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Hydrologic gradient and vegetation controls on CH4 and CO2 fluxes in a spring-fed forested wetland

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Abstract

Four different habitats in a spring-fed forested wetland (Clear Springs Wetland, Panola County, Mississippi, USA) varying in hydrologic regime were examined for methane and carbon dioxide fluxes from soils over 15 and 9 months, respectively. There was an increasing gradient of CH4 flux rates from an unflooded upper-elevation forest site to an occasionally flooded bottomland forest site to a shallow permanently flooded site, and then to a deeper-water permanently flooded site. Depending on the time of year, all sites were sources of methane but only at the upper-elevation forest site, when gravimetric soil moisture content fell below 54%, was atmospheric methane consumed. On average, summer CH4 emission rates were higher than those in other seasons. A multiple regression model with soil temperature and soil redox potential as independent variables could explain 65% of the variation in CH4 flux rates. In the flooded zone, variation in CH4 flux rates was correlated with aboveground plant biomass and stem density of emergent vascular plants, and plant-mediated CH4 transport depended on plant type. The efflux of CH4 to plant biomass (Eff:B) ratio was generally lower in Hydrocotyle umbellata compared to Festuca obtusa. Compared to several other freshwater forested wetlands in the southeastern USA, this spring-fed forested wetland ecosystem was a strong source of atmospheric CH4, likely due to a long hydroperiod and high soil organic matter content. Carbon dioxide fluxes show a reverse spatial pattern than CH4 fluxes with highest CO2 emissions in the non-flooded zone at all times of the year, indicating the dominance of aerobic soil respiration. A multiple regression model also revealed a strong dependency of CO2 fluxes (r 2 = 0.73) on soil temperature and soil redox potential.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Michael Nelson and Jim Pearson for technical support, Marjorie Holland, Stephen Brewer, and Lucile McCook for valuable discussions, and David Reed for statistical advice. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sardis Lake Field Office kindly gave permission to access the wetland for the duration of the research project. Suggestions from an anonymous reviewer improved the quality of the manuscript.

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  1. Kewei Yu

    Present address: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Troy University, Troy, AL, 36082, USA

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  1. Department of Biology, The University of Mississippi, University, MS, 38677-1848, USA

    Hong-Suk Koh & Clifford A. Ochs

  2. Wetland Biogeochemistry Institute, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803-7511, USA

    Kewei Yu

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  1. Hong-Suk Koh
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Koh, HS., Ochs, C.A. & Yu, K. Hydrologic gradient and vegetation controls on CH4 and CO2 fluxes in a spring-fed forested wetland. Hydrobiologia 630, 271–286 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-9821-x

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