Greenhouse gas emissions from tropical peatlands of Kalimantan,Indonesia

Abstract

Greenhouse gas emissions were measured from tropical peatlands of Kalimantan, Indonesia. The effect of hydrological zone and land-use on the emission of N2O, CH4 and CO2 were examined. Temporal and annual N2O, CH4 and CO2 were then measured. The results showed that the emissions of these gases were strongly affected by land-use and hydrological zone. The emissions exhibited seasonal changes. Annual emission of N2O was the highest (nearly 1.4 g N m−2y−1) from site A-1 (secondary forest), while there was no signi.cant difference in annual N2O emission from site A-2 (paddy field) and site A-3 (rice-soybean rotation field). Multiplying the areas of forest and non-forest in Kalimantan with the emission of N2O from corresponding land-uses, the annual N2O emissions from peat forest and peat non-forest of Kalimantan were estimated as 0.046 and 0.004 Tg N y−1, respectively. The emissions of CH4 from paddy field and non-paddy field were estimated similarly as 0.14 and 0.21 Tg C y−1, respectively. Total annual CO2 emission was estimated to be 182 Tg C y−1. Peatlands of Kalimantan, Indonesia, contributed less than 0.3 of the total global N2O, CO2 or CH4 emission, indicating that the gaseous losses of soil N and C from the study area to the atmosphere were small.