Abstract
Northern peatlands accumulate atmospheric CO2 thus counteracting climate warming. However, CH4 which is more efficient as a greenhouse gas than CO2, is produced in the anaerobic decomposition processes in peat. When peatlands are taken for forestry their water table is lowered by ditching. We studied long-term effects of lowered water table on the development of vegetation and the annual emissions of CO2, CH4 and N2O in an ombrotrophic bog and in a minerotrophic fen in Finland. Reclamation of the peat sites for forestry had changed the composition and coverage of the field and ground layer species, and increased highly the growth of tree stand at the drained fen. In general, drainage increased the annual CO2 emissions but the emissions were also affected by the natural fluctuations of water table. In contrast to CO2, drainage had decreased the emissions of CH4, the drained fen even consumed atmospheric CH4. CO2 and CH4 emissions were higher in the virgin fen than in the virgin bog. There were no N2O emissions from neither type of virgin sites. Drainage had, however, highly increased the N2O emissions from the fen. The results suggest that post-drainage changes in gas fluxes depend on the trophy of the original mires.
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Martikainen, P.J., Nykänen, H., Alm, J. et al. Change in fluxes of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide due to forest drainage of mire sites of different trophy. Plant Soil 168, 571–577 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00029370
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00029370