Abstract
The peatlands of the West Siberian Lowlands, comprising the largest pristine peatland area of the world, have not previously been covered by continuous measurement and monitoring programs. The response of peatlands to climate change occurs over several decades. This paper summarizes the results of peatland carbon balance studies collected over ten years at the Mukhrino field station (Mukhrino FS, MFS) operating in the Middle Taiga Zone of Western Siberia. A multiscale approach was applied for the investigations of peatland carbon cycling. Carbon dioxide fluxes at the local scale studied using the chamber method showed net accumulation with rates from 110, to 57.8 gC m−2 at the Sphagnum hollow site. Net CO2 fluxes at the pine-dwarf shrubs-Sphagnum ridge varied from negative (−32.1 gC m−2 in 2019) to positive (13.4 gC m−2 in 2017). The cumulative May-August net ecosystem exchange (NEE) from eddy-covariance (EC) measurements at the ecosystem scale was −202 gC m−2 in 2015, due to the impact of photosynthesis of pine trees which was not registered by the chamber method. The net annual accumulation of carbon in the live part of mosses was estimated at 24–190 gC m−2 depending on the Sphagnum moss species. Long-term carbon accumulation rates obtained by radiocarbon analysis ranged from 28.5 to 57.2 gC m−2 yr−1, with local extremes of up to 176.2 gC m−2 yr−1. The obtained estimates of various carbon fluxes using EC and chamber methods, the accounting for Sphagnum growth and decomposition, and long-term peat accumulation provided information about the functioning of the peatland ecosystems at different spatial and temporal scales. Multiscale carbon flux monitoring reveals useful new information for forecasting the response of northern peatland carbon cycles to climatic changes.
Highlights
Several modern studies have focused on climate change-related issues and anthropogenic impacts on the environment [1,2,3,4]
Our results show that the amount of CO2 captured from the atmosphere at the ridge site was lower, resulting in −22 and −32.1 gC m−2 in 2018 and 2019
Placed in the middle taiga zone, thousands of km’s from other observatories and in a peat-rich area, the long-term Mukhrino field station provides unique data on peatland functioning in an undisturbed state
Summary
Several modern studies have focused on climate change-related issues and anthropogenic impacts on the environment [1,2,3,4]. A few long-term sites with monitoring of GHG are available in Western Siberia, including the ZOTTO tall tower with a supporting eddy-covariance network along the Yenisei river [26] and the Japan-Russia Siberian Tall Tower Inland Observation Network located in the taiga, steppe, and wetland biomes of Siberia [27].There automated chamber observations of methane and carbon dioxide fluxes [28] and manual routine studies of peatland carbon balance [29] and mire water chemistry have been carried out [30]. The estimation of long-term peat accumulation rates provides data on essentially dependcarbon on meteorological conditions, energy, and water cycles characterized mediated peatland balance. Monitoring system, and emphasize milestones for the future development of the MFS
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