Abstract
Production-to-decomposition quotients and asymptotic limits of peat accumulation were determined to estimate peat and carbon accumulation potentials along a bog-fen-marsh wetland gradient in southern boreal Alberta. The wetlands were a bog, a poor fen (PF), a wooded moderate-rich fen (WRF), a lacustrine sedge fen (LSF), a riverine sedge fen (RSF), a riverine marsh (RM), and a lacustrine marsh (LM). First year mass losses increased along this gradient (bog 14%, fens 25–61%, marshes 57–62%), with second year total mass losses increasing from 18 to 38% from the bog to the moderate-rich fens. Ratios of aboveground net primary production to decomposition and asymptotic limits of peat accumulation showed decreasing trends from the bog to the fens to the marshes as decay rates increased along the same gradient. TheSphagnum-dominated sites (bog, PF) showed greater peat accumulation potentials than the brown moss-dominated sites (WRF, LSF) and those sites with an insignificant-to-no moss stratum (RSF, RM, LM), which is paralleled by their decreasing peat thicknesses. Rates of litter accumulation in the first year averaged 170 g m−2 yr−1 inSphagnum-dominated sites, 130 g m−2 yr−1 in brown moss-dominated sites, and 103 g m−2 yr−1 in sites with an insignificant-to-no moss stratum. All three wetland types showed similar carbon accumulation potentials (83, 67, and 50 g m−2 yr−1, respectively) after the first year of decomposition. Peat depth, asymptotic limits of peat accumulation, and production-to-decomposition ratios correlated negatively with water levels, pH, and Ca2+, and they correlated positively with moss and woody plant production (shrubs, trees). Peatlands with strong moss and shrub/tree strata (bog, PF, WRF) accumulate more peat than those wetlands dominated by graminoids (LSF, RSF, RM, LM). In the bog, high peat accumulation potentials may be related to low rates of decomposition. The peat accumulation potentials of some fens (PF, WRF) are similar to the bog and may be maintained by higher decomposition rates, which are offset by higher litter inputs. In the graminoid-dominated fens and marshes, peat accumulation potentials are lowest and may be related to higher litter quality, resulting in higher decomposition rates.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Aaby, B. and H. Tauber. 1974. Rates of peat formation in relation to degree of humification and local environment, as shown by studies of a raised bog in Denmark. Boreas 4:1–17.
Anderson, L. E., 1990. A checklist ofSphagnum in North America north of Mexico. The Bryologist 93:500–501.
Anderson, L. E., H. A. Crum, and W. R. Buck. 1990. List of mosses of North America north of Mexico. The Bryologist 93:448–501.
Bartsch, I. and T. R. Moore. 1985. A preliminary investigation of primary production and decomposition in four peatlands near Schefferville, Québec. Canadian Journal of Botany 63:1241–1248.
Belyea, L. R. and B. G. Warner. 1996. Temporal scale and accumulation of peat in aSphagnum bog. Canadian Journal of Botany 74:366–377.
Bridgham, S. D., J. Pastor, J. A. Janssens, C. Chapin, and T. J. Malterer. 1996. Multiple limiting gradients in peatlands: a call for a new paradigm. Wetlands 16:45–65.
Brinson, M. M., A. E. Lugo, and S. Brown. 1981. Primary productivity, decomposition and consumer activity in freshwater wetlands. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 12:123–161.
Chamie, J. P. M. and C. J. Richardson. 1978. Decomposition in northern wetlands. p. 115–130.In R. E. Good, D. F. Whigham, and R. L. Simpson (eds.) Freshwater Wetlands: Ecological Processes and Management Potential. Academic Press, New York, NY, USA.
Charman, D. J., R. Aravena, and B. G. Warner. 1994. Carbon dynamics in a forested peatland in north-eastern Ontario, Canada. Journal of Ecology 82:55–62.
Clymo, R. S., 1965. Experiments on breakdown ofSphagnum in two bogs. Journal of Ecology 53:747–757.
Clymo, R. S., 1970. The growth ofSphagnum: methods of measurement. Journal of Ecology 58:13–49.
Clymo, R. S., 1978. A model of peat bog growth. p. 187–223.In O. W. Heal and D. F. Perkins (eds.) Production Ecology of British Moors and Montane Grasslands. Springer Verlag, New York, NY, USA.
Clymo, R. S., 1984. The limits to peat bog growth. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Biological Sciences 303:605–654.
Clymo, R. S., J. Turunen, and K. Tolonen. 1998. Carbon accumulation in peatlands. Oikos 81:368–388.
Damman, A. W. H. 1996. Peat accumulation in fens and bogs: effects of hydrology and fertility. p. 213–222.In R. Laiho J. Laine, and H. Vasander (eds.) Northern Peatlands in Global Climate Change. Publications of the Academy of Finland 1/96. Hyytiala, Finland.
Dickinson, C. H., 1983. Micro-organisms in peatlands. p. 225–256.In A. J. P. Gore (ed.) Ecosystems of the World 4A, Mires: Swamp, Bog, Fen and Moor. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., New York, NY, USA.
Ecoregions Working Group. 1989. Ecoclimatic regions of Canada, first approximation. Canada Committee on Ecological Land Classification, Ecological Land Series. No. 23. Sustainable Development Branch, Canadian Wildlife Service, Conservation and Protection, Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Farrish, K. W. and D. F. Grigal. 1988. Decomposition in an ombrotrophic bog and a minerotrophic fen in Minnesota. Soil Science 145:353–358.
