Organic soils contain nearly one-third of the world’s soil carbon, despite covering only 3-4% of the global land surface. Their degradation releases large quantities of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and reduces ecosystem functions, including biodiversity support. The European Union (EU) is the second-largest global emitter of GHGs from drained organic soils after Indonesia. Although organic soils under agricultural use represent only about 2% of the EU’s total agricultural area, they are responsible for approximately 80% of Cropland and Grassland emissions released to the atmosphere. Restoring drained organic soils therefore represents a significant opportunity for achieving climate change mitigation targets in the EU. However, the economic mitigation potential of organic soil restoration remains insufficiently explored, as existing studies do not consider restoration beyond full rewetting and rarely assess potential synergies with economic incentives and restoration targets. In this study, we apply GLOBIOM-EU, an economic land-use model, to comprehensively assess the economic climate mitigation potential from restoring drained organic soils used for agriculture considering multiple restoration measures: full rewetting, rehabilitation, and paludiculture. Our results indicate that under a GHG price of 100 EUR per tCO2 equivalent (EUR tCO2e-1), 38.2-44.4 MtCO2 equivalent per year (MtCO2e yr-1) could be mitigated in 2050. Paludiculture emerges as a promising option, substantially increasing the attractiveness of rewetting organic soils; under conditions of high demand for paludiculture products, 2 million hectares of drained organic soils could be restored without additional climate mitigation incentives, delivering mitigation of approximately 17 MtCO2e yr-1 by 2050. Moreover, meeting the 2050 targets of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR) alone could mitigate 23-29% of current emissions from drained agricultural organic soils in the EU. Overall, our findings suggest that the greatest climate benefits would be achieved through the combination of restoration measures that balance mitigation potential, economic viability, and land-use competition under different policy and market conditions, while also enabling opportunities for biodiversity co-benefits. This highlights the importance of integrated policy frameworks that align climate mitigation, ecosystem restoration, and market incentives.
How to cite: Jia, F. (., Deppermann, A., Balkovic, J., Araujo Gutierrez, Z., Gusti, M., Wögerer, M., Barthelmes, A., Palazzo, A., Frank, S., Krisztin, T., Fuss, S., and Havlík, P.: Restoring organic soils under agriculture: cost-effective portfolios in the context of European climate and biodiversity policies, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20294, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20294, 2026.
Peatland rewetting can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (stopping the leak) and establish Carbon Dioxide Removals (CDR, rebuild the CO2 sink). Emission reductions and CDR are two distinct climate change mitigation strategies that require tailored accounting methodologies and regulatory designs to ensure environmental integrity.
Here, we evaluate the potential, constraints and uncertainties of rewetting agriculturally drained peatlands as a strategy for emission reduction and CDR. Our analysis utilizes radiative forcing modeling and the sustained global warming potential (GWP*) metric, applied to emission factors from Germany’s national inventory reporting. Further, to account for the large variety of rewetting outcomes, we incorporate two emission trajectories in our evaluation: first, a worst-case scenario characterized by high initial CH4 pulses and delayed CO2 sequestration due to year-round flooding and, second, a best-case scenario, featuring low CH4 emissions and high initial CO2 sequestration associated with precise water table management and the rapid establishement of wetland vegetation. Furthermore, we quantify additional CDR gains derived from long-term carbon storage in products from paludiculture biomass and, finally, contrast peatland rewetting with alternative CDR techniques, highlighting its synergies in ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation.
Our findings contribute to the scientific basis for better integrating peatland rewetting into climate policies and accounting schemes, ensuring that regulatory frameworks most accurately reflect the climate change mitigation potential of rewetting agriculturally drained peatlands.
How to cite: Koebsch, F., Huth, V., Couwenberg, J., Jurasinski, G., and Tanneberger, F.: Stopping the Leak and Rebuilding the Sink? Positioning Peatland Rewetting as a Climate Change Mitigation Measure, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-16357, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-16357, 2026.
Germany’s goal to reach net zero by 2045 remains ambitious, and in order to achieve this, it is necessary to balance or drastically reduce a pool of residual emissions. The agricultural sector and the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector are significant contributors to this pool, together ranking as the fourth largest anthropogenic source of greenhouse gases. Drained and converted peatlands are one of the largest emitters in this sector, despite their relatively small area. However, these areas are also part of another major challenge, the biodiversity crisis. Intensive farming and dairy farming are both based on monoculture and the massive application of fertilizer in both cases has a deleterious effect on biodiversity.
We introduce the Klimafarm, focusing particularly on its greenhouse gas monitoring; the project is one of the four funded German pilot initiatives (“Moorpiloten”) whose aim is to rewet agricultural peatlands and explore economically viable paludiculture methods for farmers. The Klimafarm project presents an innovative approach to simultaneously addressing two major challenges—reducing CO₂ emissions and mitigating biodiversity loss—through the implementation of extensive paludiculture on rewetted grasslands in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany. This aims to stop the degradation of organic rich soils and conserves the large carbon stocks during the rewetting of drained peatlands and seeks to mitigate biodiversity loss by implementing a system with a single cut per year within a diversified grassland ecosystem. In such a scenario paludiculture is enabling further usage of the land while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and restoring wetland-type ecosystems.
The project is comprised of three distinct components, with each group focusing on a different topic: the management of the farm and value chain development, biodiversity research and greenhouse gas monitoring. Here, we focus on the greenhouse gas monitoring, which is implemented on three project sites and two intensive used reference sites. We will detail our eddy covariance and chamber-based CH4, CO2, and N2O flux measurements, present our methodological framework, and discuss preliminary 2023-2025 data.
How to cite: Jordan, S. F. A., Kluß, C., Donath, T. W., Zydek, E., Diekötter, T., and Taube, F.: Klimafarm - economically and ecologically viable grassland management that conserves peatland soil, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-5603, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-5603, 2026.
Drainage for agriculture has transformed temperate fen peatlands from carbon sinks into major carbon sources. Rewetting can halt this degradation, and the productive use of rewetted peatlands through paludiculture offers a promising sustainable land use strategy. However, historical drainage increases nutrient availability, which often remains elevated after rewetting. It is unknown how such nutrient conditions affect the potential of rewetted peatlands to form new peat, particularly under paludiculture use.
We studied rewetted fens across temperate Europe with varying land uses (no use, low- and high-intensity paludiculture) and nutrient availability (low in Carex-dominated sites, high in Typha-dominated sites and quantified by Ellenberg Indicator Values). Over two years, we measured belowground biomass production using root ingrowth cores and decomposition using litterbags, and calculated the peat formation potential as the standardized balance between these two processes.
We hypothesized that paludiculture does not reduce peat formation potential compared to no agricultural land use after rewetting, that nutrient enrichment affects both production and decomposition equally, and that water availability and nutrient levels are key drivers of these processes.
Paludiculture did not negatively affect peat formation potential in rewetted fens compared to non-used sites. Unexpectedly, belowground biomass production was higher in low-nutrient Carex-dominated sites than in high-nutrient Typha-dominated sites, while decomposition rates showed little difference across vegetation types and were lowest below moderate nutrient availability. Peat formation potential increased with a longer growing season, high water levels, and low nutrient availability. This is the first field-based study to quantify the balance of production and decomposition under different management and nutrient regimes in rewetted fens. The findings support the use of paludiculture on degraded, nutrient-rich fens to reduce nutrient loads and steering them to high peat formation potential, offering a sustainable solution for peatland restoration and agricultural land use.
How to cite: Kreyling, J., Zeterberg, K., Aggenbach, C., Kollmann, J., Kotowski, W., Kozub, L., Laage, K., Scheel, P., Schmidt, R., Seeber, E., van Diggelen, R., Zaborowska, A., and Tanneberger, F.: Paludiculture maintains peat formation potential in rewetted temperate fens, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-4799, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-4799, 2026.
Most low-level peatlands in The Netherlands have been converted to pastures for dairy-production as early as 500 years ago, leading to drainage, peat oxidation, soil subsidence and CO2 emissions. Climate policies prescribe drastic mitigation of these emissions, while cultural and economic interests of dairy production cannot be ignored either. This leads to proposals for often highly technical measures elevating the groundwater table or otherwise limiting oxidation while maintaining the productivity of the land. In the northern Fryslân Province drainage has traditionally been deeper than in the Western Netherlands. The province and its peat meadow programme is actively assessing the effectiveness of a range of measures, including sub-surface (drain) and surface (furrow) irrigation, dynamic ditch levels and flooding as well as soil manipulation techniques.
Wetterskip Fryslân and Wageningen University since 2021 have been jointly monitoring greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 and CH4) from a selection of up to 16 pastures implementing these measures (treatment and control), using a set of four roving (mobile) eddy covariance (EC)systems but maintaining fixed environment monitoring in each site. This yields discontinuous data sets spread of the years, which we completed to annual series and annual Net Ecosystem Carbon Budgets (NECB, or NBP) using advanced machine learning techniques completed with harvest and manure data.
The analysis yields consistent time series with quantifiable uncertainty. However, in most cases the effectiveness of the mitigation methods could not be demonstrated. Apart from methodological considerations, this indicates important secondary factors affecting the emissions, including cattle management, soil clay content, etc.
The relationship with ground water table is also not significant among these sites. If alternative ground water metrics are considered, however, explanatory power improves. Air filled pore space was calculated from soil moisture profiles and is a better predictor than groundwater table, while the depth of ground water below a top clay layer also has explanatory power. Finally, we explored an interesting delayed effect of ground water on emissions.
