Greenhouse gas balance of an establishing Sphagnum culture on a former bog grassland in Germany

Autor(en)
Anke Guenther, G. Jurasinski, K. Albrecht, G. Gaudig, M. Krebs, S. Glatzel
Abstrakt

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(en)
Institut für Geographie und Regionalforschung
Externe Organisation(en)
Universität Rostock, University of Greifswald
Journal
Mires and Peat
Band
20
Anzahl der Seiten
16
ISSN
1819-754X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.19189/MaP.2015.OMB.210
Publikationsdatum
2017
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
405004 Nachhaltige Landwirtschaft, 105405 Geoökologie
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Aquatic Science, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Soil Science, Ecology
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 15 – Leben an Land
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/f40c6bab-a91c-408b-aeaf-203cc641fe77