Soil surface CO2 flux in a Minnesota peatland

Abstract

Soil surface CO2 flux was measured in hollow and hummock microhabitats in a peatland in north central Minnesota from June to October in 1991. We used a closed infrared gas exchange system to measure soil CO2 flux. The rates of CO2 evolution from hummocks (9.8 ± 3.5 g m−2 d−1, [mean ± SE]) were consistently higher than those from hollows (5.4 ± 2.9 g m−2 d−1) (the hummock values included the contribution of moss dark respiration, which may account for 10–20% of the total measured flux). The soil CO2 flux was strongly temperature-dependent (Q10 ≈ 3.7) and appeared to be linearly related to changes in water table depth. An empirical multiplicative model, using peat temperature and water table depth as independent variables, explained about 81% of the variance in the CO2 flux data. Using the empirical model with measurements of peat temperature and estimates of hollow/hummock microtopographic distribution (relative to water table elevation), daily rates of “site-averaged” CO2 evolution were calculated. For the six-month period (May–October), the total soil CO2 released from this ecosystem was estimated to be about 1340 g CO2 m−2.