One measure that does seem consistently effective is surface (trench) irrigation. Dynamic ditch level management seems to lead to higher, not lower emissions, while in some cases we find consistent carbon uptake in a pasture. Cropping on peat soils is clearly unfavourable, no matter the mitigation measure. Comparison with national-scale emission reporting models shows that our measurements are showing similar uncertainties. All in all, the mobile EC approach proves to be a powerful tool to assess real-world effectiveness of mitigation measures while it also confronts policy makers with the often tough reality of scientifically underpinning mitigation measures.
How to cite: Kruijt, B., Nouta, R., Jans, W., Bataille, L., Franssen, W., Gosen, M., Ingle, R., and Bosma, N.: Assessing the mitigation of peat oxidation in Frisian managed pastures using mobile eddy covariance systems, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-14902, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-14902, 2026.
Lowland peatlands are a globally significant carbon store; yet they are intensively used in agriculture and grazing. Long-term peat drainage has led to an imbalance in their ability to sequester carbon, making them a potential C source, as opposed to a long-term C sink, and leading to irreversible loss of ancient carbon stored in the deeper parts of the peat profile. This study investigates the sources and dominant pathways of carbon loss from previously drained, post-agricultural lowland peatlands, with the aim of developing practical, low-cost approaches to assess the quality of carbon exported from these systems. Temporal dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and its aromaticity are used as proxies to detect changes in carbon cycling in response to a range of rewetting histories and peat restoration strategies.
The quality and composition of DOM and gaseous carbon exchange were monitored across five lowland peatland sites spanning intact, drained, and restored systems. Monthly water sampling (Oct 2024–Oct 2025) was combined with continuous water-table measurements and in-situ CO₂–CH₄ flux monitoring. Pore-water DOC concentration, SUVA254, and related optical indices were used to assess DOM quantity and aromaticity.
At sites exhibiting minimal peat degradation and longer rewetting durations, pore-water dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations were not associated with elevated SUVA254 values, indicating that DOC exported from these systems is predominantly labile rather than recalcitrant. In contrast, site outlets (ditches) showed disproportionately high SUVA254 relative to DOC concentrations, suggesting enhanced leaching of aromatic carbon compounds, particularly from more intensively degraded sites. Ongoing radiocarbon analyses will further constrain carbon turnover times and allow the observed fluxes to be interpreted in the context of carbon age and stability.
How to cite: Elgendy, H.: A Low-Cost Multiproxy Framework for Assessing the Quality of Carbon Loss from Degraded and Restored Post-Agricultural Lowland Peatlands, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21451, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21451, 2026.
Peatland degradation fundamentally shifts these ecosystems from carbon (C) sinks to major C sources; yet large-scale emission estimates remain highly uncertain due to the challenges of conducting field measurements. Carbon loss reduces the volume of peat, causing peat subsidence; therefore, a direct relationship exists between C emissions and surface displacement. The primary aim of this study is to establish a fully remote-sensing-based framework that links peat subsidence (detectable via satellite observations) to carbon emissions without requiring ground-based sampling. To operationalize this, three critical parameters are required: bulk density (BD), soil organic carbon (SOC), and the oxidation component of subsidence (the fraction of total subsidence attributable to oxidative peat loss). We developed a methodology to derive these parameters by integrating Sentinel-1 InSAR subsidence data with spatially distributed peatland typologies from global archives and empirical relationships between groundwater levels, subsidence, and oxidation. Applying this framework across the Biebrza Valley peatlands in northeastern Poland, we observed a mean annual subsidence rate of 1.4 cm.yr-1. The derived parameters averaged ~35% for the oxidation component, 120 kg.m-3 for BD, and 389 g-C.kg-1 for SOC. Validation against field surveys confirmed high accuracy, with normalized differences for peat properties remaining below 0.14. The framework yielded a mean emission estimate of 7.49 ± 3.6 tons.CO2-eq.ha-1.yr-1. Notably, this framework aligns more closely with field-validated parameters than the “common approach” (using constant BD and SOC values), which was found to overestimate emissions at 14.49 tons.CO2-eq.ha-1.yr-1. This framework offers a scalable and cost-effective solution for assessing carbon emissions from peatlands, particularly in areas where field access is limited. Its application across diverse peatland types could support continental-scale emission estimations and peat carbon inventories for climate mitigation, as well as evaluating restoration planning.
How to cite: Ghezelayagh, P., Kamocki, A., Banaszuk, P., and Grygoruk, M.: From subsidence to carbon emission: a conceptual and remote sensing-based framework for quantifying peatland carbon loss, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-2525, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-2525, 2026.
In Finland there are tens of thousands of hectares of drained peat extraction sites (‘cutover peatlands’) in which the extraction has recently ceased, leaving an amount of peat still on site. Restoration and productive reuse of such cutover peatlands and related research on their impact have been ongoing for studying and mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, sustaining wetland ecosystem services, and developing local economy. Such comprehensive restoration and paludicultural reuse often include rewetting, vegetation restoration (with fertilisation if necessary), solar or wind power production, and/or agricultural (including husbandry) use provided that the vegetation regenerates sufficiently. In the current EU-funded project ‘AurinkoSuo’, we use modelling tools to investigate the dynamics of carbon dioxide and methane emissions, vegetation regeneration, peat carbon pools, and net ecosystem production (NEP) during peat extraction, vegetation restoration, and reuse for photovoltaic production in cutover peatlands in southwestern Finland. We modified land surface model JSBACH for cutover peatlands, coupled it with peatland GHG model HIMMELI, and used the coupled model to simulate the aforementioned dynamics over 1996—2055. The model was parameterized using specific literature on cutover peatlands and information on our study sites, and the climate forcing inputs were obtained from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) in the scenario of Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) 1-2.6. The panels’ shading effects on the ground vegetation were modelled and implemented into our simulation. The simulation included different combinations of water table depths, shading effects, and biomass removal (mimicking crop harvesting or husbandry use). Our work is among the first attempts to model the GHG- and vegetation-related processes in WPG paludiculture spanning over the historical peat extraction to the future with changing climate.
How to cite: Liu, C., Raivonen, M., Rinne, E., Tuominen, V., Aalto, T., Markkanen, T., Orttenvuori, S., and Lohila, A.: Ecosystem dynamics in boreal cutover peatlands restored and reused for photovoltaic production, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-11142, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-11142, 2026.
Peatlands have accumulated around 600 Gt of carbon throughout the Holocene, but centuries of drainage for agriculture and peat extraction have transformed these ecosystems into major carbon sources in many regions of the world. Rewetting drained peatlands can essentially reduce these emissions and is therefore a key strategy for achieving net zero targets by 2050. However, it is unclear if common rewetting measures are sufficient to restore peatlands to a near pristine state. Degraded peat soils and more frequent severe droughts under climate change often produce deeper water tables with larger seasonal fluctuations, which reduce the recovery potential of characteristic peatland vegetation such as Sphagnum mosses. Both a stable water table and, particularly in raised bogs, the re-establishment of Sphagnum are necessary to restore the carbon sink function of rewetted sites and to meet nature conservation goals. Rewetting also raises socioeconomic challenges, because rewetting land formerly used for agriculture can lead to loss of income for landowners.
One recently proposed land-use approach is to combine rewetting with renewable energy production by installing solar parks on rewetted peatlands to replace the loss of income. A potential ecological benefit is reduced evapotranspiration from shading by solar panels, which could help stabilize seasonal water-table fluctuations. However, the effect of such shading on peatland vegetation, especially Sphagnum, remains unknown.
In this study, we combine process-based modeling with a field experiment to assess short- and long-term effects of solar panel shading on water table dynamics and Sphagnum growth. Preliminary results indicate that shading stabilizes water levels and, despite light limitation beneath solar panels, can enhance Sphagnum performance. These findings suggest that solar parks could simultaneously support renewable energy production and peatlands restoration.
How to cite: Pelchen, R., Tiemeyer, B., Piayda, A., Porada, P., and Jensen, K.: Potential positive effects of solar panels on peatland restoration, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18911, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18911, 2026.
Drainage in peatland forests has onset a succession, where a mor humus has formed on the top of the peat. Our latest study revealed that trees on transformed drained peatlands grow better when the water table (WT) is rather close to the soil surface. This is due to the hydrological and biogeochemical function of the mor layer. Mor layer is a substantial nutrient storage and source, it contains most of the roots and includes macropores that enable oxygen supply for roots even when WT is elevated. This suggests that in future peatland forestry the improved growth under higher WT would be synergetic to several other ecosystem services (ES): Growing forests with higher WT improves climate change mitigation via reduced peat carbon (C) emissions and enhanced stand and ecosystem C sequestration, improved resiliency due to reduced drought risks and smaller nutrient export to water courses. The importance of mor layer has been unrecognized, and its characteristics, function and consequences for ES provision remain virtually unexplored. We outline how mor layer affects the function of transformed drained peatlands, and apply the understanding to define sustainable water and forest management strategies taking into account ES across site fertility range under current and changing climate. This is achieved through application of process-based Peatland simulator SUSI. Understanding the mor layer function supports renewal of forest regeneration, planning of water and forest management and adaptation to climate change. Wood production with higher WT is an intermediate form between rewetting and current water management. The new peatland management has potential to cause immediate climate cooling effects through enhanced forest growth and decreased soil C emissions whilst decreasing nutrient loading to water courses.
How to cite: Laurén, A. and Palviainen, M.: Terrae incognitae - water and forest management of transformed drained peatlands, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-17886, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17886, 2026.
Ash fertilization substantially increases stand growth in drained boreal forested peatlands. Growth response lasts for several decades. Ash fertilization is economically viable management practice and it also can increase ecosystem carbon sink. The long-lasting growth response is a combined result of increased supply of growth limiting phosphorus and potassium, higher soil pH, enhanced microbial activity and nutrient release in soil. An indirect growth response emerges as a feedback from higher foliage mass, increased evapotranspiration and subsequent lower water table and increased organic matter decomposition and nutrient release.
