Journal
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Volume 8, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00273
Keywords
carbon sink function; Holocene; Mires; tipping point; regime shift; complex adaptive system; Paleoecology
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Funding
- Faculty Innovation Grant from the Lehigh University
- US-NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant [DEB-1110665]
- Exploration Grant from theNational Geographic Society
- Texas A&M University's College of Geosciences via their High-Impact Learning Experiences Program
- Texas A&M University's Department of Geography
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Fens and bogs are distinct in terms of their biogeochemistry, water table behavior, and net peat-accumulation regimes. While most peatlands start developing as fens, a large fraction of them eventually shift to bogs in a step-like ecosystem shift. This transition has traditionally been assumed to be primarily controlled by the ecosystem itself (autogenic control). Here we use 90 peat profiles from southernmost South America (SSA) as a case study that illustrates a synchronous, regional-scale shift from fen to bog around 4200 years ago. In light of these results, we propose and discuss conceptual models that link environmental change (allogenic control) as a trigger to the fen-bog transition (FBT). In addition, our stratigraphic analyses show thatSphagnumdeposits are associated with greater peat masses, larger soil-carbon stocks, and higher rates of peat-carbon accumulation than their non-Sphagnumcounterparts, withSphagnumbogs being characterized by soil-carbon densities over twice that of non-Sphagnumpeatlands (medians = 141 vs. 56 kgC/m(2)). Since fens and bogs also behave differently in terms of their carbon exchanges with the atmosphere, a better appraisal of the processes involved in the FBT could help elucidate the role of this critical ecosystem shift in the past and future global carbon cycle.
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