EARLY HEARING DETECTION AND INTERVENTION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
MARCH 2-5, 2021

(Virtually the same conference, without elevators, airplane tickets, or hotel room keys)

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5/25/2021 | 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM | DETRITAL NUTRIENT RESPONSES TO WARMING AND ELEVATED CO2 IN A PEATLAND ECOSYSTEM | Virtual Platform

DETRITAL NUTRIENT RESPONSES TO WARMING AND ELEVATED CO2 IN A PEATLAND ECOSYSTEM

Boreal peatlands are carbon-rich and nutrient-poor ecosystems that are vulnerable to climate change. We investigated how climate change affects detrital nutrient dynamics by measuring decomposition rates and changes in carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus contents of 6 litter types (spruce needles and fine roots, Labrador tea leaves and fine roots, and two Sphagnum species) over two years in the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) experiment. SPRUCE uses ten enclosures to elevate air and peat temperatures (+0 to +9°C) at ambient and elevated CO₂ (eCO₂) (+500 ppm) in a northern Minnesota peatland. We also examined whether the chemistry of senescent litter from vegetation growing in the enclosures was affected by warming and eCO₂. There was little effect of temperature and eCO₂ on aboveground litter decomposition and leaf-tissue chemistries; however, fine-root breakdown increased with warming. There was no clear effect of warming on senescent litter chemistry but eCO₂ resulted in lower nitrogen content in leaves of two shrub species. Overall, there was little initial response of litter breakdown and nutrient contents to warming, but eCO₂ decreased the nutrient content of senescent litter, which may have cascading effects to decomposition.

Nutrients
Climate change
Ecosystem

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Presenters/Authors

Natalie A. Griffiths (), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, griffithsna@ornl.gov;