Previous studies indicate that growth response with respect to unfertilized control is greatest when water table is high. Growth response decreases when water table lowers. In this study, we use Peatland simulator SUSI to search for water management where synergetic benefits from stand growth, ecosystem and soil carbon balance, and nitrogen export to watercourses is achieved. We simulated the combined effects of ash fertilization and water management in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stands in different site fertility classes in Southern-Finland, Central-Finland and Northern-Finland. Results indicate that the growth response and effects on carbon balance and nitrogen export are best when water table is maintained high. In intensively drained areas the growth response is small and ash fertilization increases carbon emissions and nitrogen export to water courses.
How to cite: Palviainen, M., Niemi, M. T., and Laurén, A.: Ash fertilization in peatland forest requires water management, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-17906, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17906, 2026.
Over the past century, extensive areas of northern peatlands have been drained for forestry. Today, concerns about their role as significant sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) have sparked growing interest in peatland rewetting as a climate mitigating strategy. However, empirical evidence for rewetting effects on ecosystem carbon (C) and GHG balances is still limited, particularly for minerogenic boreal peatland forests. Rewetting of peatland forests also involves decisions about tree harvest, which can have important but understudied consequences for the C cycle. In this study, we quantified tree growth and estimated carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes in both peatland areas and ditches over two years before (2019-2020) and after (2021-2022) rewetting a low-productive, minerogenic peatland forest in boreal Sweden. We also assessed effects of tree removal during rewetting by comparing harvest and non-harvest areas. Our results suggest that the peatland forest was, on average, C-neutral at the ecosystem-scale during the drained years. After rewetting, the harvested area became a C source (79 g C m-2 yr-1), while the treed area acted as a small C sink (-21 g C m-2 yr-1), with the difference due to diverging responses in net CO2 exchange. Furthermore, CH4 emissions doubled after rewetting, resulting in a two- to threefold increase in total GHG emissions (expressed in CO2 equivalents) over both 20- and 100-year timeframes. While ditches functioned as significant CO2 sinks and moderate CH4 sources during the drained years, they became CO2-neutral and CH4 emission hotspots after being in-filled. Altogether, our findings suggest that rewetting low-productive boreal peatland forests may have a negative short-term climate impact. However, rewetting without tree harvest considerably meliorates ecosystem C and GHG balances. Overall, our study highlights the importance of tree harvesting decisions and the need for a deeper understanding of rewetting as a climate mitigation strategy.
How to cite: Järveoja, J., Pinkwart, A., Tong, C. H. M., Martínez-García, E., Laudon, H., Peichl, M., and Nilsson, M. B.: Tree harvest decisions modulate the climate impact of rewetting in a low-productive peatland forest in boreal Sweden, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20858, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20858, 2026.
Draining land to remove excess water in areas where precipitation exceeds evaporation is a common practice. At peatlands used for forestry, this facilitates accelerated tree growth but has significant environmental implications. Drainage exposes peat soils to oxygen, triggering peat decomposition and mineralization, which leads to the leaching of solids, organic matter, and nutrients to run-off water. This study monitored nutrient and organic matter dynamics, as well as changes in water quality, in a 507.6 ha actively managed peatland forest in western Estonia since July 2022, while the drainage system underwent reconstruction in 2025. To mitigate the negative impacts of reconstruction, ecological water protection measures - sedimentation ponds and hybrid systems combining sedimentation ponds with treatment wetlands were implemented in the studied peatland forest area during the reconstruction. Outflow from four of the implemented measures was monitored with a V-weir overflow combined with an automated water level logger (Solinst Canada Ltd.) to estimate the flow rates. Monthly water samples were collected, and during the collection, on-site measurements of water temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration, electrical conductivity, pH, redox potential, and turbidity were taken using a portable device (YSI ProDSS). Concentrations of total suspended solids (TSS), total inorganic carbon (TIC), total organic carbon (TOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total phosphorus (TP), phosphate-phosphorus (PO4-P), total nitrogen (TN), nitrite-nitrogen (NO2-N), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N), ammonium (NH4-N), sulfate (SO4-2), magnesium (Mg+2), calcium (Ca+2), chloride (Cl-) and total iron (FeTOT) analyzed in the laboratory. For continuous monitoring, starting in May 2025, one of the hybrid systems' inflows was equipped with an automated monitoring device (YSI EXO1), which recorded water temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration (DO), electrical conductivity (EC), pH, and fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM) levels every 5 minutes. The reconstruction works elevated TP, TSS, and TIC release, with mean concentrations rising from 0.04 mg/L to 0.17 mg/L, 14.80 mg/L to 161.71 mg/L, and 13.82 mg/L to 17.47 mg/L, respectively. For TOC and TN, the effect was opposite, with mean concentrations decreasing from 54.63 mg/L to 51.26 mg/L and from 4.05 mg/L to 2.56 mg/L, respectively. Continuous monitoring revealed a severe short-term decrease in pH, fDOM, and DO levels and a slight short-term rise in EC in the inflow of the hybrid system as the released sediments passed through it. This indicates that the main release originates from the mineral soils underneath the peat that were disturbed during the works. To assess the volume of sediments retained by the ecological water protection measures, two bottom topography surveys were conducted in July 2025 (before) and October 2025 (after) using a Trimble® R12 (Trimble Inc. USA) GNSS receiver with RTK mode. Measured GPS points were interpolated in QGIS, yielding results of low sediment accumulation in two of the systems and sediment release from two of the systems. The fine particle sediments released during the reconstruction require very low flow rates and long hydrological retention times in the system to settle. Additionally, long-term monitoring is necessary to determine whether these systems have a lasting positive impact during active peatland forest management.
How to cite: Sarjas, J., Kõiv-Vainik, M., Yildiz, K., Okiti, I., Tamm, I., Tuupõld, J., Pindus, M., and Kasask, K.: Nutrient and organic matter dynamics in drained peatland forest and the impact of drainage ditch reconstruction on water quality., EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-19287, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-19287, 2026.
Tropical peatland forests are significant sources and sinks of greenhouse gases (GHG), yet the relative contributions of soil and tree stem fluxes have remained poorly quantified, particularly CH4 and N2O fluxes across gradients of nutrient availability. We conducted simultaneous measurements of CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes from both soil and tree stems using soil and stem chamber in two contrasting tropical peat swamp forests: a nutrient-rich in Quistococha, Peru and a nutrient-poor in Maludam, Sarawak, Malaysia. Our results showed higher soil CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes from Quistococha nutrient-rich forest. Tree stem respiration was consistently higher in the nutrient-poor forest across all dominant species in both forests. Tree stem CH4 fluxes exhibited distinct patterns, with significantly higher emissions from the nutrient-rich forest, while displaying species-specific behaviour among dominant tree species. Mauritia flexuosa palm stems in Quistococha showed high emission of CH4 from stems with potential CH4 sinks from specific species from both forests. N2O emissions were also species-specific and higher from the nutrient-rich forest, with negligible fluxes observed from the species in the nutrient-poor forest. From stem fluxes to tree fluxes upscaling, we found that the majority of total ecosystem GHG flux originated from soil with minimal contribution from the dominant tree species. In conclusion, these findings highlighted tree stems from tropical peatland can act as sources and sinks and that nutrient availability influence on the magnitude of greenhouse gas emissions.
How to cite: William, S. K., Soosaar, K., Melling, L., Lilleskov, E., Sangok, F., Fachin-Malaverri, L., Rengifo-Marin, J., Ahmui, L., Wangari, E., Roman, D. T., Lafuente, A., Espenberg, M., Pärn, J., Öpik, M., Kolka, R., Griffis, T., Wayson, C., and Mander, Ü.: Soil and tree stem greenhouse gas fluxes from nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor tropical peatland forests, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21506, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21506, 2026.
Pan-tropical peatlands are long-term soil carbon reservoirs and hotspots of carbon exchange, but widespread degradation has transformed many into carbon sources. Restoration is increasingly pursued to reverse these emissions and restore carbon sink function. However, the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of carbon budgets in post-restoration peatlands remains poorly quantified, limiting our ability to accurately assess mitigation potential and optimize management strategies.
Here we analyzed 23 years (2001-2023) of 0.1° gridded CO₂ and CH₄ flux data from CAMS across pan-tropical restored peatlands to characterize the complexity of post-restoration carbon dynamics. We examined spatial variability, temporal trajectories, and stage-dependent environmental drivers.
Carbon budgets in post-restoration peatlands exhibited substantial spatiotemporal heterogeneity. Overall, pan-tropical restored peatlands acted as a net carbon sink (mean = −29.7 t C ha⁻¹, 95% CI: −32.5 to −26.9), though regional patterns varied markedly. Restored Congo Basin (−29.6 t C ha⁻¹, 95% CI: −33.4 to −25.7) and Amazonian peatlands (−41.1 t C ha⁻¹, 95% CI: −45.4 to −36.7) consistently functioned as net sinks, whereas restored Southeast Asian peatlands remained net carbon sources (30.0 t C ha⁻¹, 95% CI: 20.8 to 39.2). The overall sink status reflects the larger spatial extent of Congo and Amazon sites. Temporally, carbon budgets followed non-linear trajectories, with peak sequestration occurring 10–15 years post-restoration before declining due to frequent fire events. Driver analysis revealed stage-specific management priorities: water management is critical in early stages (0-5 years) to support vegetation establishment and minimize carbon losses, while fire prevention becomes paramount in later stages (>15 years) as biomass accumulation increases flammability.
