IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i6p948-d100491.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rewetting Decreases Carbon Emissions from the Zoige Alpine Peatland on the Tibetan Plateau

Author

Listed:
  • Lijuan Cui

    (Beijing Key Laboratory of Wetland Services and Restoration, Institute of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
    Sichuan Zoige Wetland Ecosystem Research Station, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Aba 624500, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Xiaoming Kang

    (Beijing Key Laboratory of Wetland Services and Restoration, Institute of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
    Sichuan Zoige Wetland Ecosystem Research Station, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Aba 624500, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Wei Li

    (Beijing Key Laboratory of Wetland Services and Restoration, Institute of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
    Sichuan Zoige Wetland Ecosystem Research Station, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Aba 624500, China)

  • Yanbin Hao

    (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Yuan Zhang

    (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Jinzhi Wang

    (Beijing Key Laboratory of Wetland Services and Restoration, Institute of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
    Sichuan Zoige Wetland Ecosystem Research Station, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Aba 624500, China)

  • Liang Yan

    (Beijing Key Laboratory of Wetland Services and Restoration, Institute of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
    Sichuan Zoige Wetland Ecosystem Research Station, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Aba 624500, China)

  • Xiaodong Zhang

    (Beijing Key Laboratory of Wetland Services and Restoration, Institute of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
    Sichuan Zoige Wetland Ecosystem Research Station, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Aba 624500, China)

  • Manyin Zhang

    (Beijing Key Laboratory of Wetland Services and Restoration, Institute of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
    Sichuan Zoige Wetland Ecosystem Research Station, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Aba 624500, China)

  • Jian Zhou

    (Beijing Key Laboratory of Wetland Services and Restoration, Institute of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
    Sichuan Zoige Wetland Ecosystem Research Station, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Aba 624500, China)

  • Paul Kardol

    (Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 90183 Umeå, Sweden)

Abstract

Peatlands play an important role in the global carbon cycle and potentially have a significant impact on regional climate change. Restoring and rewetting the degraded peatlands is an urgent task. However, effects of rewetting on the carbon emissions of peatlands remain poorly understood. In this study, the process of rewetting a piece of the degraded Zoige alpine peatland was experimentally simulated and the derived results were compared with those of natural rewetting by monitoring CO 2 and CH 4 fluxes and other environmental factors before and after rewetting. The natural rewetting results showed that rewetting decreased ecosystem respiration (ER) by about 60%. Furthermore, rewetting increased CH 4 emissions by 127%, decreased total carbon emissions (TCE) from 270 to 157 mg CO 2 m −2 h −1 , and decreased TCE from the entire ecosystem by 42%. The results of the controlled experiment showed that ER decreased gradually as the degree of rewetting was increased, and CH 4 fluxes and changes in water level were significantly and positively correlated: CH 4 fluxes increased from 0.3 (water level −20 cm) to 2.17 mg CH 4 m −2 h −1 (water level 20 cm). After rewetting, the TCE of the whole ecosystem were significantly decreased. Regional observations showed that CO 2 fluxes were significantly and negatively correlated to the water level; and the corresponding CO 2 equivalent was significantly and positively correlated to the water level, while TCE were significantly and negatively correlated to the water level. Our findings indicate that rewetting can decrease carbon emissions and thus contribute in mitigating the adverse effects of climate change in alpine peatland.

Suggested Citation

  • Lijuan Cui & Xiaoming Kang & Wei Li & Yanbin Hao & Yuan Zhang & Jinzhi Wang & Liang Yan & Xiaodong Zhang & Manyin Zhang & Jian Zhou & Paul Kardol, 2017. "Rewetting Decreases Carbon Emissions from the Zoige Alpine Peatland on the Tibetan Plateau," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-13, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:6:p:948-:d:100491
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/6/948/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/6/948/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. W. Carter Johnson & Brett Werner & Glenn Guntenspergen, 2016. "Non-linear responses of glaciated prairie wetlands to climate warming," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 209-223, January.
    2. W. Carter Johnson & Brett Werner & Glenn R. Guntenspergen, 2016. "Non-linear responses of glaciated prairie wetlands to climate warming," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 209-223, January.
    3. Mikhail Mastepanov & Charlotte Sigsgaard & Edward J. Dlugokencky & Sander Houweling & Lena Ström & Mikkel P. Tamstorf & Torben R. Christensen, 2008. "Large tundra methane burst during onset of freezing," Nature, Nature, vol. 456(7222), pages 628-630, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiaoming Kang & Liang Yan & Lijuan Cui & Xiaodong Zhang & Yanbin Hao & Haidong Wu & Yuan Zhang & Wei Li & Kerou Zhang & Zhongqing Yan & Yong Li & Jinzhi Wang, 2018. "Reduced Carbon Dioxide Sink and Methane Source under Extreme Drought Condition in an Alpine Peatland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-15, November.
    2. Taryono Darusman & Daniel Murdiyarso & Impron & Iswandi Anas, 2023. "Effect of rewetting degraded peatlands on carbon fluxes: a meta-analysis," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 1-20, March.
    3. Rong Leng & Quanzhi Yuan & Yushuang Wang & Qian Kuang & Ping Ren, 2020. "Carbon Balance of Grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau under Future Climate Change: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-21, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guangshuai Wang & Yueping Liang & Fei Ren & Xiaoxia Yang & Zhaorong Mi & Yang Gao & Timothy S. George & Zhenhua Zhang, 2018. "Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Tibetan Alpine Grassland: Effects of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Addition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, November.
    2. K. M. Walter Anthony & P. Anthony & N. Hasson & C. Edgar & O. Sivan & E. Eliani-Russak & O. Bergman & B. J. Minsley & S. R. James & N. J. Pastick & A. Kholodov & S. Zimov & E. Euskirchen & M. S. Bret-, 2024. "Upland Yedoma taliks are an unpredicted source of atmospheric methane," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Rúna Í. Magnússon & Alexandra Hamm & Sergey V. Karsanaev & Juul Limpens & David Kleijn & Andrew Frampton & Trofim C. Maximov & Monique M. P. D. Heijmans, 2022. "Extremely wet summer events enhance permafrost thaw for multiple years in Siberian tundra," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Chenzheng Li & Anatoly V. Brouchkov & Viktor G. Cheverev & Andrey V. Sokolov & Kunyang Li, 2022. "Emission of Methane and Carbon Dioxide during Soil Freezing without Permafrost," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-11, April.
    5. Wei Shan & Lisha Qiu & Ying Guo & Chengcheng Zhang & Zhichao Xu & Shuai Liu, 2022. "Spatiotemporal Distribution Characteristics of Fire Scars Further Prove the Correlation between Permafrost Swamp Wildfires and Methane Geological Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-20, November.
    6. Xiaoming Kang & Liang Yan & Lijuan Cui & Xiaodong Zhang & Yanbin Hao & Haidong Wu & Yuan Zhang & Wei Li & Kerou Zhang & Zhongqing Yan & Yong Li & Jinzhi Wang, 2018. "Reduced Carbon Dioxide Sink and Methane Source under Extreme Drought Condition in an Alpine Peatland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-15, November.
    7. Hao Zhang & Jie Tang & Shuang Liang & Zhaoyang Li & Ping Yang & Jingjing Wang & Sining Wang, 2017. "The Emissions of Carbon Dioxide, Methane, and Nitrous Oxide during Winter without Cultivation in Local Saline-Alkali Rice and Maize Fields in Northeast China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-16, October.
    8. Mauro Guglielmin & Nicoletta Cannone, 2012. "A permafrost warming in a cooling Antarctica?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 111(2), pages 177-195, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:6:p:948-:d:100491. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.