Francez, A.-J. and H. Vasander. 1995. Peat accumulation and peat decomposition after human disturbance in French and Finnish mires. Acta OEcologica 16:599–608.
Gorham, E., 1982. Some unsolved problems in peatland ecology. Naturaliste Canadien 109:533–541.
Gorham, E., 1991. Northern peatlands: role in the carbon cycle and probable responses to climatic warming. Ecological Applications 1:182–195.
Grigal, D. F., C. G. Buttleman, and L. K. Kernik. 1985. Biomass and productivity of the woody strata of forested bogs in northern Minnesota, Canadian Journal of Botany 63:2416–2424.
Ingram, H. A. P., 1978. Soil layers in mires: function and terminology. Journal of Soil Science 29:224–227.
Kuhry, P., 1994. The role of fire in the development ofSphagnum-dominated peatlands in western boreal Canada. Journal of Ecology 82:899–910.
Kuhry, P., B. J. Nicholson, L. D. Gignac, D. H. Vitt, and S. E. Bayley. 1993. Development ofSphagnum-dominated peatlands in boreal continental Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 71:10–22.
Malmer, N., 1986. Vegetational gradients in relation to environmental conditions in northwestern European mires. Canadian Journal of Botany 64:375–383.
Manabe, S. and R. J. Stouffer. 1993. Century-scale effects of increased atmospheric CO2 on the ocean-atmosphere system. Nature 364:215–218.
Moore, T. R. 1989. Plant production, decomposition, and carbon efflux in a subarctic patterned fen. Arctic and Alpine Research 21:156–162.
National Wetlands Working Group. 1988. Wetlands of Canada. Ecological Land Classification Series. No. 24. Sustainable Development Branch, Environment Canada. Ottawa, Ontario, and Poly Science Publications, Inc., Montreal, Québec, Canada.
Packer, J. G., 1983. Flora of Alberta by E. H. Moss. 2nd edition. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Reader, R. J. and J. M. Stewart. 1972. The relationship between not primary production and accumulation for a peatland in southeastern Manitoba. Ecology 53:1024–1037.
Reiners, W. A., 1972. Structure and energetics of three Minnesota forests. Ecological Monographs 42:71–94.
Saarine, T., 1996. Biomass and production of two vascular plants in a boreal mesotrophic fen. Canadian Journal of Botany 74:934–938.
Sjörs, H., 1989. Divergent successions in mires, a comparative study. Aquilo Series Botanica 28:67–77.
SYSTAT Inc. 1992. SYSTAT Version 5.2 Edition. Evanston, IL, USA.
Szumigalski, A. R. and S. E. Bayley. 1996a. Decomposition along a bog to rich fen gradient in central Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 74:573–581.
Szumigalski, A. R. and S. E. Bayley. 1996b. Net above ground primary production along a bog-rich fen gradient in central Alberta, Canada. Wetlands 16:467–476.
Szumigalski, A. R. and S. E. Bayley. 1997. Net above ground primary production along a peatland gradient in central Alberta in relation to environmental factors. Écoscience 4:385–393.
Thormann, M. N. and S. E. Bayley. 1997a. Decomposition along a moderate-rich fen marsh peatland gradient in boreal Alberta, Canada. Wetlands 17:123–137.
Thormann, M. N. and S. E. Bayley. 1997b. Aboveground primary production along a bog—fen—marsh gradient in southern boreal Alberta, Canada. Écoscience 4:374–384.
Thormann, M. N. and S. E. Bayley. 1997c. Aboveground plant production and nutrient content of the vegetation in six peatlands in Alberta, Canada. Plant Ecology 131:1–16.
Thormann, M. N. and S. E. Bayley. 1998. Effects of hydrologic changes on aboveground production and surface water chemistry in two boreal peatlands in Alberta, Canada: Implications for global warming. Hydrobiologia 362:171–183.
Tolonen, K. and J. Turunen. 1996. Accumulation rates of carbon in mires in Finland and climate change. Holocene 6:171–178.
Tolonen, K., H. Vasander A. W. H. Damman, and R. S. Clymo. 1992 (1993). Preliminary estimate of long-term carbon accumulation and loss in 25 boreal peatlands. Suo 4–5:277–280.
Vitt, D. H., 1990. Growth and production dynamics of boreal mosses over climatic, chemical and topographical gradients. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 104:35–59.
Vitt, D. H., S. E. Bayley, and T.-L. Jin. 1995. Seasonal variation in water chemistry over a bog-fen gradient in continental western Canada. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 52:587–606.
Walker, D. 1970. Direction and rate in some British post-glacial hydroseres. p. 117–139.In D. Walker and R. G. West (eds.) Studies in the Vegetation History of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, London, UK.
Warner, B. G., R. S. Clymo, and K. Tolonen. 1993. Implications of peat accumulation at Point Escuminac, New Brunswick. Quaternary Research 39:245–248.
Zar, J. 1984. Biostatistical Analysis, 2nd edition. Prentice-Hall, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Zoltai, S. C. and J. D. Johnson. 1985. Development of a treed bog island in a minerotrophic fen. Canadian Journal of Botany 63:1076–1085.
Zoltai, S. C. and D. H. Vitt. 1995. Canadian wetlands: environmental gradients and classification. Vegetatic 118:131–137.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Thormann, M.N., Szumigalski, A.R. & Bayley, S.E. Aboveground peat and carbon accumulation potentials along a bog-fen-marsh wetland gradient in southern boreal Alberta, Canada. Wetlands 19, 305–317 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03161761
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03161761