Warmer Sphagnum moss, less soil carbon loss: Anaerobic respiration and temperature response along a boreal forest-peatland ecotone
2025
Baysinger, Mackenzie R | Liebner, S | Strauss, J | Yang, S | Jentzsch, K | Bartholomäus, A | Treat, CC
Climate warming is predicted to rapidly change the local environmental conditions in peatland systems at high latitudes. This study explored soil respiration rates with microbial community compositions along a transect from well-drained upland forest to a Sphagnum moss peatland in boreal Finland. We found that soils from the upland forest and intermediate habitats incubated at 20°C generally produced more anaerobic CO2 than the cooler incubation temperature groups (0, 4°C) and that the initial soil carbon content was the strongest geochemical and physical parameter correlated with cumulative CO2 produced over the course of this 140 day incubation. Interestingly, bog samples were the exception to this, and were more productive at cooler temperatures. This implies that the controls on anaerobic CO2 production in bogs differ from those in the soils of the surrounding habitats. This finding, along other parameters, such as soil carbon content, could give greater insights into potential carbon production in high-latitude soils.
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