Carbon mineralization of flooded boreal soil and vegetation under different temperature and oxygen conditions
Kim, Y. Ullah
S. Roulet
N EM Moore, T
Flooding of terrestrial ecosystems significantly alters carbon (C) mineralization rates, which results in increasing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). To better understand the changes after water impoundment, C mineralization under flooded conditions needs to be investigated. This study investigates CO2 and CH4 fluxes from flooded boreal soil and vegetation, compares them to the fluxes of non- flooded treatment, and examines how environmental factors affect the fluxes. We conducted short-term in vitro experiments using boreal forest soil (FH layer), peat soil (0 to 5 and 5 to 15 cm) layer, and black spruce needles and small twigs, and shrub, sedge, lichen, and moss tissues. Flooded samples were incubated in 1- L Mason jars without light, under three temperatures (5, 12, and 24degC) and 0 and 50 percent of ambient oxygen (O2) concentration, and non-flooded ones were incubated in 1-L plastic containers under same light and temperature conditions to those of flooded samples and ambient oxygen concentration. We collected gas samples after flushing with nitrogen gas and air, and the fluxes of CO2 and CH4 were determined by gas chromatography. The average CO2 and CH4 fluxes in all materials were 200 and 0.8 microgram C/g organic matter/day, with smaller CO2 fluxes and larger CH4 fluxes than the fluxes of non-flooding (CO2 and CH4: 370 and 0.2 microgram C/g organic matter/day). Among the flooded samples, forest and peatland ground vegetation showed much high CO2 fluxes, and peat soils released more CH4 than other materials. Higher temperatures increased emissions of both CO2 and CH4, and the lower O2 concentration increased CH4 emissions. These results suggest the flooded vegetation and peat soil largely contribute to the total C emission in the flooded ecosystem and that spatial and temporal variability in CO2 and CH4 emissions can be related to substrate type, temperature and O2 concentration.
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