Volume 24 (2019) Article 27

The dependence of net soil CO₂ emissions on water table depth in boreal peatlands drained for forestry

by P. Ojanen and K. Minkkinen

Published online: 13.10.2019

Summary

The aim of this study was to build regression models between mean water table depth (WTD, cm) and net soil CO₂ emissions (g m^-2 year^-1) using data from boreal peatlands drained for forestry. We found that net soil CO₂ emissions increased linearly with increasing WTD to depths of approximately 60 cm. The regression equations differed between nutrient rich (n = 33) and nutrient poor (n = 39) study sites: net soil CO₂ emissions = -115 + 12 × WTD (nutrient rich); net soil CO₂ emissions = -259 + 6 × WTD (nutrient poor). These regressions can be used to estimate changes in CO₂ emissions associated with changes in forest management practices.

Supplementary material

• Supplement 1: Appendix

Citation

Ojanen, P. & Minkkinen, K. (2019) The dependence of net soil CO₂ emissions on water table depth in boreal peatlands drained for forestry. Mires and Peat, 24(27), 1–8. (Online: http://www.mires-and-peat.net/pages/volumes/map24/map2427.php); doi: 10.19189/MaP.2019.OMB.StA.1751

Reviewers

IMCG and IPS acknowledge the work of the reviewers.