Skip to main content

Dual controls on carbon loss during drought in peatlands

Publication ,  Journal Article
Wang, H; Richardson, CJ; Ho, M
Published in: Nature Climate Change
June 26, 2015

Peatlands store one-third of global soil carbon. Drought/drainage coupled with climate warming present the main threat to these stores. Hence, understanding drought effects and inherent feedbacks related to peat decomposition has been a primary global challenge. However, widely divergent results concerning drought in recent studies challenge the accepted paradigm that waterlogging and associated anoxia are the overarching controls locking up carbon stored in peat. Here, by linking field and microcosm experiments, we show how previously unrecognized mechanisms regulate the build-up of phenolics, which protects stored carbon directly by reducing phenol oxidase activity during short-term drought and, indirectly, through a shift from low-phenolic Sphagnum/herbs to high-phenolic shrubs after long-term moderate drought. We demonstrate that shrub expansion induced by drought/warming in boreal peatlands might be a long-term self-adaptive mechanism not only increasing carbon sequestration but also potentially protecting historic soil carbon. We therefore propose that the projected 'positive feedback loop'between carbon emission and drought in peatlands may not occur in the long term.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Nature Climate Change

DOI

EISSN

1758-6798

ISSN

1758-678X

Publication Date

June 26, 2015

Volume

5

Issue

6

Start / End Page

584 / 587

Related Subject Headings

  • 0502 Environmental Science and Management
  • 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
  • 0401 Atmospheric Sciences
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Wang, H., Richardson, C. J., & Ho, M. (2015). Dual controls on carbon loss during drought in peatlands. Nature Climate Change, 5(6), 584–587. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2643
Wang, H., C. J. Richardson, and M. Ho. “Dual controls on carbon loss during drought in peatlands.” Nature Climate Change 5, no. 6 (June 26, 2015): 584–87. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2643.
Wang H, Richardson CJ, Ho M. Dual controls on carbon loss during drought in peatlands. Nature Climate Change. 2015 Jun 26;5(6):584–7.
Wang, H., et al. “Dual controls on carbon loss during drought in peatlands.” Nature Climate Change, vol. 5, no. 6, June 2015, pp. 584–87. Scopus, doi:10.1038/nclimate2643.
Wang H, Richardson CJ, Ho M. Dual controls on carbon loss during drought in peatlands. Nature Climate Change. 2015 Jun 26;5(6):584–587.

Published In

Nature Climate Change

DOI

EISSN

1758-6798

ISSN

1758-678X

Publication Date

June 26, 2015

Volume

5

Issue

6

Start / End Page

584 / 587

Related Subject Headings

  • 0502 Environmental Science and Management
  • 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
  • 0401 Atmospheric Sciences