Using 23 years (2001–2023) of high-resolution (0.1°) pan-tropical data, we present a long-term assessment of post-restoration peatland carbon dynamics. Our findings reveal three critical insights for improving peatland restoration outcomes: (1) water table management is essential in early stages (0-5 years) to maximize carbon uptake; (2) peak sequestration occurs at 10-15 years, providing an optimal window for carbon crediting; and (3) fire prevention must be prioritized after 15 years to sustain gains. Incorporating this spatiotemporal complexity into carbon accounting frameworks can help refine mitigation strategies and enable stage-specific, regionally-adapted management that enhances long-term carbon sequestration.
How to cite: Mo, Y., Pan, B., Chen, D., and Lam, S. K.: Spatiotemporal heterogeneity and nonlinear recovery trajectories of carbon budgets in restored pan-tropical peatlands, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-8858, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-8858, 2026.
Tropical peatlands support unique biodiversity, store large carbon stocks, and sustain local livelihoods, yet they are increasingly threatened by climate change and human activities. In Southeast Asia, large-scale drainage and conversion to oil palm and forestry plantations have caused widespread peatland degradation. By contrast, peatlands in the Amazon and Congo basins remain largely intact but face growing pressures from commercial agriculture and infrastructure development. A key challenge is how to prevent these peatlands from following the same degradation trajectory observed in Southeast Asia.
Here, we present a project funded by the Global Centre for Biodiversity on Climate (GCBC) that integrates scientific and local knowledge to inform sustainable, climate-resilient peatland management. Our research spans 24 sites with permanent forest plots across Peru, the Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We combine multiple datasets to advance understanding of (1) peatland plant biodiversity through new botanical collections, (2) hydrological variation using newly installed water-table monitoring dataloggers, and (3) human uses of peatland species derived from semi-structured interviews.
We present preliminary results from work package (1), focusing on floristic diversity and the conservation status of vascular peatland plants assessed using the IUCN Red List. Peatlands in Peru and the Republic of Congo exhibited relatively low species richness compared to other tropical ecosystem types. Palm swamps were strongly dominated by Calamoideae palms, notably Mauritia flexuosa in Peru and Raphia laurentii in the Republic of Congo. Early successional swamp stages were dominated by other Calamoideae species, whereas pole and hardwood forests showed greater tree dominance, including Pachira nitida (Malvaceae), Hevea guianensis (Euphorbiaceae), and Platycarpum loretensis (Rubiaceae) in Peru, and Coelocaryon preussii (Myristicaceae), Cryptosepalum congolanum, Cynometra sessiliflora (Leguminosae), and Symphonia globulifera (Clusiaceae) in the Republic of Congo.
Of the 395 species assessed, 96.7% were classified as Least Concern and only 3.3% as threatened. Contrary to expectations, peatlands did not hold a high overall proportion of threatened species. However, some threatened taxa—such as Platycarpum loretensis (Endangered)—were locally abundant, accounting for 9–21% of stems in pole forest plots. These findings suggest that tropical peatlands have low species diversity, but they can function as important refugia for threatened tropical plant species, highlighting their conservation value beyond carbon storage.
* Camille Choquet1, Xander van der Burgt1, Dennis del Castillo2, Gabriel Hidalgo2, Siria Portalanza2, Manuel Martin2, Ifo Suspense3, Brice Milongo3, Corneille Ewango4, Joseph Kanyama4, Tim Baker5, Simon Lewis5, Ian Lawson6, Christopher Schulz6 / 1 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2Intituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonia Peruana,3 Université Marien N’Gouabi, 4 Université de Kisangani, 5 University of Leeds, 6 University of St Andrews
How to cite: Honorio Coronado and GCBC project partners*, E.: Using biodiversity to support climate resilient livelihoods in intact tropical peatlands, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21889, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21889, 2026.
Tropical peatlands are among the most carbon-dense ecosystems on Earth, yet their long-term development and responses to environmental change remain poorly understood. Palaeoecological records from the Guianas region in particular are extremely limited, resulting in a major gap in our understanding of tropical peatland dynamics. This study presents the first multi-proxy palaeoecological investigation of tropical peatlands in Guyana, providing new insights into peatland development, carbon dynamics, and environmental variability in this under-researched region.
This study analyses two peat cores from lowland tropical peatlands in Guyana, which represent different hydrological and vegetation settings. The cores have been analysed using various complementary proxies, including macroscopic charcoal analysis to reconstruct past fire activity, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to characterise changes in organic matter composition, stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) to investigate vegetation inputs and biogeochemical processes, and pollen analysis to assess vegetation dynamics. Radiocarbon dating provides a chronological framework for interpreting proxy evidence for past conditions and peat accumulation history.
Results reveal variability in charcoal abundance, organic matter composition, and isotopic signatures, suggesting changes in peat accumulation processes and environmental conditions through time. Charcoal-rich layers indicate episodic fire activity, while pollen assemblages reveal shifts in local and/or regional vegetation composition. Differences observed between the two cores indicate spatial variability in fire history and peatland development, potentially driven by local hydrological conditions, vegetation type, or human influence.
Integrated multi-proxy records from both peat cores link fire history, vegetation change, and organic matter characteristics within chronological frameworks. This study provides a critical first baseline for understanding the long-term dynamics of Guyanese peatlands and contributes to broader efforts to assess the vulnerability and resilience of tropical peat carbon stores under future climate and land-use change.The results are also timely, as in the field we observed substantial fire-induced peat loss following the 2023–2024 El Niño event which likely resulted in significant greenhouse gas emissions. Overall, the findings highlight the value of multi-proxy palaeoecological approaches for reconstructing peatland development in understudied tropical regions.
How to cite: Swan, A., Puerta Quintana, Y. T., Mateo Beneito, A., Kuneš, P., Holder-Collins, K., Hamer, S., Lawson, I., Roucoux, K., and Hastie, A.: A first multi-proxy palaeoecological record from a tropical peatland in Guyana, NE South America, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-19767, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-19767, 2026.
Lipid biomarkers are now routinely used in palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental investigations of peatlands. However, these applications are mainly focused on vegetation reconstruction, i.e. using n-alkane distributions as a tracer for Sphagnum mosses, and based on biomarker tools largely developed in (Northen hemisphere) boreal and temperate peatlands, especially acidic ombrotrophic bogs. Here, we examine and confirm the applicability of these proxies in a wide variety of subtropical and tropical peatlands. We also identify and highlight the potential of underutilised proxies for environmental reconstruction, i.e. those sensitive to pH, and introduce new proxies for tracing biogeochemical cycling, including methane cycling.
In some cases, the expansion to tropical peatlands complicates the use of well-established biomarker proxies. In particular, the diverse distributions of n-alkanes in peat-forming graminoids complicates vegetation reconstruction in many tropical peatlands. Further complication arises from the contributions of above ground- vs below ground-derived organic material. These issues can be partly resolved via macromolecular characterisation, including lignin monomer distributions. In other cases, biomarker proxies clearly have under-exploited potential. We have previously shown that the stereochemistry of bacterial-derived hopanes and the distribution of bacterial branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers exhibit strong relationships with pH, but these proxies are not yet commonly employed in peatland palaeoecological interpretation. We confirm their applicability to tropical settings, as well as their coherent behaviour, which allows cross-validation of their palaeoecological interpretation and encourages wider application.
We illustrate the coupled application of vegetation and microbial biomarkers using peatland archives from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and Panama, many of which reveal sensitive ecological tipping points. For example, in DRC peatlands, Holocene dry intervals are associated with biomarker-inferred shifts from forest- to graminoid-dominated peatland and a concomitant increase in pH. Other sites exhibit pronounced past pH changes despite relatively stable vegetation – or vice versa – suggesting that focussing exclusively on one parameter obscures more nuanced palaeoenvironmental change. We suggest that new insights into tropical peatland development and history can be obtained through holistic biomarker analyses, especially when coupled to other approaches, and that these will better inform our understanding of future responses of these crucial carbon stocks to changing climate.
How to cite: Pancost, R., Vreeken, M., Prokopiou, P., Zhang, Y., and Imani, and the CERES and TroPeaCC Collaborative Team: Biomarker approaches for determining past changes in peatland vegetation, pH and biogeochemistry: how they inform the future of tropical peatlands, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20692, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20692, 2026.
Tropical peatlands are important for carbon storage and sequestration, biodiversity, and a wide range of other ecosystem services, but they are under pressure from resource exploitation, climate change, commercial agriculture, and infrastructure expansion. Through their rich palaeoecological records, these water-logged landscapes offer a unique opportunity to understand long-term vegetation dynamics of tropical peatlands and, importantly, their interactions with the physical environment, the global carbon cycle, and the local communities who rely on their resources. Improving our understanding of long-term peatland development contributes critical underpinning evidence to support their conservation and management and provide information about their sensitivity to changes in climate and hydrology. In this presentation we synthesize more than a decade’s work by our research group in pioneering the palaeoecological study of the largest known peat-forming wetland complex in Amazonia, the Pastaza-Marañón Foreland Basin (PMFB). This body of work, including around twenty palaeoecological sequences, allows a reappraisal of earlier ideas about the spatial and temporal structure of the wetland complex. Our analysis shows that, with caveats, palynology and associated proxy methods can be used successfully to reconstruct past vegetation changes. For example, the palaeoecological data challenge earlier attempts to classify the vegetation of the PMFB into ‘types’, suggesting instead that plant communities vary gradually in time (as they do, often, in space) between a wide variety of end-members. At many individual sites, likely those occupying abandoned river channels, endogenous processes (infilling, plant succession) dominate the pattern of peatland development and local environmental change over time. These patterns are largely predictable and comparable to hydroseres known elsewhere, though many details remain unexplored. At some herbaceous or lightly wooded sites, palaeoecological data confirm that similar vegetation has persisted for many thousands of years without succeeding to closed-canopy woodland, apparently maintaining an equilibrium with hydrological conditions. Overall, our palaeoecological data are informing our conceptualisation of the processes of change in these landscapes, which in turn are finding applications in policy development and sustainable management at global, national and local scales.
