Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Degraded and Rewetted Peatlands in Northern European Lowland (original) (raw)

2021, 16th International Peatland Congress

The northeastern European countries as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have huge peatland areas, which partly reach several meters in depth. Due to peat excavating and the intensification of agriculture and forestry, peatlands were increasingly drained, leading to an accelerated peat mineralization and consequently to high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. At European level the Baltic States represent Hot Spots of GHG emissions, coming from drained peatlands as well as Germany and Poland. The EU aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions currently by 50 to 55 percent until 2030 compared to 1990. Therefore the restoration of drained peatlands must be integrated in the climate policy. The objective of the EU-LIFE Project "Peat Restore" is the rewetting of degraded peatlands in the partner countries Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany, covering a total area of 5.300 hectares. To assess the climate effect of the restoration measures and to obtain actual emission data, we monitored the greenhouse gas dynamic in ten different sites and ecosystems. The measurements started in early summer 2018 in Estonia, Poland and Germany and 2019 in Latvia and Lithuania. We used a combination of different chambers (opaque and transparent ones) to quantify the Ecosystem Respiration (RECO) and the Net-Ecosystem-Exchange (NEE) by different Infrared Gas analyser (IRGA) systems. We also measured methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes in-situ or in the laboratory by manual sampling in a 2-/4-weekly cycle. Due to the dry summer we measured continuously high RECO-fluxes throughout the vegetation period in 2018, but depending on the vegetation composition and the water level with significant spatial differences. The calculated gross primary production (GPP) fluxes reflect a more typical seasonal course, with a pronounced interannual variation. The methane fluxes are low to moderate, but respond also with rates to beaver activities. The N2O fluxes are currently on a low level only.

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