##  [Simulated Climate Warming Increases Plant Community Heterogeneity in To Types of Boreal Peatlands in North Central Canada](/resource/simulated-climate-warming-increases-plant-community-heterogeneity-types-boreal-peatlands) 

Organization

[University of Western Ontario](/organization/university-western-ontario)

[Ontario Forest Research Institute](/organization/ontario-forest-research-institute)

 

 

Resource Type

[Peer reviewed article](/taxonomy/term/37)

 

 

Author(s)

Caitlyn Lyons

Brian Branfireun

Jim McLaughlin

Zoë Lindo

 

 

Original Authors

Caitlyn Lyons

Brain Branfireun

Jim McLaughlin

Zoë Lindo

 

 

Contacts

[Caitlyn Lyons](/contact/caitlyn-lyons)

 

 

Resource Date:

May

2020

 

 

*This resource is available on an external database and may require a paid subscription to access it. It is included on the CCLM to support our goal of capturing and sharing the breadth of all available knowledge pertaining to Boreal Caribou, Wetlands, and Land Management.*

Climate warming has been demonstrated to shift peatland plant community composition from *Sphagnum* mosses to vascular plants in *Sphagnum*‐dominated peatlands. However, fewer studies have determined how increasing temperature affects vegetation patterns in *Carex*‐dominated peatlands. As plants are important determinants of carbon storage potential in peatlands, we aim to determine how climate warming alters plant community composition in peatlands of two different vegetation types.

In a *Sphagnum*‐ and a *Carex*‐dominated peatland in north–central Ontario, Canada over two growing seasons, we instigated passive warming using clear open‐topped chambers, providing a modest increase (1–2°C) in temperature. In replicated plots we examined shifts in plant community composition using the point intercept method, and total above‐ground biomass using Leaf Area Index (LAI) against non‐warmed control plots.

While there was no difference in species diversity between control and warmed plots in either fen site, warming significantly increased above‐ground biomass in the *Carex*‐dominated fen and decreased moss abundance in the *Sphagnum*‐dominated fen. Both fens also displayed significantly different plant community composition between warming and control plots, and increased heterogeneity under warming.

Peatlands are important global carbon stores and the plant community contributes to their carbon storage; *Sphagnum* mosses, in particular, are linked to high peatland carbon storage potential. Previous studies in *Sphagnum*‐dominated peatlands have shown concomitant declines in *Sphagnum* biomass and increases in vascular plant biomass, and in the short term, we show only a decline in *Sphagnum*. At both sites the increase in plant community heterogeneity suggests that climate warming effects on plant community composition in boreal peatlands may be more unpredictable than the literature suggests. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that plant community shifts occur even under modest warming scenarios.