How to cite: Roucoux, K. H., Lawson, I. T., Honorio-Coronado, E. N., Akesson, C., Sassoon, D., Draper, F., Kelly, T., and Fletcher, W.: Holocene palaeoenvironmental change in Amazonia’s largest known peatland complex, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21868, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21868, 2026.
Peatlands play a key role in climate regulation, biodiversity, and regional development, yet drained and degraded peatlands are also major sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and a priority within current European Union climate and restoration policies. In Latvia, drained organic soils account for more than half of net LULUCF emissions, while the country remains one of Europe’s leading peat producers. National GHG inventories still rely largely on default emission factors and limited field data, resulting in a limited understanding of how hydrology, restoration, and land-use history influence emissions.
PeatTransform is a newly launched interdisciplinary research project supporting the transition of Latvia’s peat sector towards climate neutrality. The project integrates closely linked research themes, including improved GHG emission calculation methods for managed peatlands based on nationally specific emission factors and enhanced data acquisition, and the testing of restoration approaches at experimental and demonstration sites to quantify GHG mitigation potential and biodiversity responses. In parallel, the project develops climate-neutral technologies and products like peat substitutes and carbon-storing materials. Socio-economic impacts of peat extraction and processing are assessed to inform long-term transition scenarios up to 2050.
A central component of PeatTransform is the co-development of science-based recommendations for Latvia’s national policy framework. The project works closely with stakeholders, including public authorities and the peat industry, to translate research results into practical guidance for peatland restoration, land-use planning, emission reduction and just transition strategies.
Project PeatTransform – “Research and Innovation Based Solutions to Support the Peat Sector’s Transition to a Climate Neutral Economy, Promoting the Sustainable Use of Latvia’s Natural Resources” is implemented under the European Union Cohesion Policy Programme for 2021–2027, Specific Objective 6.1.1 “Mitigation of the economic, social and environmental impacts of the transition to climate neutrality in the most affected regions”, Measure 6.1.1.2 “Research development for the sustainable use of natural resources related to environmental and climate goals” with co-funding from the European Union and the State Budget of Latvia (6.1.1.2/1/25/A/001).
How to cite: Retike, I., Stivrins, N., Lazdins, A., Zakenfelde, A., Kasparinskis, R., Turks, M., Rubauskis, E., Zute, S., and Jakovels, D.: PeatTransform: Supporting the Transition of the Peat Sector towards Climate Neutrality in Latvia, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-10980, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-10980, 2026.
In 2024, the Danish government, together with key stakeholders in agriculture and nature conservation, reached a historic Agreement on a Green Denmark. The agreement aims to secure more nature, a better ecological water status, and a sustainable agricultural transition through restructuring and converting land use and production. A central pillar of this initiative is the introduction of a CO₂e tax on greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural lowland soils rich in organic carbon (hereafter “peatlands”), combined with financial support for their decommissioning. It has been decided that a total of 140,000 drained peatlands, including their marginal areas, will be restored into nature areas or forests by 2030.
The presented project seeks to identify the optimal process for peatland restoration in Denmark—from planning to post-rewetting. Through case studies and literature reviews, a detailed model for land use and management is developed to maximize synergies between biodiversity conservation, nutrient removal, and greenhouse gas reduction. The preliminary vegetation analyses indicate that topsoil removal before rewetting is a promising restoration measure to enhance plant biodiversity and remove nutrients, while biomass harvesting seems to be less efficient. Year-round grazing after rewetting seems to be the most effective management measure for ensuring biodiversity.
Stakeholder workshops have gathered knowledge and experience from Denmark and abroad to design efficient management models for restored areas, where multiple landowners must collaborate. The ultimate goal is rational planning and organization that optimize both ecological and economic benefits. The current results of this project, as well as the identified barriers for successful post-restoration management, will be presented as part of this work.
How to cite: Eller, F., Hertz, A. E., Læsøe, E. S., Bondgaard, F., Madsen, M. L., Graversen, R. R., and Jensen, T. S.: Agricultural peatland restoration for Green Transition: A Danish case-study, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-17658, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17658, 2026.
Although drained peatland and other carbon-rich soils represent only 5% of the land surface in Germany, they contribute to 6.9% of total national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Transitioning from drainage-based to wet peatland management offers substantial benefits, including reduced GHG emissions, prevention of further peat degradation, improved water retention, and enhanced biodiversity. Moreover, paludiculture can be used to produce peat-preserving biomass on wet soils, including horticultural substrates, building materials and bioplastics. However, widespread adoption faces many obstacles, including complex approval procedures, high costs, limited expertise and a lack of established value chains for the biomass produced.
To address these challenges, the German government funds a collaborative network, the “PaludiNet”, consisting of nine long-term projects implementing large-scale paludiculture and the “PaludiCentral” project coordinating monitoring, research and knowledge transfer centrally. In total, around 5500 ha project sites are distributed across different peatland regions and vary in peatland type, site conditions, ownership, former land use and paludiculture approach. The projects collectively demonstrate the full process from site selection and rewetting to cultivation, management, processing, and marketing of paludiculture products.
Across all PaludiNet projects, a comprehensive monitoring network is being established to quantify, among a wide range of biotic and abiotic parameters, GHG fluxes at drained and rewetted sites. We will present this monitoring network both in terms of design and collaboration approaches. In addition, we will highlight preliminary cross-project results include the compilation of a catalogue of paludiculture biomass products which can be used as building materials, animal feed, packaging and energy carriers. Furthermore, we set up an online platform designed to facilitate the exchange of specialized machinery and technologies for the management of wet and rewetted peatlands. The platform enables practitioners to identify suitable equipment, suppliers, and contractors, compare products, and access relevant technical information.
By linking scientific evidence with practical implementation, this work bridges the gap between research and practice, supporting GHG mitigation, the upscaling of paludiculture, and the establishment of sustainable paludiculture value chains.
How to cite: Säurich, J., Minke, M., Tiemeyer, B., and Tanneberger, F.: PaludiCentral: Building a network of large-scale paludiculture demonstration and research sites, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18837, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18837, 2026.
The combination of photovoltaic (PV) systems and peatland rewetting could be an economically attractive form of utilisation for currently drained peatland areas while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing other ecosystem services. MoorPower is an innovative project combining peatland PV, rewetting and paludiculture (Paludi PV) bringing together the expertise of University of Greifswald/Greifswald Mire Centre with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, the Thünen Institute of Climate-Smart Agriculture and the University of Hohenheim. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMFTR) and runs from 2024 to 2028.
At the core experimental site in Northeast-Germany, MoorPower implements the rewetting of a drained peatlands and their utilisation by ground-mounted PV systems together from the outset. The experimental setup allows the comparison of different PV installation methods and the estimation of their effects on water quality, soil physics and the microbiome. Social acceptance, legal issues and economic aspects are analysed together with climate protection and biodiversity assessments at different scales of investigation. In addition, a larger implementation site in Northwest-Germany provides insights on a larger spatial scale and with supplementary methods. In South-Germany, mesocosm experiments and material tests are conducted. Initial results from all sites are already available. We also invite all interested scientists to join us with their research on our experimental platform. The results of this research are urgently needed to evaluate PV systems on peatland soils, to identify possible negative effects of the systems and to avoid these, e.g., through technical guidelines and authorisation requirements, or to adapt existing systems accordingly.
How to cite: Krüger, A., Kreyling, J., Tanneberger, F., Wilke, A. K., Piayda, A., and Schweiger, A. and the MoorPower team: MoorPower – Sustainable and innovative photovoltaic solutions for rewetted peatlands, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21230, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21230, 2026.
Peatland restoration is increasingly recognized as a cost-effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and it is expected to play a key role in meeting national emission targets. In Austria, drained and cultivated organic soils are a significant potential source of emissions. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive information on the cost-effectiveness of peatland restoration measures. Specifically, there is insufficient data on cost ranges, differences between restoration methods, and spatial factors that influence costs and effectiveness.
To address this gap, the Money4Moor project aims to systematically collect and analyze detailed cost data on peatland restoration and rewetting measures in Austria. The project will (i) compile a comprehensive database of restoration measures implemented since 2005 and (ii) analyze and categorize the costs, technical approaches, and spatial characteristics of restoration projects.
The ongoing data collection includes 44 peatland restoration projects implemented between 2007 and 2025 across eight Austrian provinces, excluding Vienna. Of these projects, 19 are in ombrotrophic bogs, 11 are in fens, and the remainder are in other peatlands. These projects vary substantially in scale, duration, and cost, ranging from small maintenance measures to large-scale restoration projects. Most projects were short-term, with 11 completed within one year and only three extending beyond six years.
First evaluations of 19 projects (14 ombrotrophic bogs, 5 fens) resulted in the following cost distribution. Annual restoration costs ranged from €2,600 to €246,000 for ombrotrophic bogs (mean: €60,300; median: €23,500) and from €7,600 to €400,000 for fens (mean: €92,000; median: €12,500). Next steps will allocate restoration costs to restored areas to improve comparability, include further spatial analyses to assess regional cost differences and the categorization of costs. By enhancing data availability and transparency, the project aims to support robust cost-effectiveness assessments and evidence-based decision-making for peatland restoration and climate policy.
This project is funded by the Climate and Energy Fund and is carried out under the program Austrian Climate Research Programme Implementation 2024 (ACRPI, Nr.: KC511213).
