Climate warming and elevated CO2 alter peatland soil carbon sources and stability

Nicholas O.E. Ofiti; Michael W.I. Schmidt; Samuel Abiven; Paul J. Hanson; Colleen M. Iversen; Rachel M. Wilson; Joel E. Kostka; Guido L.B. Wiesenberg; Avni Malhotra

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-43410-z

Climate warming and elevated CO₂ alter peatland soil carbon sources and stability

Nicholas O.E. Ofiti, Michael W.I. Schmidt, Samuel Abiven, Paul J. Hanson, Colleen M. Iversen, Rachel M. Wilson, Joel E. Kostka, Guido L.B. Wiesenberg, Avni Malhotra

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Peatlands are an important carbon (C) reservoir storing one-third of global soil organic carbon (SOC), but little is known about the fate of these C stocks under climate change. Here, we examine the impact of warming and elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentration (eCO₂) on the molecular composition of SOC to infer SOC sources (microbe-, plant- and fire-derived) and stability in a boreal peatland. We show that while warming alone decreased plant- and microbe-derived SOC due to enhanced decomposition, warming combined with eCO₂ increased plant-derived SOC compounds. We further observed increasing root-derived inputs (suberin) and declining leaf/needle-derived inputs (cutin) into SOC under warming and eCO₂. The decline in SOC compounds with warming and gains from new root-derived C under eCO₂, suggest that warming and eCO₂ may shift peatland C budget towards pools with faster turnover. Together, our results indicate that climate change may increase inputs and enhance decomposition of SOC potentially destabilising C storage in peatlands.

Original language	English
Article number	7533
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	14
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43410-z
State	Published - Dec 2023

Funding

We thank E. Solly for field assistance, G. Santilli and Y. Brügger for laboratory assistance and F. Petibon and C. Zosso for inspiration. The University Research Priority Program Global Change and Biodiversity (URPP-GCB) at the University of Zurich for offering opportunities for helpful discussions and exchange. The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) grant, awarded to the DEEP C project (project 200021_172744) and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program, through support for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory which is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the US DOE under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. N. Ofiti acknowledges funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (Postdoc mobility grant P500PN_206708). J. Kostka and R. Wilson acknowledge funding from the Genomic Science Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, under grant number DE-SC0023297. A. Malhotra acknowledges funding from the University of Zurich Stiftung für Wissenschaftliche Forschung (STWF-22-028), Swiss National Science Foundation (project 200021_215214) and COMPASS-FME, a multi-institutional project supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research as part of the Environmental System Science Program.

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10.1038/s41467-023-43410-z

Cite this

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title = "Climate warming and elevated CO2 alter peatland soil carbon sources and stability",

abstract = "Peatlands are an important carbon (C) reservoir storing one-third of global soil organic carbon (SOC), but little is known about the fate of these C stocks under climate change. Here, we examine the impact of warming and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration (eCO2) on the molecular composition of SOC to infer SOC sources (microbe-, plant- and fire-derived) and stability in a boreal peatland. We show that while warming alone decreased plant- and microbe-derived SOC due to enhanced decomposition, warming combined with eCO2 increased plant-derived SOC compounds. We further observed increasing root-derived inputs (suberin) and declining leaf/needle-derived inputs (cutin) into SOC under warming and eCO2. The decline in SOC compounds with warming and gains from new root-derived C under eCO2, suggest that warming and eCO2 may shift peatland C budget towards pools with faster turnover. Together, our results indicate that climate change may increase inputs and enhance decomposition of SOC potentially destabilising C storage in peatlands.",

author = "Ofiti, {Nicholas O.E.} and Schmidt, {Michael W.I.} and Samuel Abiven and Hanson, {Paul J.} and Iversen, {Colleen M.} and Wilson, {Rachel M.} and Kostka, {Joel E.} and Wiesenberg, {Guido L.B.} and Avni Malhotra",

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AU - Ofiti, Nicholas O.E.

AU - Schmidt, Michael W.I.

AU - Abiven, Samuel

AU - Hanson, Paul J.

AU - Iversen, Colleen M.

AU - Wilson, Rachel M.

AU - Kostka, Joel E.

AU - Wiesenberg, Guido L.B.

AU - Malhotra, Avni

PY - 2023/12

Y1 - 2023/12

N2 - Peatlands are an important carbon (C) reservoir storing one-third of global soil organic carbon (SOC), but little is known about the fate of these C stocks under climate change. Here, we examine the impact of warming and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration (eCO2) on the molecular composition of SOC to infer SOC sources (microbe-, plant- and fire-derived) and stability in a boreal peatland. We show that while warming alone decreased plant- and microbe-derived SOC due to enhanced decomposition, warming combined with eCO2 increased plant-derived SOC compounds. We further observed increasing root-derived inputs (suberin) and declining leaf/needle-derived inputs (cutin) into SOC under warming and eCO2. The decline in SOC compounds with warming and gains from new root-derived C under eCO2, suggest that warming and eCO2 may shift peatland C budget towards pools with faster turnover. Together, our results indicate that climate change may increase inputs and enhance decomposition of SOC potentially destabilising C storage in peatlands.

AB - Peatlands are an important carbon (C) reservoir storing one-third of global soil organic carbon (SOC), but little is known about the fate of these C stocks under climate change. Here, we examine the impact of warming and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration (eCO2) on the molecular composition of SOC to infer SOC sources (microbe-, plant- and fire-derived) and stability in a boreal peatland. We show that while warming alone decreased plant- and microbe-derived SOC due to enhanced decomposition, warming combined with eCO2 increased plant-derived SOC compounds. We further observed increasing root-derived inputs (suberin) and declining leaf/needle-derived inputs (cutin) into SOC under warming and eCO2. The decline in SOC compounds with warming and gains from new root-derived C under eCO2, suggest that warming and eCO2 may shift peatland C budget towards pools with faster turnover. Together, our results indicate that climate change may increase inputs and enhance decomposition of SOC potentially destabilising C storage in peatlands.

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