Collaborative Research: PEATcosm: Understanding the interactions of climate, plant functional groups and carbon cycling in peatland ecosystems

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The goal of this project is to understand how changes in water table, vegetation, and microbes affect carbon storage in peatlands. Peatlands are wetlands that accumulate carbon because high water tables inhibit decomposition. More extreme summer drought in recent decades has caused large mid-summer declines in peatland water tables. Lower peatland water tables could cause carbon dioxide release to the atmosphere by accelerating peat decomposition and, in addition, cause changes in peatland plant community composition and microbial assemblages. In this study, a peatland mesocosm facility, where both water table and plant communities can be experimentally controlled, will be used to assess how water table and vegetation combine to affect microbial communities and carbon cycling in peatlands.Peatlands represent 3-5% of the land surface, but harbor 12-30% of global soil organic carbon. This large amount of carbon is vulnerable to release back to the atmosphere if environmental conditions change. Insights from the proposed work will provide options for natural resource management and inform ecosystem models describing the plant communities, microbial dynamics, and carbon storage or release within northern peatlands in the face of climate change. In addition, a new Wetland Ecology Teachers Institute will be initiated in collaboration with the Michigan Tech Center for Science and Environmental Outreach to expose teachers from all over the nation to cutting edge research in peatlands and other wetlands.