Ratcliffe, Joshua, Andersen, roxane, Anderson, Russell et al. (4 more authors) (2018) Contemporary carbon fluxes do not reflect the long-term carbon balance for an Atlantic blanket bog. The Holocene. pp. 140-149. ISSN 0959-6836
Abstract
Peatlands are one of the largest terrestrial stores of carbon. Carbon exchange in peatlands is often assessed solely by measurement of contemporary fluxes; however, these fluxes frequently indicate a much stronger sink strength than that measured by the rate of C accumulation in the peat profile over longer timescales. Here we compare profile-based measurements of C accumulation with the published net ecosystem C balance for the largest peatland area in Britain, the Flow Country of northern Scotland. We estimate the long-term rate of C accumulation to be 15.4 g C m−2 yr−1 for a site where a recent eddy covariance study has suggested contemporary C uptake more than six times greater (99.37 g C m−2 yr−1). Our estimate is supported by two further long-term C accumulation records from nearby sites which give comparable results. We demonstrate that a strong contemporary C sink strength may not equate to a strong long-term sink and explore reasons for this disparity. We recommend that contemporary C sequestration should be viewed in the context of the long-term ecological drivers, such as fires, ecohydrological feedbacks and the changing quality of litter inputs.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details. |
Keywords: | core scanning,Flow Country,ITRAX,LORCA,peat,Scotland,tephrochronology |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Environment and Geography (York) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Unknown UNSPECIFIED |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 03 Jul 2017 09:00 |
Last Modified: | 27 Nov 2024 00:29 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683617715689 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0959683617715689 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:118472 |