Authors:
Gong Pan, Jörg Kaduk, Heiko Balzter, Susan E. Page, Ross Morrison, Mike Acreman, Richard J Harding
Book:
Proceedings of the 14th International Peat Congress
Venue:
Stockholm
Keywords:
carbon-dioxide, climate-change, eddy-covariance, methane, peatland
Documentfile:
Pan et al 2012: Fenflux: The Short-Term Climate Response of Carbon Dioxide, Methane and Water Flux From a Regenerating Fen
Summary:
Theme X. Peatland carbon budgets and greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes
SUMMARY
Peatlands store approximately 30% of global soil carbon stocks and are frequently carbon dioxide sinks. At the same time, they are a source of methane to the atmosphere because of reduced rates of aerobic decomposition in a perennially waterlogged soil environment. Hence, the role of peatlands in the radiative forcing of the Earth’s atmosphere system and their impact on the global climate system is complex. We have measured CO2, H2O, CH4 and energy fluxes using the micrometeorological and eddy covariance (EC) techniques at our monitoring sites at regenerating and semi-natural fen sites at the Wicken Fen Nature Reserve, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. We present an investigation of the magnitude of the impacts of restoration and ecosystem responses to climate variability by comparing the two fen ecosystems. This research will lead to a better quantitative understanding of the relationships between fen peatlands and global change.