TY - JOUR
T1 - Carbon accumulation rate of peatland in the High Arctic, Svalbard
T2 - Implications for carbon sequestration
AU - Nakatsubo, Takayuki
AU - Uchida, Masaki
AU - Sasaki, Akiko
AU - Kondo, Miyuki
AU - Yoshitake, Shinpei
AU - Kanda, Hiroshi
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Mr. Sumihisa Matsuyama of the Geo Science Laboratory for his helpful suggestions during this study. This study was partly supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 20405010 and No. 24405009 ) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. and NIPR.
PY - 2015/6/1
Y1 - 2015/6/1
N2 - Moss tundra that accumulates a thick peat layer is one of the most important ecosystems in the High Arctic, Svalbard. The importance of this ecosystem for carbon sequestration was estimated from the apparent rates of carbon accumulation based on the 14C age and amount of peat in the active layer. The study site at Stuphallet, Brøgger Peninsula, northwestern Svalbard was covered with a thick peat layer dominated by moss species such as Calliergon richardsonii, Paludella squarrosa, Tomenthypnum nitens, and Warnstorfia exannulata. The average thickness of the active layer (brown moss and peat) was approximately 28 cm in 1 August 2011. The calibrated (cal) age of peat from the bottom of the active layer (20-30 cm below the peatland surface) ranged from 81 to 701 cal yr BP (median value of 2σ range). Based on the total carbon (4.5-9.2 kg C m-2), the apparent rate of carbon accumulation in the active layer was 9.0-19.2 (g C m-2 yr-1), which is similar to or greater than the net ecosystem production or net primary production reported for other vegetation types in this area. Our data suggest that moss tundra plays an important role in carbon sequestration in this area.
AB - Moss tundra that accumulates a thick peat layer is one of the most important ecosystems in the High Arctic, Svalbard. The importance of this ecosystem for carbon sequestration was estimated from the apparent rates of carbon accumulation based on the 14C age and amount of peat in the active layer. The study site at Stuphallet, Brøgger Peninsula, northwestern Svalbard was covered with a thick peat layer dominated by moss species such as Calliergon richardsonii, Paludella squarrosa, Tomenthypnum nitens, and Warnstorfia exannulata. The average thickness of the active layer (brown moss and peat) was approximately 28 cm in 1 August 2011. The calibrated (cal) age of peat from the bottom of the active layer (20-30 cm below the peatland surface) ranged from 81 to 701 cal yr BP (median value of 2σ range). Based on the total carbon (4.5-9.2 kg C m-2), the apparent rate of carbon accumulation in the active layer was 9.0-19.2 (g C m-2 yr-1), which is similar to or greater than the net ecosystem production or net primary production reported for other vegetation types in this area. Our data suggest that moss tundra plays an important role in carbon sequestration in this area.
KW - <sup>14</sup>C dating
KW - Carbon accumulation
KW - High Arctic
KW - Moss tundra
KW - Peatland
KW - Svalbard
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U2 - 10.1016/j.polar.2014.12.002
DO - 10.1016/j.polar.2014.12.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84930480497
VL - 9
SP - 267
EP - 275
JO - Polar Science
JF - Polar Science
SN - 1873-9652
IS - 2
ER -