Holocene carbon storage and testate amoeba community structure in treed peatlands of the western Hudson Bay Lowlands margin, Canada

Abstract

AbstractThe Hudson Bay Lowlands (HBL) stores a significant proportion of the northern peatland carbon pool, and constraints on the factors controlling local‐scale variation are needed to better predict soil carbon stocks. We investigated two treed peatland sites, a fen and a bog, to understand how local ecohydrological factors impacted long‐term carbon storage. Ecohydrological conditions were reconstructed using quantitative water table depth reconstructions from testate amoebae (TA) and broad peat type classifications. We also linked these factors and carbon storage to changes in TA community structure through the investigation of morphological and functional traits. Both sites have high rates of peat vertical accretion during the warmer Middle Holocene. A shift to a drier, Sphagnum‐dominated habitat after 7400 cal a bp at the bog site, however, led to lower apparent carbon accumulation rates (aCARs) than at the fen site. aCARs decreased with the transition to a cooler Late Holocene climate at both sites. Both sites have higher total carbon masses (kg m−2) than other more open and younger HBL localities, demonstrating the potential importance of treed peatlands in regional carbon storage. Shifts in the frequency of TA traits corresponded to changing ecohydrological conditions and provided insights into the role of TA in carbon storage.