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The Carbon and Nitrogen Cycle in Peatlands
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The Carbon and Nitrogen Cycle in Peatlands

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Water".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 July 2022) | Viewed by 4545

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Xianwei Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China
Interests: peatland; carbon cycle; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Peatlands have the highest carbon (C) storage capacity per unit area of all terrestrial ecosystems and accumulated 20–30% of the world’s estimated global soil carbon pool, sequestering and holding large quantities of anthropogenically released CO2 and presenting a huge C sink for atmosphere CO2. Low temperatures, short growing season, and partly water-saturation limit decomposition of organic matters result in an accumulation of organic matter in soils. However, how will these ecosystems respond to a warming climate? The vast stores of organic carbon in these ecosystems make this a question of global significance. C cycling in these ecosystems is tightly linked to the cycling of nutrients. Because peatlands are nitrogen (N)-limited ecosystems, the process of organic matter decomposition and nutrient availability strongly constrain ecosystem C gain through primary production. This link between C and N cycles has implications for how these ecosystems will respond to climate warming and whether feedback to rising concentrations of atmospheric CO2 will be positive or negative. This Special Issue on C and N cycles in the peatlands will make a significant contribution to national GHG reduction targets.

Dr. Xianwei Wang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • C cycle
  • N cycle
  • C emission
  • N availability
  • peatland
  • climate change
  • global warming

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2193 KiB  
Article
Fresh Air for the Mire-Breathing Hypothesis: Sphagnum Moss and Peat Structure Regulate the Response of CO2 Exchange to Altered Hydrology in a Northern Peatland Ecosystem
by Ally O’Neill, Colin Tucker and Evan S. Kane
Water 2022, 14(20), 3239; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14203239 - 14 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2438
Abstract
Sphagnum-dominated peatlands store more carbon than all of Earth’s forests, playing a large role in the balance of carbon dioxide. However, these carbon sinks face an uncertain future as the changing climate is likely to cause water stress, potentially reducing Sphagnum productivity [...] Read more.
Sphagnum-dominated peatlands store more carbon than all of Earth’s forests, playing a large role in the balance of carbon dioxide. However, these carbon sinks face an uncertain future as the changing climate is likely to cause water stress, potentially reducing Sphagnum productivity and transitioning peatlands to carbon sources. A mesocosm experiment was performed on thirty-two peat cores collected from two peatland landforms: elevated mounds (hummocks) and lower, flat areas of the peatland (hollows). Both rainfall treatments and water tables were manipulated, and CO2 fluxes were measured. Other studies have observed peat subsiding and tracking the water table downward when experiencing water stress, thought to be a self-preservation technique termed ‘Mire-breathing’. However, we found that hummocks tended to compress inwards, rather than subsiding towards the lowered water table as significantly as hollows. Lower peat height was linearly associated with reduced gross primary production (GPP) in response to lowered water tables, indicating that peat subsidence did not significantly enhance the resistance of GPP to drought. Conversely, Sphagnum peat compression was found to stabilize GPP, indicating that this mechanism of resilience to drought may transmit across the landscape depending on which Sphagnum landform types are dominant. This study draws direct connections between Sphagnum traits and peatland hydrology and carbon cycling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Carbon and Nitrogen Cycle in Peatlands)
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12 pages, 1870 KiB  
Article
Small-Scale Variability of Soil Quality in Permafrost Peatland of the Great Hing’an Mountains, Northeast China
by Xianwei Wang, Xiaoxin Sun, Li Sun, Ning Chen and Yu Du
Water 2022, 14(17), 2597; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14172597 - 23 Aug 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1700
Abstract
Permafrost peatland is a unique ecosystem that represents a huge carbon terrestrial pool. Soil quality has a relatively high level of variation at small scale in this ecosystem and is closely related to the carbon cycle. To quantify this variability, we analyzed total [...] Read more.
Permafrost peatland is a unique ecosystem that represents a huge carbon terrestrial pool. Soil quality has a relatively high level of variation at small scale in this ecosystem and is closely related to the carbon cycle. To quantify this variability, we analyzed total organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, nutrient, and element (sodium, magnesium, potassium, and calcium), and microbial respiration activities (microbial biomass carbon, soil basal respiration, metabolic, and microbial quotients) in the humus layer to deeper soil layer of 6 plots at small scale (meters). For all samples, the coefficients of variation (CV) values of total carbon concentrations were lowest and these values of sodium, magnesium, potassium, and calcium concentrations were higher than those of total carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus concentrations. The largest variations of total phosphorus, ash, and Na were in the 10–20 cm layer with soil depths. The litter decomposition and water table may cause this variation at small-scale. The CV values of microbial respiration activities were largest compared with soil properties. There were different correlations between basal respiration and soil properties among the plots. Our results showed that soil properties and microbial respiration activities in permafrost peatland exhibits considerable variability at small scale. This variability indicates that sampling location and number are very important in peatland studies if we want to accurately estimate the biogeochemistry in a peatland. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Carbon and Nitrogen Cycle in Peatlands)
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