Abstract
Small water bodies including drainage ditches can be hotspots for methane (CH4) emissions from peatlands. We assessed the CH4 emissions of a drained and a rewetted temperate fen including emissions of managed and unmanaged drainage ditches over the course of 2.5 years, covering three vegetation periods. Ditch CH4 emissions in the rewetted fen were significantly higher than in the drained fen. In the rewetted fen ditches contributed up to 91% of the annual CH4 budget, despite covering only 1.5% of the area. In the drained fen CH4 emissions were solely made up of ditch emissions. When including CH4 uptake by the peat soil, the CH4 balance of the drained fen was neutral. Dissolved organic carbon concentrations likely had an enhancing effect on CH4 emissions while nitrate and sulfate in the ditch water seem to have had an inhibitory effect. Air and water temperature controlled seasonal variability of ebullitive as well as diffusive CH4 emissions. Ebullition contributed less than 10% to the overall CH4 budget in the ditches. Drainage ditches represent a hotspot of CH4 emissions and need therefore be taken into account when assessing the success of rewetting projects of peatlands.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of several student assistants and field technicians for their support in field measurements and laboratory analyses. We would also like to thank Jacob Mulder from the agricultural cooperative Schulenberg for letting us carry out our measurements on his property. Further,14-BM-A55-0030/16).
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Data is available via PANGAEA link: https://issues.pangaea.de/browse/PDI-28277
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R code for analyses is available via PANGAEA link: https://issues.pangaea.de/browse/PDI-28277
Funding
Funding was provided by the European Social Fund in the WETSCAPES Project (grant number: ESF/14-BM-A55–0030/16)..
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DK, CW, AGand GJ contributed to the study design. DK an CW collected the data in the field and analyzed the data and did laboratory work. DK wrote the first version of the manuscript. AG, CW an GJ added comments which were incorporated by DK. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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I Allajbeu: no conflict of interest to disclose
S Hickman: has research collaborations with Merantix, ScreenPoint, Volpara, and Lunit
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Köhn, D., Welpelo, C., Günther, A. et al. Drainage Ditches Contribute Considerably to the CH4 Budget of a Drained and a Rewetted Temperate Fen. Wetlands 41, 71 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-021-01465-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-021-01465-y