition. Long term changes in vegetation composition are both, a consequence and indicator of future changes in C sequestration. Spatial continuous accurate assessment of the vegetation composition is a current challenge in keeping a close watch on peatland vegetation changes. In this study we quantified the fractional cover of three major plant functional types (PFTs; Sphagnum mosses, graminoids, and ericoid shrubs) in peatlands, using field spectroscopy reflectance measurements (400–2400 nm) on 25 plots differing in PFT cover. The data was validated using point intercept methodology on the same plots. Our results showed that the detection of open Sphagnum versus Sphagnumcovered by vascular plants (shrubs and graminoids) is feasible with an R2 of 0.81. On the other hand, the partitioning of the vascular plant fraction into shrubs and graminoids revealed lower correlations of R2 of 0.54 and 0.57, respectively. This study was based on a dataset where the reflectance of all main PFTs and their pure components within the peatland was measured at local spatial scales. Spectrally measured species or plant community abundances can further be used to bridge scaling gaps up to canopy scale, ultimately allowing upscaling of the C balance of peatlands to the ecosystem level.

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Influence of environmental factors on spectral characteristic of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in Inner Mongolia Plateau, China

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions ◽

10.5194/hessd-12-5895-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 12 (6) ◽

pp. 5895-5929 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Z. D. Wen ◽

K. S. Song ◽

Y. Zhao ◽

J. Du ◽

J. H. Ma

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Organic Matter ◽

Environmental Factors ◽

Organic Carbon ◽

Dissolved Organic Matter ◽

Light Absorption ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Spectral Characteristics ◽

Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter ◽

River Waters

Abstract. Spectral characteristics of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) were examined in conjunction with environmental factors in the waters of 22 rivers and 26 terminal waters in Hulun Buir plateau, northeast China. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorous (TP) were significantly higher in terminal waters than rivers waters (p < 0.01). Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that non-water light absorption and anthropogenic nutrient disturbances might be the causes of the diversity of water quality parameters in Hulun Buir plateau. CDOM absorption in river waters was significantly lower than terminal waters (p < 0.01). Analysis of ratio of absorption at 250–365 nm (E250 : 365), specific UV absorbance (SUVA254), and spectral slope ratio (Sr) indicated that CDOM in river waters had higher aromaticity, molecular weight, and vascular plant contribution than in terminal waters. Furthermore, results showed that DOC concentration, CDOM light absorption, and the proportion of autochthonous sources of CDOM in plateau waters were all higher than in other freshwater rivers reported in the literature. The strong evapoconcentration, intense ultraviolet irradiance and landscape features of Hulun Buir plateau may be responsible for the above phenomenon. Redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated that the environmental variables TSM, TN, and EC had a strong correlation with light absorption characteristics, followed by TDS and chlorophyll a. In most sampling locations, CDOM was the dominant non-water light-absorbing substance. Light absorption by non-algal particles often exceeded that by phytoplankton in the plateau waters. Study of these optical-physicochemical correlations is helpful in the evaluation of the potential influence of water quality factors on non-water light absorption in cold plateau water environments. And the study on organic carbon in plateau lakes had a vital contribution to global carbon balance estimation.

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Patterns of AllocationCSRPlant Functional Types in Northern Europe

International Journal of Ecology ◽

10.1155/2016/1323614 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2016 ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Alexander B. Novakovskiy ◽

Svetlana P. Maslova ◽

Igor V. Dalke ◽

Yuriy A. Dubrovskiy

Keyword(s):

Photosynthetic Activity ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Dry Weight ◽

Physiological Parameters ◽

Plant Functional Types ◽

High Rate ◽

Lateral Spread ◽

Northern Europe ◽

Functional Types ◽

Leaf Dry Weight

Morphological and physiological parameters of 76 vascular plant species typical for Northern Europe were analyzed using Grime’s classification.Cspecies (competitors) have high levels of canopy height, leaf dry weight, and maximal lateral spread.Rspecies (ruderal) have low leaf dry weight, longer flowering period, high rate of photosynthetic capacity and respiration, and high nitrogen content in the leaves. Stress-tolerant (S) species prevailing in habitats with limited resources are small and have low rate of photosynthetic activity and respiration. Principal component analysis (PCA) ordination showed a clear separation of species of different plant functional types according to their morphological and physiological parameters. The first PCA axis showed close relationship with the rate of respiration and photosynthetic activity and allowed us to differentiateSfromRspecies. The second PCA axis correlated with morphological parameters associated with the size of plants and allowed us to differentiateCspecies fromSandRspecies. Using PCA ordination, we developed a model that determines plant functional types in Northern Europe and analyzed plant functional types of several species that are not presented in Grime’s classification. The proposed model has higher accuracy (84%) compared to similar models designed for other climatic zones.