How to cite: Müller, R., Danko, G., and Nordbeck, R.: Money4Moor: a comparative analysis of the costs of peatland restoration in Austria, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-6874, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-6874, 2026.
Peatlands are among the most carbon-dense terrestrial ecosystems, accumulating organic carbon over millennia. Alongside essential ecosystem services such as biodiversity support, water purification, and erosion control, peatlands play a crucial role in climate regulation through long-term carbon sequestration and methane emissions. Over the past three centuries, widespread drainage of northern peatlands for agriculture, forestry, and urban expansion has led to severe ecosystem degradation.
In Switzerland, despite the constitutional peatland protection introduced by the “Rothenthurm initiative” in 1987, most peatlands remain drained and continue to act as significant net carbon sources with substantially compromised ecosystem services. Restoration through rewetting is considered a high-impact nature-based solution, halting soil carbon losses and reinstating peatland functions as net carbon sinks. While carbon credits offer a pathway to mobilise private finance, current frameworks typically rely on generalised estimates with large uncertainties, and the restoration potential of avoided emissions at national scales remains poorly constrained. Field surveys and observations are essential for designing site-specific restoration measures and evaluating outcomes, whereas process-based modelling provides a complementary approach to assess peatland greenhouse gas exchanges under the changing climate across spatiotemporal scales.
In this study, we employ the terrestrial biosphere model LPX-Bern to simulate greenhouse gas dynamics of Swiss peatlands from the preindustrial period to the present day. Carbon uptake and methane emissions from natural peatland processes are modelled under historical climate forcings. Peatland degradation resulting from land use conversion is represented by altered vegetation composition and water table level. By combining model simulations with empirical emission factors derived from field measurements under different land managements, the greenhouse gas balance of Swiss peatlands and their potential climate feedback under restoration can be evaluated. We highlight the urgent need for integrated assessment frameworks that link modelling and field investigations to robustly quantify the climate mitigation potential of peatland restoration. This work provides a process-based estimate of peatland restoration potential in Switzerland, informing climate mitigation strategies and supporting investment in large-scale peatland and wetland climate action.
How to cite: Sun, Q. and Davin, É.: Climate Mitigation Potential of Peatland Restoration in Switzerland , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18377, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18377, 2026.
Around half of the European peatlands are drained, and in Finland, most of them are drained for forestry. Drainage degrades the soil organic matter (SOM) and lowers the soil water-table level (WTL), increasing oxygen levels in the soil. This suppresses the production and increases in-soil oxidation of methane (CH4) but enhances the decomposition of SOM, accelerating aerobic soil respiration. Consequently, emissions of CH4 from soil to the atmosphere may decrease while those of CO2 may increase. Process-based models are useful in estimating greenhouse gas emissions and sinks from large areas. In previous modelling studies, the focus has mainly been on pristine peatlands with high CH4 emissions. However, simulations of soil CH₄ and CO₂ fluxes of multiple forestry-drained peatland sites over several years that are compared with measurement data remain still scarce.
We simulated the soil-atmosphere CH4 and CO2 fluxes from six Finnish forestry-drained peatlands with a process-based model, JSBACH (Jena Scheme for Biosphere–Atmosphere Coupling in Hamburg) coupled with a peatland CH4 model, HIMMELI (HelsinkI Model of MEthane buiLd-up and emission). Our aim was to better understand and evaluate the accuracy of the predicted soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes from multiple peatland forest sites, and to identify the sources of uncertainty in the modelled fluxes. To do this, we used WTL and chamber flux data measured over 2-5 years from each site.
The average modelled soil CO2 fluxes varied between 0.7 and 1.42 µmol m-2 s-1 among the sites. The model overestimated emissions in two sites and underestimated them in three sites. The mean differences between model and measurement varied from 0.05 to 2.02 µmol m-2 s-1 among all sites. There was a clear interannual variation on this. The average modelled CH4 fluxes varied between -1.09 and 3.77 nmol m-2 s-1 among the sites. The model underestimated sink or predicted occasional CH4 emission peaks in four sites. In turn, the CH4 sink was overestimated by the model in two sites. The measurements indicated all the sites being, on average, small sinks of CH4. The mean differences between modelled and measured CH4 fluxes were between 0.44 and 5.44 nmol m-2 s-1 among the sites. Generally high WTL of a site was associated with larger discrepancies between modelled and measured CH4 fluxes. The WTL was considered high for three sites (modelled WTL on average -30 – (-32) cm), and low for three sites (modelled WTL on average -42 – (-64) cm). We found that by tuning the CH4 production and oxidation parameters in the model, we can improve the prediction accuracy of the modelled CH4 fluxes.
The results of this work will be useful for further model development and when aiming to estimate soil CH4 and CO2 sinks and emissions of forestry-drained peatlands.
How to cite: Ekman, E., Li, X., Leppänen, A., Aalto, T., Anttila, J., Jauhiainen, J., Laiho, R., Lohila, A., Markkanen, T., Minkkinen, K., Mäkipää, R., Ojanen, P., Pearson, M., Peltoniemi, M., Putkinen, A., and Raivonen, M.: Soil-atmosphere CH4 and CO2 fluxes of multiple peatland forests simulated with JSBACH-HIMMELI model , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-13560, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-13560, 2026.
Rewetting of organic lowland soils may result in a large and prolonged phosphorus (P) load to the aquatic environment as legacy iron (Fe) is reductively dissolved and the associated P released. We hypothesize that the remaining P sorption capacity in anaerobic soils determines P mobilization. To study P mobilization and transport under steady-state flow, a convective discharge experiment was conducted in the laboratory at 10 °C. Sixty undisturbed soil columns were taken from two different soil depths (5-25 cm, 25-50 cm) in six Danish lowlands characterized by wide variability in P, as well as Fe and aluminum oxide contents. The column experiment used oxygen-free deionized water flowing at a rate of 1 mm per hour over a period of 28 days. The cumulated effluent was analyzed for different P and Fe forms, dissolved organic carbon (OC), ammonium, nitrate, and other solutes on day 5, 14 and 28 during the experiment. Active flow volume and non-equilibrium flow conditions were determined with the help of a tritium tracer. Upon completing the leaching experiments, the soil columns were dismantled for determination of relevant soil properties.
Across the six sampling sites, OC content varied strongly with subsoil OC% (1 – 49%) consistently exceeding topsoil OC% (1 – 44%). Molybdate reactive P (MRP) leaching generally followed site-specific OC patterns, indicating a strong link between C availability and P mobilization. Sites with higher OC showed elevated MRP leaching rates, and higher MRP release, especially in topsoils. In subsoils, MRP leaching was lower and less variable across sites. Columns remained strongly anaerobic during the experiment. Iron-poor sites showed higher MRP leaching. Release rates of MRP declined sharply with increasing molar ratios of bicarbonate-dithionite or oxalate-extractable Fe and P (Fe:P) indicating strong sorption control by Fe oxides. This effect was much more pronounced in topsoils. Saturated hydraulic conductivity also varied substantially among and within sites, ranging from 0.04 to 156 cm d⁻¹. Hydrological conditions further influenced P mobilization: higher flow rates and short residence times caused limited reductive Fe(III) dissolution and MRP release, whereas prolonged residence under low-flow conditions enhanced Fe(II) and MRP release. Additionally, P release to the aqueous phase remained low when the soil’s residual sorption capacity (RSC) exceeded 100 mmol kg⁻¹. In general, we observed lower P release rates compared to those typically reported for batch experiments with similar soils. We expect that our findings will support improved modeling of P export from rewetted organic lowland soils.
How to cite: Heckrath, G., Iversen, B. V., Hansen, H. C. B., Zak, D., and Krishnankutty, N.: Phosphorus leaching from anaerobic peat columns under steady-state flow, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21872, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21872, 2026.
Peatlands are a major component of the global carbon cycle, storing large quantities of soil carbon. However, widespread drainage and land-use change have degraded many peatland systems, converting them from net carbon sinks into important sources of greenhouse gases. Water-table lowering is a key mechanism underlying this shift, as enhanced oxygen availability accelerates peat decomposition and alters CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes. Although restoration is widely promoted, the effectiveness of specific interventions—particularly bund construction and Sphagnum reintroduction—in regulating greenhouse gas emissions remains insufficiently understood.
To address this knowledge gap, we combined long-term field monitoring with controlled mesocosm experiments to assess the effects of bund construction and Sphagnum reintroduction on peatland CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes. Field measurements were conducted at Holcombe Moor, a blanket bog in Greater Manchester, northern England, UK. Continuous water-table depth was recorded to capture hydrological responses to restoration, alongside biweekly chamber-based measurements of CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes across restored and control plots. Flux measurements were conducted under contrasting light conditions to partition net ecosystem exchange into photosynthetic and respiratory components, with accompanying measurements of temperature and pH to characterise key environmental controls.
To enable controlled manipulation of key variables, a mesocosm experiment using intact peat cores was established to disentangle hydrological and vegetation controls under controlled conditions. Mesocosms were planted with either native graminoids or reintroduced Sphagnum and subjected to contrasting water-table treatments. Greenhouse gas fluxes were measured biweekly. Additional biogeochemical indicators, including dissolved organic and inorganic carbon, iron speciation (Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺), and phenolic compounds, were quantified through laboratory analyses, with DOC and DIC measured using a total organic carbon (TOC) analyser, phenol content determined by FT-IR spectroscopy, and iron speciation assessed using the ferrozine assay.
The field monitoring design incorporated both spatial and temporal contrasts, with greenhouse gas fluxes measured concurrently at restored (treatment) and unrestored (control) plots, as well as repeatedly at the same plots before and after bund construction. This design provides the basis for quantifying treatment effects relative to background temporal variability. Owing to the availability of pre- and post-treatment observations, treatment effects will be quantified using a combination of Before–After Control–Impact (BACI) and progressive-change BACIPS approaches.
