Forested peatlands are widespread in the boreal landscape, but their role as carbon (C) pools remains poorly documented. In this study, we investigated the long-term C sequestration function of boreal forested bogs in relation to fires in eastern Canada. Results show that the forested peatlands comprise substantial peat C mass reaching values similar to open peatlands. At the six studied peatland sites, the amount of C stored in peat (62–172 kg C m⁻²) exceeds substantially the aboveground tree biomass C (1.5–5.3 kg C m⁻²). The C locked up in live conifers on the peatlands corresponds only to a small fraction of the C stored in peat (1–6%). In comparison, the shallow organic layer (≤ 30 cm) in the adjacent paludifying stands store 10.8 kg C m⁻² on average, which is about twice as much C as the live conifers. Long-term apparent C accumulation rates are relatively low in the studied forested bogs (mean: 15.9 g C m⁻² y⁻¹), suggesting that these ecosystems have lower C sequestration potential than non-forested bogs over millennia. The charcoal data suggest that past local fires reduced C sequestration rates, but these peatlands burn much less frequently than upland forests and are thus more efficient long-term C stores. This study highlights the importance of boreal forested peatlands as C reservoirs and helps understanding how fires, logging and climate change can affect their C sequestration function. These findings have important implications for ecosystem management that aims at maximizing C sequestration at the landscape level to mitigate climate change.

森林北部的泥炭地广泛分布在北部地区，但是它们作为碳（C）池的作用仍然鲜有记载。在这项研究中，我们调查了北部森林沼泽的长期固碳功能与加拿大东部大火的关系。结果表明，森林中的泥炭地包含大量泥炭C质素，其值类似于开放的泥炭地。在六个研究过的泥炭地，泥炭中储存的碳量（62-172 kg C m ^-2）大大超过了地上树木生物量碳（1.5-5.3 kg C m ^-2）。锁定在泥炭地活针叶树中的碳仅对应于储存在泥炭中的碳的一小部分（1-6％）。相比之下，相邻的货柜化站中的浅有机层（≤30 cm）可存储10.8 kg C m ^-2平均而言，其碳含量约为活松树的两倍。在研究过的森林沼泽中，长期表观C积累速率相对较低（平均：15.9 g C m ^-2  y ^-1），表明这些生态系统在几千年中的固碳潜力均低于非森林沼泽。木炭数据表明，过去的局部大火降低了碳固存率，但是这些泥炭地的燃烧频率比高地森林低得多，因此可以更有效地长期存储碳。这项研究强调了北方森林泥炭地作为碳库的重要性，并有助于了解火灾，伐木和气候变化如何影响其碳固存功能。这些发现对生态系统管理具有重要意义，该生态系统管理旨在最大程度地缓解景观中的固碳，以缓解气候变化。