Articles | Volume 11, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-371-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-371-2025
Short communication
 | 
14 May 2025
Short communication |  | 14 May 2025

Gradual drying of permafrost peat decreases carbon dioxide production in drier peat plateaus but not in wetter fens and bogs

Aelis Spiller, Cynthia M. Kallenbach, Melanie S. Burnett, David Olefeldt, Christopher Schulze, Roxane Maranger, and Peter M. J. Douglas

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Cited articles

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Short summary
Permafrost peatlands are large reservoirs of carbon. As frozen permafrost thaws, drier peat moisture conditions can arise, affecting the microbial production of climate-warming greenhouse gases like CO2 and N2O. Our study suggests that future peat CO2 and N2O production depends on whether drier peat plateaus thaw into wetter fens or bogs and on their diverging responses of peat respiration to more moisture-limited conditions.
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