How to cite: Miao, W., Ritson, J., Shuttleworth, E., and Evans, M.: Impacts of bund construction and Sphagnum reintroduction on peatland CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes: insights from field monitoring and mesocosm experiments, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-8133, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-8133, 2026.
Wetlands are recognized as critical carbon sinks and effective nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation. However, in many regions, wetland areas and their functions have significantly diminished due to agricultural expansion and land-use changes. This study aimed to identify potential wetlands based on a topo-climatic index and quantitatively assess the carbon sequestration capacity of restoring these areas–currently used croplands–back to wetland ecosystems. We employed LPJ-GUESS, a process-based dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM) with ERA5-Land reanalysis climate data at a 0.1o resolution for the period 1950–2024 (75 years) and land use maps constructed based on Landsat images. To quantify the carbon benefits, we performed a comparative analysis between two scenarios: a baseline scenario maintaining current land use, and a restoration scenario where potential wetlands within agricultural lands are reverted to natural wetlands. Results indicate that at the national and regional scales, the difference of net ecosystem-atmosphere exchange (NEE) between two scenarios (ΔNEE) appeared minimal. This is likely because the restoration effects were limited by spatial averaging, as the proportion of restored wetlands remained below 5% at these national or regional scales. In contrast, at the single-pixel scale (0.1o) where the wetland restoration ratio reached approximately 35%, the carbon sequestration effect was significant, showing an increase of up to 0.37 kgC m-2. This suggests that wetland restoration can serve as an effective nature-based solution in croplands adjacent to rivers. However, given that the full carbon sequestration potential of wetlands often manifests over timescales exceeding a century, our 75-year simulation provides a conservative estimate. Therefore, we emphasize the necessity of long-term simulations incorporating future climate change scenarios to comprehensively evaluate the sustained efficacy of wetland restoration.
Acknowledgements: This work was jointly supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (RS-2024-00416443), and by the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Development Project, funded by Korea Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE) (RS-2022-KE002066).
How to cite: Lee, S. C., Kim, D., and Jang, S. H.: Quantifying carbon sequestration capacity of potential wetland restoration in South Korea using a high-resolution dynamic vegetation model, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-8843, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-8843, 2026.
How to cite: Naughton, O., Shamsuzzaman, M., McCarthy, U., Casey, I., and Regan, S.: Persistent Net CO₂ Emissions After Peatland Rewetting Reflect Lagged Functional Recovery , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-19627, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-19627, 2026.
Artificial drainage is prerequisite for conventional agricultural use of peatlands, but causes high emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), mainly carbon dioxide (CO2). Furthermore, grassland renewal is regularly practiced to maintain the high fodder quality required for dairy farming. Raising water levels is necessary to reduce CO2 emissions, but whether a partial raise of water levels by subsurface irrigation (SI) is a sustainable mitigation measure is a matter of intense debate.
In this study, we evaluated the effects of subsurface irrigation on GHG exchange by comparing an experimental intervention site (INT) with SI and a deeply drained reference site (REF) for six years. Both sites are intensively used grasslands on deep bog peat with the same management history. In the first year of the experiment, grassland renewal was conducted at INT, followed by the raise of the water levels. At both sites, CO2 (eddy covariance) as well as nitrous (N2O) and methane (CH4) (manually employed chambers) were measured.
SI effectively raised and stabilized mean annual water levels (-0.25 ± 0.05 m) in comparison to the REF site (-0.68 ± 0.14 m). However, a high spatial variability was observed at INT, causing parts of the site being too wet for management with regular machinery.
The initial grassland renewal resulted in very slow re-growth of grass and, in combination with the raised water levels, to extremely high N2O emissions. N2O emissions declined during the course of the study, but remained higher than at the REF site. CO2 emissions at the INT site were lower than at the REF site, particularly during the second year with a strong development of a new sward. Towards the end of the study period, CO2 emissions from both sites became more similar. Overall, CO2 emissions of the INT site were 41% of those of the REF site, but total GHG emissions were 126%. Furthermore, Juncus effusus (soft rush) became more frequent at the INT site, which deteriorates fodder quality and would necessitate, again, grassland renewal. We conclude that at this bog site, SI is not an adequate solution to mitigate GHG emissions while maintaining production.
How to cite: Tiemeyer, B., Dettmann, U., Lang, T. T. M., Offermanns, L., Düvel, D., Rüffer, J., and Brümmer, C.: Effects of subsurface irrigation on greenhouse gas emissions from intensively managed grassland on bog peat soil, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-19342, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-19342, 2026.
Drained agricultural peatlands are a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Finland and globally, and increasing pressure is being placed on their management in the context of climate change mitigation targets. Drainage, fertilization, and other management practices accelerate the decomposition of soil organic matter, leading to the release of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) into the atmosphere. Raising the groundwater table through subsurface irrigation or ditch blocking has been proposed as a mitigation measure for intensively managed peatlands. However, field-based evidence remains limited, particularly from northern regions, and results vary across studies. Key concerns include whether the water table depth can be maintained sufficiently shallow during the growing season considering the needs of crop and management, and whether reductions in CO₂ emissions may be offset by enhanced methane (CH₄) and N₂O emissions under wetter soil conditions.
To address these uncertainties, a field-scale subsurface irrigation system was established at the NorPeat research facility in Ruukki, Finland (64.68°N, 25.11°E), operated by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). The field is a 26-ha cultivated peatland under a grass intensive crop rotation for beef cattle feed production and is divided into eight drainage blocks (2.5-3.9 ha each). Peat depth at the site ranges from 20 to 80 cm, with sulfidic material occurring below one meter depth. Since 2022, a water storage reservoir (9000 m3) has been connected to the subsurface drainage system, allowing block-specific subsurface irrigation. During grass cultivation years, the target for groundwater table has been at approximately 30 cm depth.
Greenhouse gas fluxes have been measured year-round since 2019 using chamber, snow-gradient, and eddy covariance methods, complemented by floating chamber measurements in open ditches. In addition, other environmental variables have been monitored intensively, with continuous measurements of soil moisture and water table depth.
In the presentation, we will show whether GHG emissions can be reduced by subsurface irrigation under field-scale management conditions, whether the mitigation effect depends on peat depth, and how the irrigation affects crop yields.
How to cite: Niiranen, M., Läpikivi, M., Aaltonen, H., Gerin, S., Vekuri, H., Kulmala, L., Kinnunen, J., and Liimatainen, M.: Effect of subsurface irrigation on greenhouse gas emissions and yield on a boreal agricultural drained peatland, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-4186, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-4186, 2026.
Peatlands are central to climate mitigation strategies; however, existing management approaches and process-based modelling methods often rely on oversimplified assumptions about how water table depth (WTD) regulates carbon fluxes. This study used long-term flux observation data spanning distinct peatland ecosystems and vegetation functional traits to quantify the nonlinear response of methane and carbon dioxide emissions to the water-table gradient. We employed a hierarchical, segmented linear mixed-effects model accounting for site heterogeneity and identified consistent, transition-state-like variations in the flux-water table relationship that across peatlands.
Methane exhibited stronger threshold behaviour (~-15.2 cm) than carbon dioxide, with trait-related variations suggesting plant-mediated gas transport prolongs methane sensitivity at deeper water levels. In contrast, ecosystem respiration (Rs) exhibited a more gradual response until reaching the surface, with less separation between trait groups, highlighting differences in the control mechanisms of CH₄ and CO₂ emission processes.
Our findings provide an observation-based foundation for defining hydrological “windows” capable of balancing greenhouse gas emissions. This trait-based WTD-flux approach offers actionable targets for ecological restoration and water level management, while establishing a generalisable method for diagnosing ecohydrological controls on greenhouse gas exchange. Moreover, the results help explain why similar hydrological interventions may yield markedly different climate outcomes across varying vegetation compositions and wetland environments.
How to cite: Chen, H., Bittner, D., Thompson, L., Ren, Y., Hastings, A., and Abdalla, M.: Plant Trait-Mediated Water-table Thresholds in Peatland Carbon Flux Dynamics, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-1807, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-1807, 2026.
The study focuses on GHG fluxes analysis (CH4 and CO2) under climate change pressure at “Le Viote” alpine peatland (46.01 N, 11.04 E, 1560 m asl), located in the middle of a plateau in the Mt. Bondone area (eastern Alps, Italy).
Soil GHG fluxes were monitored from 12th May to 18th November 2025 using a LiCor Smart Chamber and a LiCor 7810 CH4/CO2/H2O Trace Gas Analyzer. Being the Smart Chamber opaque, measured CO2 fluxes regarded only the total respiration fluxes of heterotrophic and autotrophic origin. GHG flux measurements were performed over 24 plots, with a sampling design consisting of transects along microtopographic and soil moisture gradients intersecting different areas featuring homogeneous vegetation classes. A total of six dominant vegetation classes were considered following a botanical survey to update the vegetation map of the peatland area, and eight transects of three plots each were set. Ancillary environmental variables such as soil moisture and soil temperature were measured at 6 cm and 15 cm depth respectively on each plot using portable probes.
For both GHG fluxes, vegetation classes were characterised by high spatial variability, even within the same vegetation type. For example, CH4 fluxes ranged from -3.91 to -0.04 nmolm-2s-1 in grassland, while in the wettest area dominated by sedge communities it ranged from 13.19 to 1271.88 nmolm-2s-1. This highlights the close relationship between CH4 emissions and the soil moisture content. CO2 fluxes instead ranged from 0.21 to 8.22 µmolm-2s-1 in sedges area, and from 0.22 to 34.67 µmolm-2s-1 in grassland.
