Total Soil CO 2 Efflux from Drained Terric Histosols

• Published in: Plants (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 1
• Main Authors: Vigricas, Egidijus, Čiuldienė, Dovilė, Armolaitis, Kęstutis, Valujeva, Kristine, Laiho, Raija, Jauhiainen, Jyrki, Schindler, Thomas, Bārdule, Arta, Lazdiņš, Andis, Butlers, Aldis, Kazanavičiūtė, Vaiva, Belova, Olgirda, Kamil-Sardar, Muhammad, Soosaar, Kaido
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland 04-01-2024
• Subjects: drained peatland; total soil CO2 efflux; perennial grassland; Terric Histosols; Norway spruce; black alder; silver birch
• ISSN: 2223-7747; 2223-7747

Histosols cover about 8-10% of Lithuania's territory and most of this area is covered with nutrient-rich organic soils (Terric Histosols). Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from drained Histosols contribute more than 25% of emissions from the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector. In this study, as the first step of examining the carbon dioxide (CO
) fluxes in these soils, total soil CO
efflux and several environmental parameters (temperature of air and topsoil, soil chemical composition, soil moisture, and water table level) were measured in drained Terric Histosols under three native forest stands and perennial grasslands in the growing seasons of 2020 and 2021. The drained nutrient-rich organic soils differed in terms of concentrations of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen, as well as soil organic carbon and total nitrogen ratio. The highest rate of total soil CO
efflux was found in the summer months. Overall, the rate was statistically significant and strongly correlated only with soil and air temperature. A trend emerged that total soil CO
efflux was 30% higher in perennial grassland than in forested land. Additional work is still needed to estimate the net CO
balance of these soils.