Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/22375
Appears in Collections:Biological and Environmental Sciences Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Should aquatic CO2 evasion be included in contemporary carbon budgets for peatland ecosystems?
Author(s): Billett, Michael
Garnett, Mark H
Dinsmore, Kerry J
Contact Email: m.f.billett@stir.ac.uk
Keywords: carbon dioxide evasion
net ecosystem carbon balance
peatland
dissolved organic carbon
radiocarbon
Issue Date: Apr-2015
Date Deposited: 28-Oct-2015
Citation: Billett M, Garnett MH & Dinsmore KJ (2015) Should aquatic CO2 evasion be included in contemporary carbon budgets for peatland ecosystems?. Ecosystems, 18 (3), pp. 471-480. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-014-9838-5
Abstract: Quantifying the sink strength of northern hemisphere peatlands requires measurements or realistic estimates of all major C flux terms. Whilst assessments of the net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) routinely include annual measurements of net ecosystem exchange and lateral fluxes of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), they rarely include estimates of evasion (degassing) of CO2 and CH4 from the water surface to the atmosphere, despite supersaturation being a consistent feature of peatland streams. Instantaneous gas exchange measurements from temperate UK peatland streams suggest that the CO2 evasion fluxes scaled to the whole catchment are a significant component of the aquatic C flux (23.3±6.9g C m−2 catchment y−1) and comparable in magnitude to the downstream DOC flux (29.1±12.9g C m−2 catchment y−1). Inclusion of the evasion flux term in the NECB would be justified if evaded CO2 and CH4 were isotopically “young” and derived from a “within-ecosystem” source, such as peat or in-stream processing of DOC. Derivation from “old” biogenic or geogenic sources would indicate a separate origin and age of C fixation, disconnected from the ecosystem accumulation rate that the NECB definition implies. Dual isotope analysis (δ13C and 14C) of evasion CO2 and DOC strongly suggest that the source and age of both are different and that evasion CO2 is largely derived from allochthonous (non-stream) sources. Whilst evasion is an important flux term relative to the other components of the NECB, isotopic data suggest that its source and age are peatland-specific. Evidence suggests that a component of the CO2-C evading from stream surfaces was originally fixed from the atmosphere at a significantly earlier time (pre-AD1955) than modern (post-AD1955) C fixation by photosynthesis.
DOI Link: 10.1007/s10021-014-9838-5
Rights: The publisher does not allow this work to be made publicly available in this Repository. Please use the Request a Copy feature at the foot of the Repository record to request a copy directly from the author. You can only request a copy if you wish to use this work for your own research or private study.
Licence URL(s): http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/under-embargo-all-rights-reserved

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
Billett et al_Ecosystems_2015.pdfFulltext - Published Version583.69 kBAdobe PDFUnder Embargo until 2999-12-14    Request a copy

Note: If any of the files in this item are currently embargoed, you can request a copy directly from the author by clicking the padlock icon above. However, this facility is dependent on the depositor still being contactable at their original email address.



This item is protected by original copyright



Items in the Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

The metadata of the records in the Repository are available under the CC0 public domain dedication: No Rights Reserved https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

If you believe that any material held in STORRE infringes copyright, please contact library@stir.ac.uk providing details and we will remove the Work from public display in STORRE and investigate your claim.