Fluxes were cumulated over the whole monitoring period averaging plots data for each vegetation class and performing a linear interpolation between consecutive measurement dates. CH4 fluxes ranged from -2.96 g C-CO2eq m-2 over grassland to a maximum value of 194.91 g C-CO2eq m-2 in the wettest area, characterized mainly by sedges and sphagnum mosses. CO2 fluxes, on the contrary, showed maximum emissions in grassland, with 1613.90 g C m-2, and minimum emissions in the wettest area, with 542.34 g C m-2.
CH4 and CO2 fluxes were then aggregated and cumulated over the entire measurement period, for the different vegetation classes: grassland reached the highest GHG emissions, with a maximum value of 1610.94 g C-CO2eq m-2. Sedge areas characterised by higher soil water content, on the other hand, showed lower fluxes, with values ranging from 1221.60 g C-CO2eq m-2 for the intermediate sedge zone to 736.76 g C-CO2eq m-2 for the wettest area. The transition zone reached the third highest emissions, with 1113.32 g C-CO2eq m-2.
Mean GHG effluxes assessed for the whole peatland area of 0.99 km2 resulted in 942.27 g C-CO2eq m-2 .
The sensitivity of both CO2 and CH4 and fluxes to soil temperature was analyzed: the first showed a significative exponential response for all vegetation types, while CH4 fluxes did not show a consistent, nor significant response pattern being on the contrary clearly modulated by soil moisture.
How to cite: Rubriante, L., Gianelle, D., Papale, D., Andreatta, D., Rodeghiero, M., and Belelli Marchesini, L.: Large spatial variability of GHG emissions from an alpine peatland detected by chamber based measurements. , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21282, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21282, 2026.
GHG flux measurement techniques have been around for decades, but field measurements still rely on expensive analyzers. This may be one of the reasons for the relatively low number of GHG exchange studies from tropical peatlands compared to temperate peatlands. CHASY LOCO (chamber system low-cost) is a new device with the mission to change that. Based on Arduino and low-cost sensors for CO2 (Senseair K30 FR) and CH4 (Figaro TGS2611-C00), a whole chamber system should become available for less than €1,000. The first edition (built in 2025 at ZALF) contains a well-transportable transparent chamber with the dimensions of 30x30x50 cm3, so natural and drained peatlands with small vegetation can be surveyed.
In 2026, CHASY LOCO’s use cases are being tested in tropical non-forested peatlands of three countries: Starting with Rwanda and Uganda, the high percentage of drained peatlands causes potentially more than 50% of the national emissions, but so far, they are calculated based on international emission factors. Hence, as part of the project "Peat4People", GHG flux data acquired by CHASY LOCO could specify these numbers. Furthermore, there are no GHG emission data from pristine Andean peatlands in Bolivia yet, which is why CHASY LOCO will be applied there in the second half of 2026.
Here, we would like to discuss the initial results, challenges, and chances of CHASY LOCO for measuring GHG fluxes in tropical peatlands.
How to cite: Schmülling, H., Jurasinski, G., Elshehawi, S., Ssebyoto, A., Ave Maria, T., and Hoffmann, M.: CHASY LOCO: low-cost measurement of GHG fluxes in tropical peatlands, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-4287, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-4287, 2026.
Tropical peatlands are ecosystems recognised as important reservoirs of soil carbon (C), with an estimated 152 to 288 Gt of C (S. E. Page et al., 2011; Ribeiro et al., 2020). Bulk density (BD) is a key soil property for estimating carbon density and, subsequently, soil carbon stocks. Furthermore, it is also an important parameter for indicating soil compaction and porosity, including water fill pore space (WFPS), hydraulic conductivity (K), biological activity, and cation exchange capacity related to nutrient availability (USDA and NRCS, 2019).
However, there is no standardised method for collecting peat soil in the field. In studies reporting bulk density values, it is uncommon to find detailed descriptions of field sampling procedures. Instead, most studies state that bulk density is determined by measuring the mass of an oven-dried soil sample per unit volume (g cm⁻³ or kg m⁻³) (see SM-Qi et al 2025)
Several approaches are used to determine BD in peat soils, and these methods may produce different outcomes, with implications for carbon density estimates. This work aims to compare two common methods for taking bulk density samples in peat soil. The first is the core method, which is the most commonly reported approach for peat soils in the literature, and the second is the ring method, a general soil bulk density method adapted for use in peat soils. By assessing the differences in BD estimates between these two methods, we want to test and describe a more standardised and reliable protocol for determining BD in peat soils. This assessment considers all stages of the process, including sampling, transportation, and laboratory procedures.
We collected tropical peat soil samples in the field using a ring sampler of known ring volume and a Russian peat core. Our results reveal that BD estimated using the core method was significantly higher than that obtained using the ring method (paired t-test, p < 0.001). These differences may have substantial implications for tropical soil-carbon stock estimations and highlight the importance of standardising bulk density procedures across all stages, from field sampling to final laboratory analysis.
How to cite: Puerta Quintana, Y. T., Swan, A., Ngu Chin Tjon, A. M., Abendanon, R., Ouboter, M., Wortel, V., and Hastie, A.: Methodological influences on bulk density estimation in tropical peat soils, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20815, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20815, 2026.
Tropical peatlands contain substantial carbon stores, but their degradation is increasing. In East African countries, e.g. Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, more than 50% of the peatland area is drained, predominantly for agriculture. Subsequent peat subsidence rates are estimated to range from 2.66 to 5.12 cm a⁻¹, indicating a significant carbon loss and reduced water regulation capacity. While these systems are rapidly lost their ecohydrological regimes remain understudied.
This study investigated the temporal and spatial patterns of peat formation in the Kagera River Basin of East Africa, a sub-basin of the Nile system. The basin predominantly contains valley-bottom fen peatlands connected by the waterway system, which are fed by rain-, surface- and ground-water flows. Regardless of their interconnectivity, they vary in their hydro-morphological setting – e.g. relief and proximity to water bodies, size and peat depth.
We synthesized radiocarbon-dated peat records from literature as well as own work. Peat formation processes in these tropical systems appear to not be driven by climatic factors alone but are strongly influenced by regional and local hydromorphological factors. While increased water availability was critical for enabling widespread peat initiation, the timing and pace of peat growth was conditioned by regional and localized ecohydrological feedbacks of their landscapes, e.g. proximity to lake versus river floodplains. Our findings indicate that management, conservation and restoration activities should first aim to understand the peatlands landscape interactions including site-specific understanding of their ecohydrological conditioning factors.
How to cite: Schaefer, L., Couwenberg, J., and Elshehawi, S.: Climatic and ecohydrological feedbacks as conditioning factors to peat initiation and accumulation in tropical valley-bottom fens: lessons from East Africa , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-19101, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-19101, 2026.
Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) is one of the most widespread types of symbiosis on Earth and plays a key role in the functioning of many ecosystems, including potentially fen peatlands. Due to the scarcity of research on AM in peatlands, we do not know how the current anthropogenic hydrological disturbances of these ecosystems, as well as the associated overgrowth of shrubs and trees and the prevention of this process through mowing, may affect the communities of fungi participating in AM (AMF). In order to detect the potential impact of these factors on AMF, peat samples were collected from open and wooded areas within 24 peatlands with varying degree of hydrological disturbance in northern Poland. DNA was isolated from the peat and the SSU rDNA fragment was amplified and sequenced. In addition, the correlation between the composition of AMF communities and habitat variables such as climatic and chemical factors and plant community composition was examined. The composition of AMF communities differed significantly between hydrologically disturbed and undisturbed peatlands, with a higher number of OTUs and AMF reads detected in hydrologically disturbed peatlands, while no significant effect of overgrowth or conservation-related mowing on AMF communities was detected. The studied AMF communities were characterised by high beta diversity, and the potential impact of all studied habitat factors, including disturbances, accounted for a relatively small percentage of variance in the composition of these communities. The results suggest that although AMF communities are relatively resistant to habitat changes in fen peatlands, hydrological disturbance may affect them to some extent. Future studies could help determine whether further drainage will result in significant changes in the composition of AMF communities.
How to cite: Kozub, Ł., Trochanowska, N., Borys, O., Okrasińska, A., Pawłowska, J., and Wilk, M.: The impacts of hydrological disturbance, tree encroachment, and mowing management on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in fen peatlands., EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-6808, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-6808, 2026.
Posters virtual: Tue, 5 May, 14:00–18:00 | vPoster spot 2
EGU26-257 | Posters virtual | VPS5
Long-term peatland ecological assessment in England’s largest national park (Lake District) for restoration under changing climatesTue, 05 May, 14:39–14:42 (CEST) vPoster spot 2
The Cumbrian Wildlife Trust (CWT) is undertaking the most ambitious attempt to revive Britain’s lost temperate rainforest in Skiddaw, northern Lake District, over the next 100 years. This involves the restoration of native Atlantic tree and treeless communities, including peatland in the area. There are ongoing ecological surveys to map the current vegetation and assess peatland status to establish baseline for detailed framework to restore degraded bogs. In collaboration with the CWT, this study employs different lines of palaeoecological evidence to investigate Skiddaw bog’s ecological history, the degree of its degradation over time, and the role of climatic and anthropogenic factors in shaping the landscape. This long-term perspective complements ongoing ecological appraisals by establishing a comprehensive baseline to predict changes in the bog and develop robust restoration and conservation frameworks against future warming climates.
How to cite: Adeleye, M., Essell, H., Handley, J., and Arizpe, A.: Long-term peatland ecological assessment in England’s largest national park (Lake District) for restoration under changing climates, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-257, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-257, 2026.
