Water table control of CH4emission enhancement by vascular plants in boreal peatlands

1996 ◽  
Vol 101 (D17) ◽  
pp. 22775-22785 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Waddington ◽  
N. T. Roulet ◽  
R. V. Swanson
Keyword(s):  
Water Table ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Boreal Peatlands ◽  
Water Table Control

Dissolved Phosphorus Losses in Tile Drainage under Subirrigation

2006 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Stämpfli ◽  
Chandra A. Madramootoo
Keyword(s):  
Water Table ◽  
Residual Effect ◽  
Surface Water Quality ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Quality Standard ◽  
Tile Drainage ◽  
Agricultural Field ◽  
Shallow Water Table ◽  
Dissolved Phosphorus ◽  
Water Table Control

Abstract Recent studies have shown subirrigation (SI) to be effective in reducing nitrate losses from agricultural tile drainage systems. A field study was conducted from 2001 to 2002 in southwestern Québec to evaluate the effect of SI on total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) losses in tile drainage. In an agricultural field with drains installed at a 1-m depth, a SI system with a design water table depth (WTD) of 0.6 m below the soil surface was compared with conventional free drainage (FD). Subirrigation increased drainage outflow volumes in the autumn, when drains were opened and water table control was interrupted for the winter in the SI plots. Outflows were otherwise similar for both treatments. Throughout the study, the TDP concentrations in tile drainage were significantly higher with SI than with FD for seven out of 17 of the sampling dates for which data could be analyzed statistically, and they were never found to be lower for plots under SI than for plots under FD. Of the seven dates for which the increase was significant, six fell in the period during which water table control was not implemented (27 September 2001 to 24 June 2002). Hence, it appears that SI tended to increase TDP concentrations compared with FD, and that it also had a residual effect between growing seasons. Almost one-third of all samples from the plots under SI exceeded Québec's surface water quality standard (0.03 mg TDP L-1), whereas concentrations in plots under FD were all below the standard. Possible causes of the increase in TDP concentrations in tile drainage with SI are high TDP concentrations found in the well water used for SI and a higher P solubility caused by the shallow water table.

scholarly journals Methane transport and emissions from soil as affected by water table and vascular plants

BMC Ecology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gurbir S Bhullar ◽  
Majid Iravani ◽  
Peter J Edwards ◽  
Harry Olde Venterink
Keyword(s):  
Water Table ◽  
Vascular Plants

Short‐term effects of changing water table on N2O fluxes from peat monoliths from natural and drained boreal peatlands

1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristiina Regina ◽  
Jouko Silvola ◽  
Pertti J. Martikainen
Keyword(s):  
Water Table ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Boreal Peatlands ◽  
N2o Fluxes ◽  
Short Term Effects

Fluxes of nitrous oxide from boreal peatlands as affected by peatland type, water table level and nitrification capacity

1996 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristiina Regina ◽  
Hannu Nykänen ◽  
Jouko Silvola ◽  
Pertti J. Martikainen
Keyword(s):  
Nitrous Oxide ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Water Table Level ◽  
Boreal Peatlands ◽  
Type Water

A tale of two peats: characterizing ecosystem-driven differences in chemical composition with depth in natural and drained Finnish mires using Py-GC/MS analytical techniques

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristy Klein ◽  
Miriam Groβ-Schmölders ◽  
Christine Alewell ◽  
Jens Leifeld
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Relative Abundance ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Molecular Biomarkers ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Driving Mechanism ◽  
Aerobic Decomposition ◽  
Relative Abundances

<p>Intact accumulating peatlands are a globally important terrestrial carbon sink. Climate change and agricultural drainage are degrading these ecosystems, and through increases in aerobic decomposition, shifting their C balance from sink to source. To argue the effectiveness of restoration activities (such as rewetting), techniques are needed that clearly show differences between drained and natural (or drained and rewetted) peatlands. Because these changes are not always macroscopically visible, molecular analysis methods are especially needed to distinguish between ecosystems experiencing net pet growth (sequestering carbon), and those where aerobic decomposition is still a primary driving mechanism. Molecular biomarkers are a useful way to use chemical composition to distinguish these mechanisms.</p><p>This study aimed to compare differences in chemical composition with depth between two peatland sites from a large ombrotrophic mire in Lakkasuo Finland – one natural and one drained. To characterize these chemical shifts, pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry was used to track changes in relative abundance of various molecular biomarkers and compound classes (ie., aromatics, Sphagnum phenols, lignin, N-containing compounds, n-alkanes, etc.) with depth across both sites. Three replicate cores per site were collected, allowing for statistical evaluation of the relative abundances of these compounds. Using radiocarbon dating at three depths per core, the drained and natural sites were also matched by age for reference purposes. Significant differences were found for the Sphagnum-specific biomarker, p-isopropenylphenol, aromatics, and lignin, to the approximate current depth of the drained peatland water table. Higher phenolic compound class abundance indicated inhibited aerobic decomposition in the natural cores. An increasing trend in lignin biomarker relative abundance with depth was observed in the natural site, despite the identification of comparatively fewer vascular plants during the macroscopic analysis. Rather than a higher abundance of palaeo-ecological vascular plants, this trend is considered to be an indicator of preferential preservation of lignin compounds with anaerobic conditions. Below the depth of the water table, the relative abundances of most biomarkers stabilized, indicating the existance of similar environmental conditions in both sites prior to drainage. These data were compared and are in agreement with findings from elemental analysis (CHNO) and bulk isotopic (<sup>13</sup>C and <sup>15</sup>N) data measured on the same cores. Collectively, these data suggest that observed shifts in chemical composition in the natural and drained cores reflect the effect of different hydrological conditions between the two sites.</p>

