Open AccessThe dynamics of peat accumulation on bogs: mass balance of hummocks and hollows and its variation throughout a millennium
Author(s) -
Malmer Nils,
Wallén Bo
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
ecography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.973
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1600-0587
pISSN - 0906-7590
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0587.1999.tb00523.x
Subject(s) - bog , mire , sphagnum , ombrotrophic , peat , lawn , productivity , environmental science , litter , ecology , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , biology , geotechnical engineering , economics , macroeconomics
This study concerns the mass balance in hummocks and hollows on three ombrotrophic boreonemoral bogs in both a short (ca 10 yr) and long (1000 yr) time scale. Nitrogen, 14 C. and −210 Pb are used to establish detailed time scales and to estimate productivity and decay losses in tour different microtopographical units: hummocks with either Sphagnum or lichens and hollows with either Sphagnum lawns or bare hollows. The accumulation of N and 210 Pb was greater in hummocks than in hollows. The litter input was higher in Sphagnum hummocks (170‐210 g m −2 yr −1 ) than in lawns (110‐145 g m −2‐ yr −1 ) while its decay rate (0.011 ‐0.014 yr −1 ) did not differ. The arotelm was deeper in Sphagnum hummocks than in lawns but because of less compaction in lawns, neither residence time (80 100 yr) nor decay losses (70‐75%) differed. Productivity in lichen hummocks and bare hollows was insignificant and the mass balance negative. It is concluded that the higher productivity in Sphugnum hummocks maintains the microtopography on the mire surface. The mass balance in hummocks will determine not only the development in hollows but also the rise of the ground water mound, and the height increment of a bog. The addition of mass to the catotelm has generally been less in hollows than in hummocks. Since 800 BP the overall input to the catotelm has decreased from about 150 to < 50 g m −2 yr −1 due to longer residence time increasing losses through decay in the acrotelm from < 20% to 70% and is the result of either climatic changes or autogenic processes in the bog ecosystem. Before recent centuries the whole bog surface must have been covered with Sphagnum mosses, forming an overall input of litter as large as in the recent Sphagnum hummocks and lawns. Due to the present lesser cover of peat forming mosses (20‐50% of the surface), the recent overall input of peat‐forming litter is only 50‐65 g m −2 yr −1 . The bogs no longer act as sinks for carbon since the input of carbon only just covers the losses as CH 4 and CO 2 .