SPRUCE Compositional Stability of Peat in Ecosystem-Scale Warming Mesocosms, 2014 and 2019

This data set contains measurements of carbohydrate and aromatic compounds in peat samples subjected to various levels of deep peat heating (DPH) and whole ecosystem warming (WEW). Samples were collected in 2014 and 2019 to identify chemical changes occurring within peatland soils following five years of warming. Samples were analyzed in the uppermost 2 m of peat using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) to quantify the relative abundance of carbohydrate and aromatic compounds in the peat. The peat soils were subjected to DPH beginning in June of 2014 followed by WEW in August of 2015. The experimental work was conducted in a Picea mariana [black spruce] – Sphagnum spp. bog forest in northern Minnesota, 40 km north of Grand Rapids, in the USDA Forest Service Marcell Experimental Forest (MEF).