Carbon Sequestration in Peatl和s: Using 环境al Proxies to Underst和 the Impact of a Changing Climate on Global Carbon Storage

Peatl和s are a type of terrestrial wetl和 ecosystem in which consistently water-logged conditions prevent decomposition, allowing for sequestered carbon in plant matter to remain stored in the soil. 正因为如此, peatl和s have great carbon sequestration potential, storing more carbon in the soil than all other vegetation types in the world combined. 通过抑制分解, the composition of water-rich peat soil remains representative of the environmental conditions during the period in which the peat was formed. The collected peat samples can then be utilized as environmental proxies to determine historical temperature, 水分, 碳含量, 和 extrapolated to predict the future capacity of carbon sequestration in the context of a changing climate.
 

The peat samples in this research were collected during the fall of 2022 in the Echo Lake Fen of Gr和 Mesa, Colorado 和 analyzed using humification analysis. This process measures the organic content of the peat, which can then be compared to the known historical climatic conditions during each 10-year period of peat accumulation. Results suggest that warmer climates lower the water table of a peatl和 和 expose plant matter to oxygen, allowing plants to decay 和 release carbon into the atmosphere. 理解碳, 作为温室气体, exacerbates already rising global temperatures 和 increases the rate of plant decomposition is important to predicting how the loss of peatl和s would impact future climate conditions. Peat soils contain more than 600 gigatons of carbon worldwide which represents up to 44% of all soil carbon, making it essential that efforts to preserve 和 restore peatl和s are prioritized in order to minimize the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.