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Title: Soil incubations reproduce field methane dynamics in a subarctic wetland

Journal Article · · Biogeochemistry
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [1]
  1. Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States)
  2. Rochester Inst. of Technology, Rochester, NY (United States)
  3. Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
  4. Stockholm Univ. (Sweden)
+ Show Author Affiliations

A major challenge in peatland carbon cycle modeling is the estimation of subsurface methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) production and consumption rates and pathways. The most common methods for modeling these processes are soil incubations and stable isotope modeling, both of which may involve departures from field conditions. To explore the impacts of these departures, we measured CH4/CO2 concentration ratios and 13C fractionation factors (αC, indicating CH4 production pathways) in field pore water from a thawing subarctic peatland, and compared these values to those observed in incubations of corresponding peat samples. Incubation CH4/CO2 production ratios were significantly and positively correlated with observed field CH4/CO2 concentration ratios, though observed field ratios were ~20 % of those in incubations due to CH4’s lower solubility in pore water. After correcting the field ratios for CH4 loss with an isotope mass balance model, the incubation CH4/CO2 ratios and αC were both significantly positively correlated with field ratios and αC (respectively), both with slopes indistinguishable from 1. Finally, although CH4/CO2 ratios and αC were slightly higher in the incubations, these shifts were consistent along the thaw progression, indicating that ex situ incubations can replicate trends in in situ CH4 production.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0004632; SC0010580
OSTI ID:
1602283
Journal Information:
Biogeochemistry, Vol. 126, Issue 1-2; ISSN 0168-2563
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 19 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (3)

Host-linked soil viral ecology along a permafrost thaw gradient journal July 2018
Volatile emissions from thawing permafrost soils are influenced by meltwater drainage conditions journal February 2019
Toward a statistical description of methane emissions from arctic wetlands journal January 2017

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Peatlands
Methane
Geochemistry
Soil incubations
Stable isotopes