Modeling water table changes in boreal peatlands of Finland under changing climate conditions

2012 ◽  
Vol 244 ◽  
pp. 65-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinnan Gong ◽  
Kaiyun Wang ◽  
Seppo Kellomäki ◽  
Chao Zhang ◽  
Pertti J. Martikainen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Table ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Changing Climate ◽  
Boreal Peatlands

Plant diversity, composition, and rarity in the southern boreal peatlands of Manitoba, Canada

2006 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. 940-955 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Locky ◽  
Suzanne E. Bayley
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Environmental Variables ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Boreal Peatlands ◽  
Environmental Extremes ◽  
Low Diversity ◽  
Total Diversity ◽  
High Diversity

Plant diversity and rarity have been relatively well studied for bryophytes in Canadian western boreal peatlands, but little information exists for vascular plants. Diversity, community composition, and rarity of bryophytes and vascular plants were determined and relationships examined among these and environmental variables in five peatland types at Duck Mountain, Manitoba: wooded bogs, black spruce swamps, wooded moderate-rich fens, open moderate-rich fens, and open extreme-rich fens. Total diversity was 298 species comprising 86 bryophytes and 212 vascular plants. Mean diversity followed a unimodal distribution over a bog – rich fen gradient. Wooded moderate-rich fens (59.0) and black spruce swamps (53.4) had the highest mean diversity, whereas wooded bogs (32.3) and open extreme-rich fens (34.7) had the lowest mean diversity. Occurrences of locally rare species followed the same general pattern, and provincially rare vascular plants were found primarily in wooded moderate-rich fens and black spruce swamps and were mostly orchids. Reasons for these patterns are complex, but high diversity appears to be related to high habitat heterogeneity and moderate environmental variables, e.g., pH and alkalinity, and low diversity appears to be related to environmental extremes, e.g., pH and alkalinity. Boreal wooded moderate-rich fens and black spruce swamps have comparatively high plant diversity and rarity and require consideration if the focus is biodiversity conservation. This will become increasingly important in landscapes where development pressures are high.

scholarly journals Wildfire overrides hydrological controls on boreal peatland methane emissions

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (13) ◽  
pp. 2651-2660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott J. Davidson ◽  
Christine Van Beest ◽  
Richard Petrone ◽  
Maria Strack
Keyword(s):  
Water Table ◽  
Environmental Variables ◽  
Burn Severity ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Production Potential ◽  
Fort Mcmurray ◽  
Ch4 Emissions ◽  
Boreal Peatlands ◽  
Ch4 Production ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Boreal peatlands represent a globally important store of carbon, and disturbances such as wildfire can have a negative feedback to the climate. Understanding how carbon exchange and greenhouse gas (GHG) dynamics are impacted after a wildfire is important, especially as boreal peatlands may be vulnerable to changes in wildfire regime under a rapidly changing climate. However, given this vulnerability, there is very little in the literature on the impact such fires have on methane (CH4) emissions. This study investigated the effect of wildfire on CH4 emissions at a boreal fen near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, that was partially burned by the Horse River Wildfire in 2016. We measured CH4 emissions and environmental variables (2017–2018) and CH4 production potential (2018) in two different microform types (hummocks and hollows) across a peat burn severity gradient (unburned (UB), moderately burned (MB), and severely burned (SB)). Results indicated a switch in the typical understanding of boreal peatland CH4 emissions. For example, emissions were significantly lower in the MB and SB hollows in both years compared to UB hollows. Interestingly, across the burned sites, hummocks had higher fluxes in 2017 than hollows at the MB and SB sites. We found typically higher emissions at the UB site where the water table was close to the surface. However, at the burned sites, no relationship was found between CH4 emissions and water table, even under similar hydrological conditions. There was also significantly higher CH4 production potential from the UB site than the burned sites. The reduction in CH4 emissions and production in the hollows at burned sites highlights the sensitivity of hollows to fire, removing labile organic material for potential methanogenesis. The previously demonstrated resistance of hummocks to fire also results in limited impact on CH4 emissions and likely faster recovery to pre-fire rates. Given the potential initial net cooling effect resulting from a reduction in CH4 emissions, it is important that the radiative effect of all GHGs following wildfire across peatlands is taken into account.

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