Greenhouse gas balance of an establishing Sphagnum culture on a former bog grassland in Germany
- Author(s)
- Anke Guenther, G. Jurasinski, K. Albrecht, G. Gaudig, M. Krebs, S. Glatzel
- Abstract
The cultivation of Sphagnum mosses on re-wetted peat bogs for use in horticulture is a new land use strategy. We provide the first greenhouse gas balances for a field-scale Sphagnum farming experiment on former bog grassland, in its establishment phase. Over two years we used closed chambers to make measurements of GHG exchange on production strips of Sphagnum palustre L. and Sphagnum papillosum Lindb. and on irrigation ditches. Methane fluxes of both Sphagnum species showed a significant decrease over the study period. This trend was stronger for S. papillosum. In contrast, the estimated CO2 fluxes did not show a significant temporal trend over the study period. The production strips of both Sphagnum species were net GHG sinks of 5-9 t ha
-1 a
-1 (in CO
2-equivalents) during the establishment phase of the moss carpets. In comparison, the ditches were a CO
2 source instead of a CO
2 sink and emitted larger amounts of CH
4, resulting in net GHG release of ~11 t ha
-1 a
-1 CO
2-equivalents. We conclude that Sphagnum farming fields should be designed to minimise the area covered by irrigation ditches. Overall, Sphagnum farming on bogs has lower on-field GHG emissions than low-intensity agriculture.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Geography and Regional Research
- External organisation(s)
- Universität Rostock, University of Greifswald
- Journal
- Mires and Peat
- Volume
- 20
- No. of pages
- 16
- ISSN
- 1819-754X
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.19189/MaP.2015.OMB.210
- Publication date
- 2017
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 405004 Sustainable agriculture, 105405 Geoecology
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Aquatic Science, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Soil Science, Ecology
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 15 - Life on Land
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/f40c6bab-a91c-408b-aeaf-203cc641fe77