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Peatland vascular plant functional types affect methane dynamics by altering microbial community structure

Journal of Ecology ◽

10.1111/1365-2745.12413 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 103 (4) ◽

pp. 925-934 ◽

Cited By ~ 51

Author(s):

Bjorn J. M. Robroek ◽

Vincent E. J. Jassey ◽

Martine A. R. Kox ◽

Roeland L. Berendsen ◽

Robert T. E. Mills ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Community Structure ◽

Microbial Community ◽

Microbial Community Structure ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Plant Functional Types ◽

Functional Types ◽

Methane Dynamics

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Tracing terrestrial compounds leaching from two reservoir catchments as input to dissolved organic matter

Marine and Freshwater Research ◽

10.1071/mf00058 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 52 (2) ◽

pp. 223 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

D. W. Page ◽

J. A. van Leeuwen ◽

K. M. Spark ◽

D. E. Mulcahy

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Organic Matter ◽

Dissolved Organic Matter ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Terrestrial Plants ◽

Soil Horizons ◽

Water Reservoirs ◽

Conventional Pyrolysis ◽

Cuo Oxidation

Conventional pyrolysis—GC—MS,thermochemolysis and alkaline CuO oxidation were applied to determine differences between dissolved organic matter (DOM)from terrestrial plants,soil horizons and drinking water reservoirs in two catchments in South Australia.These two reservoir-catchment systems were selected on the basis of contrasting vegetation and land use.Pyrolysis of DOM yielded furans,aliphatic products and N-containing compounds,which are indicative of polysaccharides,lipids and proteins,respectively.Thermo-chemolysis enabled detection of methoxy-benzyl compounds derived from various sources of DOM,indicating that these compounds can be used as bio-markers of vascular plant sources.Vanillic acid was detected from DOM isolates from the vegetation,soils and reservoir waters of the two catchments,using CuO oxidation,and hence this compound also appears to be a suitable bio-marker for tracing allochthonous DOM input into the reservoirs. Each of the three techniques resulted in the formation of different compounds from the DOM isolates,which indicated the type of precursor bio-polymer and/or some of the methoxyphenol structures of lignin.

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Vascular plant and microbial biomarkers of dissolved organic matter data from incubation experiments

Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office ◽

10.1575/1912/bco-dmo.754885.1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Peter Hernes ◽

Karl Kaiser

Keyword(s):

Organic Matter ◽

Dissolved Organic Matter ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Incubation Experiments ◽

Microbial Biomarkers

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Towards spatial assessment of carbon sequestration in peatlands: spectroscopy based estimation of fractional cover of three plant functional types

Biogeosciences Discussions ◽

10.5194/bgd-5-1293-2008 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 1293-1317 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

G. Schaepman-Strub ◽

J. Limpens ◽

M. Menken ◽

H. M. Bartholomeus ◽

M. E. Schaepman

Keyword(s):

Carbon Sequestration ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Spatial Scales ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Plant Functional Types ◽

Vegetation Composition ◽

Fractional Cover ◽

Functional Types ◽

Ecosystem Level ◽

Historical Times

Abstract. Peatlands accumulated large carbon stocks as peat in historical times. Currently however, many peatlands are on the verge of becoming sources with their carbon sequestration function becoming sensitive to environmental changes such as increases in temperature, decreasing water table and enhanced nitrogen deposition. Long term changes in vegetation composition are both, a consequence and indicator of future changes in carbon sequestration. Spatial continuous accurate assessment of the vegetation composition is a current challenge in keeping a close watch on peatland vegetation changes. In this study we quantified the fractional cover of three major plant functional types (Sphagnum mosses, graminoids, and shrubs) in peatlands, using field spectroscopy reflectance measurements (400–2400 nm) on 25 plots differing in plant functional type cover. The data was validated using point intercept methodology on the same plots. Our results showed that the detection of open Sphagnum versus Sphagnum covered by vascular plants (shrubs and graminoids) is feasible with an R2 of 0.81. On the other hand, the partitioning of the vascular plant fraction into shrubs and graminoids revealed lower correlations of R2 of 0.54 and 0.57, respectively. This study was based on a dataset where the reflectance of all main plant functional types and their pure components within the peatland was measured at local spatial scales. Spectrally measured species or plant community abundances can further be used to bridge scaling gaps up to canopy scale, ultimately allowing upscaling of the C balance of peatlands to the ecosystem level.

Download Full-text