Gaseous carbon dioxide and methane, as well as dissolved organic carbon losses from a small temperate wetland under a changing climate

• Published in: Environmental pollution (1987) Vol. 116; pp. S143 - S148
• Main Authors: Clair, T.A, Arp, P, Moore, T.R, Dalva, M, Meng, F.-R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-01-2002
• Subjects: Carbon - analysis; Carbon - chemistry; Carbon Dioxide - analysis; Carbon Dioxide - chemistry; CH 4; Climate; Climate change; CO 2; DOC; Ecosystem; Environmental Monitoring; Forecasting; Methane - analysis; Methane - chemistry; Models, Theoretical; Solubility; Water Movements; Water tables; Wetlands; Canada, Nova Scotia; CO 2; Climate change; DOC; Water tables; CH 4; Wetlands
• ISSN: 0269-7491; 1873-6424
• DOI: 10.1016/S0269-7491(01)00267-6

The export of dissolved organic carbon from wetlands is projected to double by 2050 under climate change scenarios and increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Temperate forests can contain large numbers of wetlands located in areas of low relief and poor drainage. These wetlands can make a large contribution to the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) load of streams and rivers draining the forests, as well as the exchange of methane (CH
4) and carbon dioxide (CO
2) with the atmosphere. We studied the carbon budget of a small wetland, located in Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia, Canada. The study wetland was the Pine Marten Brook site, a poor fen draining a mixed hardwood-softwood forest. We studied the loss of DOC from the wetland via the outlet stream from 1990 to 1999 and related this to climatic and hydrologic variables. We added the DOC export information to information from a previously published model describing CH
4 and CO
2 fluxes from the wetland as a function of precipitation and temperature, and generated a new synthesis of the major C losses from the wetland. We show that current annual C losses from this wetland amount to 0.6% of its total C mass. We then predicted that under climate changes caused by a doubling of atmospheric CO
2 expected between 2040 and 2050, total C loss from the wetland will almost double to 1.1% of total biomass. This may convert this wetland from what we assume is currently a passive C storage area to an active source of greenhouse gases.