##  [Temperature, Moisture and Freeze–thaw Controls on CO2 Production in Soil Incubations From Northern Peatlands](/resource/temperature-moisture-and-freeze-thaw-controls-co2-production-soil-incubations-northern) 

Organization

[University of Waterloo](/organization/university-waterloo)

[Laurentian University](/organization/laurentian-university)

[Wilfrid Laurier University](/organization/wilfrid-laurier-university)

[Laval University](/organization/laval-university)

[Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)](/organization/natural-resources-canada-nrcan)

 

 

Resource Type

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

 

 

Author(s)

Eunji Byun

Fereidoun Rezanezhad

Linden Fairbairn

Stephanie Slowinski

Nathan Basiliko

Jonathan Price

William Quinton

Pascale Roy-Léveillée

Kara Webster

Philippe Van Cappellen

 

 

Original Authors

Eunji Byun

Fereidoun Rezanezhad

Linden Fairbairn

Stephanie Slowinski

Nathan Basiliko

Jonathan Price

William Quinton

Pascale Roy-Léveillée

Kara Webster

Philippe Van Cappellen

 

 

Contacts

[Eunji Byun](/contact/eunji-byun)

 

 

Resource Date:

December

2021

 

 

Peat accumulation in high latitude wetlands represents a natural long-term carbon sink, resulting from the cumulative excess of growing season net ecosystem production over non-growing season (NGS) net mineralization in soils. With high latitudes experiencing warming at a faster pace than the global average, especially during the NGS, a major concern is that enhanced mineralization of soil organic carbon will steadily increase CO2 emissions from northern peatlands. In this study, we conducted laboratory incubations with soils from boreal and temperate peatlands across Canada. Peat soils were pretreated for different soil moisture levels, and CO2 production rates were measured at 12 sequential temperatures, covering a range from − 10 to + 35 °C including one freeze–thaw event. On average, the CO2 production rates in the boreal peat samples increased more sharply with temperature than in the temperate peat samples. For same temperature, optimum soil moisture levels for CO2 production were higher in the peat samples from more flooded sites. However, standard reaction kinetics (e.g., *Q*10 temperature coefficient and Arrhenius equation) failed to account for the apparent lack of temperature dependence of CO2 production rates measured below 0 °C, and a sudden increase after a freezing event. Thus, we caution against using the simple kinetic expressions to represent the CO2 emissions from northern peatlands, especially regarding the long NGS period with multiple soil freeze and thaw events.