Effect of climate change on the carbon and water fluxes from two sparsely forested northern peatlands

EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE CARBON AND WATER FLUXES FROM TWO SPARSELY FORESTED NORTHERN PEATLANDS

Sponsoring Institution

National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Project Status

COMPLETE

Funding Source

MCINTIRE-STENNIS

Reporting Frequency

Annual

Accession No.

0220341

Grant No.

(N/A)

Cumulative Award Amt.

(N/A)

Proposal No.

(N/A)

Multistate No.

(N/A)

Project Start Date

Oct 1, 2009

Project End Date

Sep 30, 2011

Grant Year

(N/A)

Program Code

[(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIV
1400 Townsend Drive
HOUGHTON,MI 49931

Performing Department
School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science

Non Technical Summary
Peatlands have very large stores of carbon. The accumulation of C occurred because C fixation through net primary production exceeded losses from respiration, decomposition or leaching. Because peatlands are sensitive to both changes in temperature and precipitation, climate change may upset the rate of carbon storage, changing peatlands from a sink for carbon to a source. The purpose of this project is to determine the links between the hydrology and the carbon budgets of northern peatlands.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
102	0330	2050	50%
112	0330	2050	50%

Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships; 112 - Watershed Protection and Management;

Subject Of Investigation
0330 - Wetland and riparian systems;

Field Of Science
2050 - Hydrology;

Keywords

Goals / Objectives
This project will establish a research site to investigate water and carbon fluxes in peatlands. The research site established in this project will provide initial data and momentum that are expected to lead to an ongoing, extramurally funded, long-term research site to monitor the effect of climate change on northern peatlands. The proposed project has two primary immediate research objectives: 1. Monitor two eddy covariance systems to monitor the effect of seasonal and inter-annual changes in climate and weather on water and carbon fluxes from a northern peatland. 2. To determine the short and long-term effects of changing in water table height on carbon and water fluxes from northern peatlands.

Project Methods
Study Site: This study will be in the Seney National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR) in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Within the SNWR there are approximately 25,000 ha covered by peat, with depths frequently exceeding 2. Besides having vast areas of pristine peatlands, SNWR is also home to the largest wetland drainage project in Michigan. In 1912, ditches and dikes were created in an effort to convert approximately 20,000 ha of peatland to agriculture. The ditches and dikes were unsuccessful but they are still in place. This provides the opportunity for future research on how long-term peat drying or wetting alters C cycling in peatlands. The SNWR's fens-underrepresented in both global and peatland climate change research-combined with the unique land-use history of the refuge, make the SNWR an ideal location for investigating the effect of disturbance and climate change on ecosystem processes in northern treed peatlands. Objective 1: To monitor the effect of seasonal and inter-annual changes in climate and weather on water and carbon fluxes from two sparsely forested northern peatland fens using two eddy covariance systems. Brief Methods: We will monitor seasonal changes in site-level CO2 and H2O fluxes using two eddy covariance systems. One system will monitor fluxes from the treed peatland with an unaltered water table and a second will monitor fluxes from the peatland with a historically raised water table. Eddy covariance is a state of the art micrometeorological technique for quantifying the exchange of water and carbon between ecosystems and the atmosphere. The system accomplishes this by simultaneously measuring wind speed in three dimensions with a sonic anemometer and the concentration of a scalar with a high speed Infra-Red Gas Analyzer. An eddy covariance system is often the cornerstone of ecological studies on CO2 and H2O fluxes. The system connects measurements made at the leaf or plot scale (<1m2) to larger scale estimates of CO2 and H2O exchange using models or satellites. Objective 2: To determine the short and long-term effects of changing the water table height on carbon and water fluxes from northern peatlands. Brief methods: Spatial and temporal variability of carbon and latent heat fluxes from hummocks, hollows, and surface mosses will be determined for the wetted and dried peatlands sites using a set of portable chambers. The seasonal changes in the latent heat fluxes will be quantified as will the differences associated with changes in water table depth, surface wetness, and solar radiation. To quantify the importance of vegetation on the resistance to evapotranspiration, the stomatal resistance of the vascular plants will be quantified using a porometer and the surface resistance by the mosses will be quantified by continuously monitoring surface wetness using an impedance sensor. The importance of vascular plant stomatal resistance and surface resistance by mosses will be explored using the Penman-Monteith equation for calculating evaporative fluxes.

