Seasonal and daily variability of CO2 emissions from the Czerwone Bagno peat bog in Biebrza National Park (Poland)

Wojciech Tołoczko,Arkadiusz Niewiadomski

doi:10.17951/pjss.2017.50.2.217

Abstract

The article describes the results of field studies carried out in the period from April 2013 to May 2014. The study concerned the assessment of the magnitude of CO 2 emissions from marsh soils in the area of Czerwone Bagno (Red Swamp), which is a part of the largest complex of marsh in Poland. The authors used the closed chamber method to measure seasonal variability of net ecosystem CO 2 emission and drew attention to the impact of environmental factors (air temperature, air pressure and soil moisture) on it. The highest values of average daily CO 2 emission (over 630 mg(CO2)×m –2 ×h –1 ) were recorded in late spring and summer. Lowest values were obtained in late autumn and winter (in the range of 178-212 mg(CO2)×m –2 ×h –1 ). The need for monitoring of wetlands in temperate latitudes is stressed due to the progressive process of wetlands drying which enables the release of large quantities of greenhouse gases – CO 2 , CH 4 – into the atmosphere.

Highlights

Peatlands, and in particular peat bogs, constitute an important link in the carbon cycle in the natural environment (Moore and Knowles 1989)
Study of CO2 emission conducted by hundreds of researchers from around the world has contributed to the signing of several international agreements to reduce these emissions – most recently in Paris in 2015
Soils are a natural source of CO2, and decay processes occurring in organic horizons are a natural provider of atmospheric CH4 and other greenhouse gases

Summary

Introduction

In particular peat bogs, constitute an important link in the carbon cycle in the natural environment (Moore and Knowles 1989). Other researchers list the following as important factors: variability of volumetric density and differences in the ability to retain carbon by the biomass composed of different species of organisms (Raich and Schlesinger 1992, Thomas et al 1996), or variability of atmospheric conditions – mainly air temperature and pressure (Moore and Dalva 1993, Davidson et al 1998, Tang et al 2006, Riederer et al 2014). Other factors like cloud cover and increased oceanicity, which are an effect of rising mean air temperature, may compensate for such changes (Lindsay 2010)

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