Tropical peatlands: carbon stores, carbon gas Emissions and contribution to climate change Processes (original) (raw)
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Tropical Peatland - the Amazing Dual Ecosystem: Co Existence and Mutual Benefit
SUMMARY The visual uniformity of tropical peat swamp forest masks the considerable variation in forest structure and ecological functions that this ecosystem has evolved in response to differences of and changes in environmental and substrate characteristics over many millennia. This is a 'dual' ecosystem in which rain forest trees are the principal contributors to the peat that underlies them, while the characteristics of the peat that is formed determine the ecological, hydrological and nutrient conditions that influence growth of the trees and structure of the forest. Rain forest and tropical peatland have derived mutual benefit throughout their joint existence, resulting in one of the most complex and diverse ecosystems on this planet that is also one of the largest, but most vulnerable carbon stores. The future of this ecosystem will be assessed from information available on climate change and human impact.
Peatlands and greenhouse gases 7-1 Chapter 7 : Peatlands and greenhouse gases
2007
1. By affecting atmospheric burdens of CO2, CH4 and N2O in different ways natural peatlands play a complex role with respect to climate. 2. Since the last ice age peatlands have played an important role in global GHG balances. By storing enormous amount of atmospheric CO2 they have had an increasing cooling effect, in the same way as in former geological eras, when they formed coal, lignite and other fossil fuels. 3. GHG fluxes in peatlands have a spatial (zonal, ecosystem, site and intersite) and temporal (interannual, seasonal, diurnal) variability which needs to be considered in assessment and management. 4. Small changes in ecohydrology can lead to big changes in GHG emissions through influence on peatland biogeochemistry. 5. In assessing the role of peatlands in global warming the different time frame and radiative forcing of continuos and simultaneous CH4 emission and CO2 sequestration should be carefully evaluated to avoid not fully applicable global warming potentials. 6. An...
Peatlands: the challenge of mapping the world’s invisible stores of carbon and water
2019
The FAO Forest and Water Programme envisions a world in which resilient forest landscapes are managed e ectively to provide sustainable water ecosystem services. In collaboration with partners from the forest and water sectors, it supports countries and stakeholders in realizing More information: www.fao.org/in-action/forest-andwater-programme Forest and Water Programme this vision by facilitating the sharing of knowledge and experiences, developing the capacity of forest, land and water managers to manage the forest-water nexus, and providing tools to support decision-making. Unasylva is published in English, French and Spanish. Subscriptions can be obtained by sending an e-mail to unasylva@fao.org. Subscription requests from institutions (e.g. libraries, companies, organizations and universities) rather than individuals are preferred in order to make the journal accessible to more readers. All issues of Unasylva are available online free of charge at www.fao.org/forestry/unasylva.
Peatlands Are More Beneficial if Conserved and Restored than Drained for Monoculture Crops
Frontiers in Environmental Science, 2021
Peatlands are especially important but fragile tropical landscapes. The importance of peatlands is owing to their ability to 1) sequester a considerable amount of terrestrial carbon, 2) store freshwater, and 3) regulate floods during the rainy season. Nowadays, extensive peatland degradation occurs because of peatland utilization for agriculture purposes, causing severe environmental consequences such as carbon emission, loss of biodiversity, risk of flooding, and peat fire. Meanwhile, local planners and decision makers tend to overlook the long-term strategic function of peatlands for carbon storage and hydrological regulation, preferring peatland utilization for short-term economic benefits. The objective of our study is to quantify the total ecosystem services (except biodiversity) of a tropical peatland landscape in various peat-utilization scenarios to help build awareness among local planners and decision makers on the strategic tradeoff between peatland utilization and restor...
TROPICAL PEATLANDS: DISTRIBUTION, EXTENT AND CARBON STORAGE - UNCERTAINTIES AND KNOWLEDGE GAPS
Although tropical peatlands are said to be globally significant carbon sinks that store large amounts of carbon, the data on which this information is based are subject to uncertainty and error. It is estimated that over half of the tropical peatland area is located in Southeast Asia, but there are no up-to-date and accurate measures of the precise location and extent of this resource, especially because of rapid land-use change developments in recent years. When areal extent and thickness data are combined to derive estimates of carbon content and compute the magnitude of tropical peatland carbon pools, uncertainties are compounded. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge and degree of uncertainty on the extent of tropical peatlands globally and their carbon stocks. Recent interest in the carbon storage potential of tropical peatlands, the magnitude of emissions from them and their importance in climate change processes should lead to more detailed field and remote sensing surveys and accurate data inventories in order to improve the state of knowledge.
Peatlands and the carbon cycle: From local processes to global implications
Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 2007
Peatlands cover only 3% of the Earth's land surface but boreal and subarctic peatlands store about 15-30% of the world's soil carbon (C) as peat. Despite their potential for large positive feedbacks to the climate system through sequestration and emission of greenhouse gases, peatlands are not explicitly included in global climate models and therefore in predictions of future climate change. In April 2007 a symposium was held in Wageningen, the Netherlands, to advance our understanding of peatland C cycling. This paper synthesizes the main findings of the symposium, focusing on (i) small-scale processes, (ii) C fluxes at the landscape scale, and (iii) peatlands in the context of climate change. The main drivers controlling C fluxes are largely scale dependent and most are related to some aspects of hydrology. Despite high spatial and annual variability in Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE), the differences in cumulative annual NEE are more a function of broad scale geographic location and physical setting than internal factors, suggesting the existence of strong feedbacks. In contrast, trace gas emissions seem mainly controlled by local factors. Key uncertainties remain concerning the existence of perturbation thresholds, the relative strengths of the CO 2 and CH 4 feedback, the links among peatland surface climate, hydrology, ecosystem structure and function, and trace gas biogeochemistry as well as the similarity of process rates across peatland types and climatic zones. Progress on these research areas can only be realized by stronger cooperation between disciplines that address different spatial and temporal scales.
Forests, 2021
Peatlands are both responding to and influencing climate change. While numerous studies on peatland carbon dynamics have been published in boreal and temperate regions for decades, a much smaller yet growing body of scientific articles related to tropical peatlands has recently been published, including from previously overlooked regions such as the Amazonian and Congo basins. The recent recognition of tropical peatlands as valuable ecosystems because of the organic carbon they accumulate in their water-saturated soils has occurred after most of them have been drained and degraded in Southeast Asia. Under disturbed conditions, their natural carbon storage function is shifted to an additional carbon source to the atmosphere. Understanding the effect of land-use change and management practices on peatlands can shed light on the driving variables that influence carbon emissions and can model the magnitude of emissions in future degraded peatlands. This is of primary importance as other...