Progress 10/01/09 to 09/30/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: From October 2009 to September 2011 there are two objectives associated with the project. Objective 1-Monitor two eddy covariance systems to monitor the effect of seasonal and inter-annual changes in climate and weather on water and carbon fluxes from a northern peatland. Two eddy covariance towers have collected data from April 2009 to Nov 2009, April 2010 to Nov 2010 and May 2011-Nov 2011. The data is currently being analyzed for fluxes of CO2 and H2O. Objective 2-To determine the short and long-term effects of changing in water table height on carbon and water fluxes from northern peatlands. Once analyzed, the CO2 and H2O data from the eddy covariance data will be compared to changing weather witin a site and to differences in water table heights between the eddy covariance sites. The data will be compared to chamber measurements to ensure the small scale chamber measurements can be scaled to the whole site. PARTICIPANTS: Shawna Welsh, Julian Licata and Jennifer Mwangi were employed. They assisted in water table measurements and carbon budgeting for the sites. We collaborated with researchers (P Moore and JM Waddington) from McMaster University in Ontario,Canada. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience are refuge managers and the scientific community. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
In the summer of 2010 and 2011,we generated datasets detailing the flux of CO2 from peatlands in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The data from this work resulted in three new proposals to the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. NSF funded one of the proposals relating to the effect of water table height on peatland ecosystem function.

Publications

Moore,PA,P Coulibaly, TG Pypker and JM Waddington (2010) Can machines learn to fill eddy flux data better than standard methods - 3rd Joint CMOS-CGU Congress, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May-June 2010.
Pypker,TG, P Moore, JM Waddington, JA Hribljan, B Ballantyne, RA Chimner (2011). The impact of long-term changes in water table height on carbon cycling in sub-boreal peatlands, AGU 92 (52) Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract B21A-0251.

Progress 10/01/09 to 09/30/10

Outputs
OUTPUTS: In the summer of 2010, we generated datasets detailing the flux of CO2 from peatlands in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The data from this work resulted in two new proposal s to the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. If these projects are funded the projects will investigate the effect of warming, species composition and cryosphere conditions in peatlands ranging from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Northern Ontario. The proposal to the Department of Energy was submitted to the Office of Biological and Environmental Research in May 2010 and the National Science Foundation Proposal was submitted to the Atmospheric Chemistry section of the CAREER call for proposals in July 2009. We are still awaiting their decision. PARTICIPANTS: Shawna Welsh and Julian Licata were employed. They assisted in water table measurements and carbon budgeting for the sites. We collaborated with researchers (P Moore and M. Waddington) from McMaster University in Ontario Canada. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
From October 2009 to September 2010 there two objectives associated with the project. Objective 1 - Monitor two eddy covariance systems to monitor the effect of seasonal and inter-annual changes in climate and weather on water and carbon fluxes from a northern peatland. Two eddy covariance towers have collected data from April 2009 to Nov 2009 and April 2010 to present. The data is currently being analyzed for fluxes of CO2 and H2O Objective 2 - To determine the short and long-term effects of changing in water table height on carbon and water fluxes from northern peatlands Also, data from this work was used to teach graduate students at Michigan Tech how carbon fluxes using the eddy covariance methods (FW 5120 - Organisms and their Environment). Once analyzed, the CO2 and H2O data from the eddy covariance data will be compared to changing weather within a site and to differences in water table heights between the eddy covariance sites. The data will be compared to chamber measurements to ensure the small scale chamber measurements can be scaled to the whole site.

Publications

Moore, PA, P Coulibaly, TG Pypker and JM Waddington (2010) Can machines learn to fill eddy flux data better than standard methods 3rd Joint CMOS-CGU Congress, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May-June 2010.