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Abstract
Peatlands perform many important ecosystem functions at both the local and global scale, including hydrologic and climatic regulation. Although peatlands often act as climatic microrefugia, they have rarely been the subject of long-term microclimatic studies. In this study, we aimed to compare the local climatic conditions of a mid-forest mire to that of an open area and examine the differences in microclimates within the mire based on plant community diversity, shading, and water table depths. The peatland studied in this work was significantly cooler than the reference site, mainly due to a higher decline in nighttime air temperatures. However, the daily maximum air temperature near the ground was often higher. We also noticed that microclimates significantly differed within the studied peatland. Wet and shaded microsites were cooler than the sites having a lower water level and receiving higher amounts of solar radiation. The results of the study suggest that peatlands have locally cooler climates, and thus can serve as climate change refugia. These findings can help us interpret reconstructed data from the peat archive, and, when combined with experiments, identify tipping points for peatland ecosystems.
Highlights
Peatlands, like any other ecosystem, are affected by climate change, which is expected to worsen in the coming decades (Malhi et al 2020)
To determine the amount of heat in the ecosystem, growing degree days (GDD) with base 0° were estimated as a sum of all positive daily averages in degree Celsius for every year and their average value was Differences in air temperature and humidity between the mire and the open site The years 2012–2015 were found to be warmer than the average of 1967–2015 (Bartczak et al 2019)
Our long-term measurements of meteorological parameters on the peatland provided a novel insight into the local climate features in the context of seasonality of this ecosystem
Summary
Like any other ecosystem, are affected by climate change, which is expected to worsen in the coming decades (Malhi et al 2020). Peatlands cover only 3% of the earth’s surface, they serve as carbon sinks, water reservoirs, habitat for specific species, and natural paleoenvironmental archives (Amesbury et al 2019; Jassey et al 2018; Nichols and Peteet 2019). Despite often acting as microrefugia, as evidenced by the results of palaeoecological research, peatlands have rarely been the subject of long-term microclimatic studies (Dítě et al 2018; Jones et al 2009; Wieder 2006). Microrefugia are sites displaying favorable local conditions that allow species populations to survive beyond their main distributions during unfavorable regional climatic conditions (Dobrowski 2011). Microrefugia are sites displaying favorable local conditions that allow species populations to survive beyond their main distributions during unfavorable regional climatic conditions (Dobrowski 2011). Morelli et al (2016) defined climate change refugia as areas relatively buffered from contemporary climate change over time that enable persistence of valued physical, ecological, and socio-cultural resources, and highlighted their importance as a climate change adaptation tool
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