Aged soils contribute little to contemporary carbon cycling downstream of thawing permafrost peatlands

Vast stores of millennial-aged soil carbon (MSC) in permafrost peatlands risk leaching into the contemporary carbon cycle after thaw caused by climate warming or increased wildfire activity. Here we tracked the export and downstream fate of MSC from two peatland-dominated catchments in subarctic Canada, one of which was recently affected by wildlife. We tested whether thermokarst bog expansion and deepening of seasonally thawed soils due to wildfire increased the contributions of MSC to downstream waters. Despite being available for lateral transport, MSC accounted for <= 6% of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) pools at catchment outlets. Assimilation of MSC into the aquatic food web could not explain its absence at the outlets. Using delta C-13-Delta C-14-delta N-15-delta H-2 measurements, we estimated only 7% of consumer biomass came from MSC by direct assimilation and algal recycling of heterotrophic respiration. Recent wildfire that caused seasonally thawed soils to reach twice as deep in one catchment did not change these results. In contrast to many other Arctic ecosystems undergoing climate warming, we suggest waterlogged peatlands will protect against downstream delivery and transformation of MSC after climate- and wildfire-induced permafrost thaw.

Automated summary

The study tracked the export and downstream fate of millennial-aged soil carbon (MSC) from two peatland-dominated catchments in subarctic Canada, finding that despite the influence of wildfires and climate warming, MSC had limited contributions to downstream waters and could not be fully explained by assimilation into the aquatic food web.