Wildfire and Global Warming Promote Permafrost Peatlands Carbon Pool More Stable Than Before

Typography

Covering only 3-4% of the global land surface, peatlands store one-third of the total global soil carbon despite.

Over the past centuries, the impact of global warming on permafrost thaws has caused permafrost peatlands collapse and high amount of CO2 and CH4 emission. Besides, wildfire also influences carbon dynamics in peatlands through direct burning of biomass or surface peat soils and with deposition of the fire products on the peatlands surface.

Carbon dynamic process and carbon stability in peatlands carbon pool are equally important for researchers to evaluate the impact of the environmental factors on peatlands carbon pool. Several studies have focused on the impact of historical climate change and regional human activities on the carbon dynamic process in these peatlands. However, the impact of these factors on the stability of peatlands carbon pool remains poorly understood.

The researchers from the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have revealed the impact of wildfire (indicated by pyrogenic carbon deposition fluxes) and global warming on the stability of the peatlands carbon pool (indicated by the carbohydrate and aromatic contents) in their recent studies.

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