Where old meets new: An ecosystem study of methanogenesis in a reflooded agricultural peatland
Abstract
Abstract Reflooding formerly drained peatlands has been proposed as a means to reduce losses of organic matter and sequester soil carbon for climate change mitigation, but a renewal of high methane emissions has been reported for these ecosystems, offsetting mitigation potential. Our ability to interpret observed methane fluxes in reflooded peatlands and make predictions about future flux trends is limited due to a lack of detailed studies of methanogenic processes. In this study we investigate methanogenesis in a reflooded agricultural peatland in the Sacramento Delta, California. We use the stable‐and radio‐carbon isotopic signatures of wetland sediment methane, ecosystem‐scale eddy covariance flux observations, and laboratory incubation experiments, to identify which carbon sources and methanogenic production pathways fuel methanogenesis and how these processes are affected by vegetation and seasonality. We found that the old peat contribution to annual methane emissions was large (~30%) compared to intact wetlands, indicating a biogeochemical legacy of drainage. However, fresh carbon and the acetoclastic pathway still accounted for the majority of methanogenesis throughout the year. Although temperature sensitivities for bulk peat methanogenesis were similar between open‐water ( Q 10 = 2.1) and vegetated ( Q 10 = 2.3) soils, methane production from both fresh and old carbon sources showedmore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[3];
[4];
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry; Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Canada)
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry; Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1779586
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1580608
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-JRNL-789121
Journal ID: ISSN 1354-1013; 987305
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-07NA27344; DEB-1405715; AC02-05CH11231; DE‐AC02‐05CH11231
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Global Change Biology
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 26; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1354-1013
- Publisher:
- Wiley
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; climate feedback; flux; isotope; methane; methanogenesis; peatland; radiocarbon
Citation Formats
McNicol, Gavin, Knox, Sara H., Guilderson, Thomas P., Baldocchi, Dennis D., and Silver, Whendee L. Where old meets new: An ecosystem study of methanogenesis in a reflooded agricultural peatland. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1111/gcb.14916.
McNicol, Gavin, Knox, Sara H., Guilderson, Thomas P., Baldocchi, Dennis D., & Silver, Whendee L. Where old meets new: An ecosystem study of methanogenesis in a reflooded agricultural peatland. United States. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14916
McNicol, Gavin, Knox, Sara H., Guilderson, Thomas P., Baldocchi, Dennis D., and Silver, Whendee L. Sat .
"Where old meets new: An ecosystem study of methanogenesis in a reflooded agricultural peatland". United States. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14916. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1779586.
@article{osti_1779586,
title = {Where old meets new: An ecosystem study of methanogenesis in a reflooded agricultural peatland},
author = {McNicol, Gavin and Knox, Sara H. and Guilderson, Thomas P. and Baldocchi, Dennis D. and Silver, Whendee L.},
abstractNote = {Abstract Reflooding formerly drained peatlands has been proposed as a means to reduce losses of organic matter and sequester soil carbon for climate change mitigation, but a renewal of high methane emissions has been reported for these ecosystems, offsetting mitigation potential. Our ability to interpret observed methane fluxes in reflooded peatlands and make predictions about future flux trends is limited due to a lack of detailed studies of methanogenic processes. In this study we investigate methanogenesis in a reflooded agricultural peatland in the Sacramento Delta, California. We use the stable‐and radio‐carbon isotopic signatures of wetland sediment methane, ecosystem‐scale eddy covariance flux observations, and laboratory incubation experiments, to identify which carbon sources and methanogenic production pathways fuel methanogenesis and how these processes are affected by vegetation and seasonality. We found that the old peat contribution to annual methane emissions was large (~30%) compared to intact wetlands, indicating a biogeochemical legacy of drainage. However, fresh carbon and the acetoclastic pathway still accounted for the majority of methanogenesis throughout the year. Although temperature sensitivities for bulk peat methanogenesis were similar between open‐water ( Q 10 = 2.1) and vegetated ( Q 10 = 2.3) soils, methane production from both fresh and old carbon sources showed pronounced seasonality in vegetated zones. We conclude that high methane emissions in restored wetlands constitute a biogeochemical trade‐off with contemporary carbon uptake, given that methane efflux is fueled primarily by fresh carbon inputs.},
doi = {10.1111/gcb.14916},
journal = {Global Change Biology},
number = 2,
volume = 26,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Dec 28 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Sat Dec 28 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}
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