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GLOBAL BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES, VOL. 17, NO. 2, 1068, doi:10.1029/2002GB001886, 2003

Effects of elevated CO₂ and N deposition on CH₄ emissions from European mires

J. Silvola

Department of Biology, University of Joensuu, Joensuu, Finland

S. Saarnio

Department of Biology, University of Joensuu, Joensuu, Finland

J. Foot

Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, Stirling, Scotland, UK

I. Sundh

Department of Microbiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden

A. Greenup

Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

M. Heijmans

Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands

A. Ekberg

Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Analysis, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

E. Mitchell

Department of Plant Ecology, Institute of Botany, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

N. van Breemen

Department of Soil Science and Geology, Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen, Netherlands

Abstract

Methane fluxes were measured at five sites representing oligotrophic peatlands along a European transect. Five study plots were subjected to elevated CO₂ concentration (560 ppm), and five plots to NH₄NO₃ (3 or 5 g N yr⁻¹). The CH₄ emissions from the control plots correlated in most cases with the soil temperatures. The depth of the water table, the pH, and the DOC, N and SO₄ concentrations were only weakly correlated with the CH₄ emissions. The elevated CO₂ treatment gave nonsignificantly higher CH₄ emissions at three sites and lower at two sites. The N treatment resulted in higher methane emissions at three sites (nonsignificant). At one site, the CH₄ fluxes of the N-treatment plots were significantly lower than those of the control plots. These results were not in agreement with our hypotheses, nor with the results obtained in some earlier studies. However, the results are consistent with the results of the vegetation analyses, which showed no significant treatment effects on species relationships or biomass production.

Received 8 February 2002; accepted 3 February 2003; published 12 June 2003.

Index Terms: 1055 Geochemistry: Organic geochemistry; 1040 Geochemistry: Isotopic composition/chemistry; 0330 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Geochemical cycles; 0322 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Constituent sources and sinks.

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Citation: Silvola, J., S. Saarnio, J. Foot, I. Sundh, A. Greenup, M. Heijmans, A. Ekberg, E. Mitchell, and N. van Breemen (2003), Effects of elevated CO₂ and N deposition on CH₄ emissions from European mires, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 17(2), 1068, doi:10.1029/2002GB001886.

Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union.