Environmental Controls on CO 2 Exchange along a Salinity Gradient in a Saline Boreal Fen in the Athabasca Oil Sands Regi
- PDF / 1,132,303 Bytes
- 14 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 20 Downloads / 163 Views
PEATLANDS
Environmental Controls on CO2 Exchange along a Salinity Gradient in a Saline Boreal Fen in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region Olena Volik 1
&
Richard M. Petrone 1 & Meaghan Quanz 1 & Merrin L. Macrae 1 & Rebecca Rooney 2 & Jonathan S. Price 1
Received: 18 August 2018 / Accepted: 2 December 2019 # Society of Wetland Scientists 2019
Abstract Understanding the controls on carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange within saline boreal fens, appropriate natural analogs for landscape reclamation in areas affected by salinization in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, can provide insights into the biogeochemical and carbon sink functioning of constructed wetlands under saline conditions. Hence, this study aims to assess net ecosystem exchange (NEE), ecosystem respiration (R), and gross ecosystem productivity (GEP) of peatland and open-water areas within a saline boreal fen near Fort McMurray (Alberta, Canada) to determine environmental controls on CO2 fluxes using community-scale CO2 measurements along a salinity gradient. Strong positive correlations between NEE, GEP, leaf area index within peatland, and between GEP and vegetation density within open-water areas (ponds) were observed, demonstrating the importance of vegetation properties for carbon uptake. Strong negative correlations were found between NEE, GEP, R and water table depth and electrical conductivity within peatland. In contrast, GEP and R were positively correlated with phosphate concentrations in ponds, and electrical conductivity had no effect on CO2 fluxes within ponds. In peatlands, links between CO2 exchange and environmental factors were influenced by microtopography, and complex relationships between NEE, GEP, R and environmental variables were observed within depressions. Keywords Saline fen . Gross ecosystem productivity . Carbon dioxide exchange . Ecosystem respiration . Salinity . Athabasca Oil Sands region
Introduction Peatlands play an important role in global carbon (Roulet 2000; Blodau 2002; Limpens et al. 2008) water (Price and Waddington 2000; Price et al. 2005), and nutrient cycles (Bridgham et al. 1996) and have been exploited by humans over many centuries for fuel, agriculture and forestry (Turetsky 2002). However, anthropogenic disturbance has Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-019-01257-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Olena Volik [email protected] 1
Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
2
Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
increased dramatically in the twentieth century as demand for mineral resources in the world economy has risen (Dubiński 2013). Large areas of the boreal zone have been affected by the growing mining industry. In particular, one of the world’s largest mining-induced boreal peatland losses is occurring in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) (Alberta,
Data Loading...
