Long-term dynamics of carbon and water fluxes of an alpine bog in Eastern Austria

Author(s): Pamela Alessandra Baur, Andreas Maier, Stephan Glatzel
Abstract: Peatlands store carbon, water, are biodiversity hotspots and sensible to hydrological, climate, land use and other anthropogenic changes. Peatlands act
naturally as carbon sinks but due to degradation caused by drainages and droughts, peatlands can shift to a carbon source. The diversity of peatland types is extraordinarily high due to differences in site conditions, climatic situations, water sources, vegetation composition and formation.
Puergschachen is an ombrotrophic bog in the inner-alpine Enns valley at an altitude of 632 m in the Eastern Alps of Austria. The raised bog has an extent of
about 62 ha and is moderate degraded which is indicated by the lower methane (CH4) emissions compared to other temperate bogs and also by the shift
of vegetation composition due to the immigration of Betula pubescens and the loss of specialized species of bog hollows such as Carex limosa. The bog is
threatened by surrounding intensive agriculture and by drought events and increasing mean air temperature due to changing climate.
We used the eddy covariance (EC) technique to continuously quantify the vertical turbulent GHG exchange of H2O, CO2 and CH4 between the bog and the
atmosphere. The EC observations have been conducted at the Puergschachen bog from May 2015 to now (more than 7 years). For taking the vegetation
development of the studied ecosystem into account, vegetation indices data and phenocams were used.
We quantify the interannual and seasonal variability of H2O, CO2 and CH4 fluxes, evaluate the underlying factors being responsible for these variations, and examine the differences in diurnal patterns. We also investigate the influence of climate change (modified precipitation patterns, increasing air temperature) on the carbon and water fluxes of the alpine bog: the annual precipitation of the last 5 years (2018-2022) were below the mean annual precipitation of 1233 mm (1985-2022) and the mean annual air temperature showed a strong increase especially in the last 10 years from 7.4°C (1985-2022) mean air temperature to 8.2°C (2012-2022).
Organisation(s): Department of Geography and Regional Research
Publication date: 09-2023
Austrian Fields of Science 2012: 105405 Geoecology, 105904 Environmental research, 106026 Ecosystem research
Keywords
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 13 - Climate Action, SDG 15 - Life on Land
Portal url: https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/70f9ec22-6c60-419a-88f4-64f8fff7eb2f

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