The uncertain climate footprint of wetlands under human pressure

A.M.R. Petrescu, A. Lohila, J.P. Tuovinen, D.D. Baldocchi, A.R. Desai, N.T. Roulet, T. Vesala, A.J. Dolman, W.C. Oechel, B. Marcolla, T. Friborg, J. Rinne, J.H. Matthes, L. Merbold, A. Meijide, G. Kiely, M. Sottocornola, T. Sachs, D. Zona, A. VarlaginD.Y.F. Lai, E. Veenendaal, F.J.W. Parmentier, U. Skiba, M. Lund, A. Hensen, J. van Huissteden

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Significant climate risks are associated with a positive carbon-temperature feedback in northern latitude carbon-rich ecosystems, making an accurate analysis of human impacts on the net greenhouse gas balance of wetlands a priority. Here, we provide a coherent assessment of the climate footprint of a network of wetland sites based on simultaneous and quasi-continuous ecosystem observations of CO<inf>2</inf> and CH<inf>4</inf> fluxes. Experimental areas are located both in natural and in managed wetlands and cover a wide range of climatic regions, ecosystem types, and management practices. Based on direct observations we predict that sustained CH<inf>4</inf> emissions in natural ecosystems are in the long term (i.e., several centuries) typically offset by CO<inf>2</inf> uptake, although with large spatiotemporal variability. Using a space-for-time analogy across ecological and climatic gradients, we represent the chronosequence from natural to managed conditions to quantify the "cost" of CH<inf>4</inf> emissions for the benefit of net carbon sequestration. With a sustained pulse-response radiative forcing model, we found a significant increase in atmospheric forcing due to land management, in particular for wetland converted to cropland. Our results quantify the role of human activities on the climate footprint of northern wetlands and call for development of active mitigation strategies for managed wetlands and new guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) accounting for both sustained CH<inf>4</inf> emissions and cumulative CO<inf>2</inf> exchange.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4594-4599
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume112
Issue number15
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

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