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Effect of Hummock-Forming Vegetation on Methane Emissions from a Temperate Sedge-Grass Marsh

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Abstract

Plants affect CH4 emissions from wetlands by providing routes for CH4 ventilation from the soil and its re-oxidation, the outcome depending on the vertical distribution of the plant ventilating structures as related to water level. This study investigated the effect of elevated hummocks on CH4 emissions in a temperate wetland dominated by a hummock-forming sedge, Carex acuta L. Comparative measurements of CH4 fluxes from paired plots with or without hummocks revealed a prevailing positive difference interpreted as plant-mediated fluxes. All types of CH4 fluxes responded positively to water level with a hysteresis related to its recent dynamics. Seasonal medians of CH4 emissions from the ecosystem, based on fluxes from both types of plots, were 15.09 and 0.11 mg m−2 day−1 in the wet year 2012 and the dry year 2014, respectively. This relatively low magnitude of CH4 emissions, compared to values from similar habitats within the same range of water levels, is ascribed to the presence of hummocks. At water levels near the soil surface, hummocks extend above the water table and serve as aerobic micro-habitats in which plant structures avoid anaerobic stress and CH4 produced in the bulk soil and vented via deep roots can be re-oxidized.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by project No. P504/11/1151 of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic and project No. 081/2016/Z of the Grant Agency of the University of South Bohemia. Research infrastructure was supported by the National Sustainability Program I (NPU I) grant No. LO1415 and by the CzeCOS program, grant No. LM2015061 supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. We thank M. Nešpor for help with the excavation and processing of the samples of belowground biomass, Š. Kuncová for providing data of vertical structure of study stand, and K.R. Edwards for language corrections.

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  1. Faculty of Agriculture, University of South Bohemia, Studentská 1668, CZ-370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Vítková Jitka, Moulisová Lenka & Čížková Hana

  2. Global Change Research Institute AS CR, v. v. i., Bělidla 986/4a, CZ-603 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Vítková Jitka, Dušek Jiří & Stellner Stanislav

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  1. Vítková Jitka
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Correspondence to Vítková Jitka.

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Jitka, V., Jiří, D., Stanislav, S. et al. Effect of Hummock-Forming Vegetation on Methane Emissions from a Temperate Sedge-Grass Marsh. Wetlands 37, 675–686 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-017-0898-0

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