High emissions of greenhouse gases from grasslands on peat and other organic soils

• DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13303
• Publication Date: 2016-03-31T06:42:18Z
• Authors: Bärbel Tiemeyer; Elisa Albiac Borraz; Jürgen Augustin; Michel Bechtold; Sascha Beetz; Colja Beyer; Matthias Drösler; Martin Ebli; Tim Eickenscheidt; Sabine Fiedler; Christoph Förster; Annette Freibauer; Michael Giebels; Stephan Glatzel; Jan Heinichen; Mathias Hoffmann; Heinrich Höper; Gerald Jurasinski; Katharina Leiber‐...; Mandy Peichl‐Brak; Niko Roßkopf; Michael Sommer; Jutta Zeitz
• Keywords: Nitrous oxide; Soil carbon; Sink (geography); Carbon sink

Drainage has turned peatlands from a carbon sink into one of the world's largest greenhouse gas (GHG) sources cultivated soils. We analyzed unique data set (12 peatlands, 48 sites and 122 annual budgets) mainly unpublished GHG emissions grasslands on bog fen peat as well other soils rich in soil organic (SOC) Germany. Emissions environmental variables were measured with identical methods. Site-averaged budgets surprisingly variable (29.2 ± 17.4 t CO2 -eq. ha-1 yr-1 ) partially higher than all published IPCC default emission factors for inventories. Generally, (27.7 17.3 dominated budget. Nitrous oxide (2.3 2.4 kg N2 O-N methane (30.8 69.8 CH4 -C lower expected except nutrient-poor acidic sites. At single clearly increased deeper mean water table depth (WTD), but there was no general dependency WTD complete set. Thus, regionalization by only will remain uncertain. dynamics explained some differences between which became very dry during summer showed emissions. introduced aerated nitrogen stock (Nair combining stocks WTD. Nair across peatlands. Soils comparatively low SOC concentrations high true because similar. O controlled content topsoil. can be described ponding duration summer. Our results help both to improve reporting prioritize plan reduction measures similar at different scales.