The Zoige alpine peatlands cover approximately 4,605 km² of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau and are considered to constitute the largest plateau peatland on the Eurasian continent. However, the Zoige alpine peatlands are undergoing major degradation because of human activities and climate change, which would cause uncertainty in the budget of greenhouse gases (CH₄ and CO₂) and carbon (C) storage in global peatlands. This study simultaneously investigates the CH₄ and CO₂ emission fluxes and C storage at three typical sites with respect to the peatland degradation gradient: peatland, wet meadow and dry meadow. Results show that peatland degradation would increase the CO₂ emission and decrease the CH₄ emission. Moreover, the average C emission fluxes were 66.05, 165.78 and 326.56 mg C m⁻² hr⁻¹ for the peatland, wet meadow and dry meadow, respectively. The C storage of the vegetation does not considerably differ among the three sampling sites. However, when compared with the peatland (1,088.17 t C ha⁻¹), the soil organic C storage decreases by 420 and 570 t C ha⁻¹ in case of wet and dry meadows, respectively. Although the C storage in the degraded peatlands decreases considerably, it can still represent a large capacity of C sink. Therefore, the degraded peatlands in the Zoige alpine area must be protected and restored to mitigate regional climate change.

中文翻译：

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青藏高原若尔盖高寒地区退化泥炭地的碳排放通量和存储

佐伊格（Zoige）高山泥炭地覆盖了青藏高原的约4,605 km ²，被认为是欧亚大陆上最大的高原泥炭地。然而，由于人类活动和气候变化，Zoige高山泥炭地正经历着严重的退化，这将导致全球泥炭地中温室气体（CH ₄和CO ₂）和碳（C）存储的预算不确定。这项研究同时研究了关于泥炭地退化梯度的三个典型地点的CH ₄和CO ₂排放通量以及C的存储：泥炭地，湿草甸和干草甸。结果表明，泥炭地退化将增加CO ₂排放并减少CH ₄排放。此外，泥炭地，湿地草甸和干地草甸的平均C排放通量分别为66.05、165.78和326.56 mg C m ^-2  hr ^-1。在这三个采样点之间，植被的碳储量没有太大差异。但是，与泥炭地（1,088.17 t C ha ^-1）相比，在湿润和干燥的草地上，土壤有机碳储存量分别减少了420 t和570 t C ha ^-1。尽管退化的泥炭地中的碳储存量大大减少，但仍代表着大的碳汇容量。因此，必须保护和恢复Zoige高山地区退化的泥炭地，以缓解区域气候变化。