2025/03/24 by Jaan Pärn, Sandeep Thayamkottu, Maarja Öpik +12 · 1 voice · 6 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Chemistry · Environmental Science · #Bioinformatics #Biology #Botany and Plant Ecology Studies #Chemistry #Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics #Ecology #Environmental chemistry #Environmental science #Geography #Geology #Greenhouse gas #Meteorology #Microbiome #Moisture #Peat #Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology #Soil science #Soil water #Water content
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-92891-z
published in Scientific Reports 15(1), 10153 (Nature Portfolio)
openalex publication_date 2025/03/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Earth's climate is tightly connected to carbon and nitrogen exchange between the atmosphere and ecosystems. Wet peatland ecosystems take up carbon dioxide in plants and accumulate organic carbon in soil but release methane. Man-made drainage releases carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide from peat soils. Carbon and nitrous gas exchange and their relationships with environmental conditions are poorly understood. Here, we show that open peatlands in both their wet and dry extremes are greenhouse gas sinks while peat carbon/nitrogen ratios are high and prokaryotic (bacterial and archaeal) abundances are low. Conversely, peatlands with moderate soil moisture levels emit carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, while prokaryotic abundances are high. The results challenge the current assumption of a uniform effect of drainage on greenhouse gas emissions and show that the peat microbiome of greenhouse-gas sources differs fundamentally from sinks.