TY - JOUR A1 - Dommain, René A1 - Frolking, Steve A1 - Jeltsch-Thömmes, Aurich A1 - Joos, Fortunat Ulrich A1 - Couwenberg, John A1 - Glaser, Paul H. T1 - A radiative forcing analysis of tropical peatlands before and after their conversion to agricultural plantations JF - Global change biology N2 - The tropical peat swamp forests of South-East Asia are being rapidly converted to agricultural plantations of oil palm and Acacia creating a significant global “hot-spot” for CO2 emissions. However, the effect of this major perturbation has yet to be quantified in terms of global warming potential (GWP) and the Earth's radiative budget. We used a GWP analysis and an impulse-response model of radiative forcing to quantify the climate forcing of this shift from a long-term carbon sink to a net source of greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4). In the GWP analysis, five tropical peatlands were sinks in terms of their CO2 equivalent fluxes while they remained undisturbed. However, their drainage and conversion to oil palm and Acacia plantations produced a dramatic shift to very strong net CO2-equivalent sources. The induced losses of peat carbon are ~20× greater than the natural CO2 sequestration rates. In contrast, a radiative forcing model indicates that the magnitude of this shift from a net cooling to warming effect is ultimately related to the size of an individual peatland's carbon pool. The continuous accumulation of carbon in pristine tropical peatlands produced a progressively negative radiative forcing (i.e., cooling) that ranged from −2.1 to −6.7 nW/m2 per hectare peatland by 2010 CE, referenced to zero at the time of peat initiation. Peatland conversion to plantations leads to an immediate shift from negative to positive trend in radiative forcing (i.e., warming). If drainage persists, peak warming ranges from +3.3 to +8.7 nW/m2 per hectare of drained peatland. More importantly, this net warming impact on the Earth's radiation budget will persist for centuries to millennia after all the peat has been oxidized to CO2. This previously unreported and undesirable impact on the Earth's radiative balance provides a scientific rationale for conserving tropical peatlands in their pristine state. KW - Acacia plantation KW - CO2 emissions KW - drainage-based land use KW - global warming potential KW - oil palm plantation KW - radiative forcing KW - tropical peatland Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14400 SN - 1354-1013 SN - 1365-2486 VL - 24 IS - 11 SP - 5518 EP - 5533 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hodgkins, Suzanne B. A1 - Richardson, Curtis J. A1 - Dommain, Rene A1 - Wang, Hongjun A1 - Glaser, Paul H. A1 - Verbeke, Brittany A1 - Winkler, B. Rose A1 - Cobb, Alexander R. A1 - Rich, Virginia I. A1 - Missilmani, Malak A1 - Flanagan, Neal A1 - Ho, Mengchi A1 - Hoyt, Alison M. A1 - Harvey, Charles F. A1 - Vining, S. Rose A1 - Hough, Moira A. A1 - Moore, Tim R. A1 - Richard, Pierre J. H. A1 - De la Cruz, Florentino B. A1 - Toufaily, Joumana A1 - Hamdan, Rasha A1 - Cooper, William T. A1 - Chanton, Jeffrey P. T1 - Tropical peatland carbon storage linked to global latitudinal trends in peat recalcitrance JF - Nature Communications N2 - Peatlands represent large terrestrial carbon banks. Given that most peat accumulates in boreal regions, where low temperatures and water saturation preserve organic matter, the existence of peat in (sub)tropical regions remains enigmatic. Here we examined peat and plant chemistry across a latitudinal transect from the Arctic to the tropics. Near-surface low-latitude peat has lower carbohydrate and greater aromatic content than near-surface high-latitude peat, creating a reduced oxidation state and resulting recalcitrance. This recalcitrance allows peat to persist in the (sub)tropics despite warm temperatures. Because we observed similar declines in carbohydrate content with depth in high-latitude peat, our data explain recent field-scale deep peat warming experiments in which catotelm (deeper) peat remained stable despite temperature increases up to 9 degrees C. We suggest that high-latitude deep peat reservoirs may be stabilized in the face of climate change by their ultimately lower carbohydrate and higher aromatic composition, similar to tropical peats. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06050-2 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 9 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hodgkins, Suzanne B. A1 - Richardson, Curtis J. A1 - Dommain, René A1 - Wang, Hongjun A1 - Glaser, Paul H. A1 - Verbeke, Brittany A1 - Winkler, B. Rose A1 - Cobb, Alexander R. A1 - Rich, Virginia I. A1 - Missilmani, Malak A1 - Flanagan, Neal A1 - Ho, Mengchi A1 - Hoyt, Alison M. A1 - Harvey, Charles F. A1 - Vining, S. Rose A1 - Hough, Moira A. A1 - Moore, Tim R. A1 - Richard, Pierre J. H. A1 - De La Cruz, Florentino B. A1 - Toufaily, Joumana A1 - Hamdan, Rasha A1 - Cooper, William T. A1 - Chanton, Jeffrey P. T1 - Tropical peatland carbon storage linked to global latitudinal trends in peat recalcitrance T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Peatlands represent large terrestrial carbon banks. Given that most peat accumulates in boreal regions, where low temperatures and water saturation preserve organic matter, the existence of peat in (sub)tropical regions remains enigmatic. Here we examined peat and plant chemistry across a latitudinal transect from the Arctic to the tropics. Near-surface low-latitude peat has lower carbohydrate and greater aromatic content than near-surface high-latitude peat, creating a reduced oxidation state and resulting recalcitrance. This recalcitrance allows peat to persist in the (sub)tropics despite warm temperatures. Because we observed similar declines in carbohydrate content with depth in high-latitude peat, our data explain recent field-scale deep peat warming experiments in which catotelm (deeper) peat remained stable despite temperature increases up to 9 degrees C. We suggest that high-latitude deep peat reservoirs may be stabilized in the face of climate change by their ultimately lower carbohydrate and higher aromatic composition, similar to tropical peats. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1125 KW - dissolved organic matter KW - greenhouse gas fluxes KW - permafrost thaw KW - Northern Minnesota KW - FTIR spectroscopy KW - lignin content KW - brown rot KW - decomposition KW - chemistry KW - dynamics Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-459658 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 1125 ER -