Effects of plant species and disturbance on ecosystem function in Boreal peatlands

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High latitude regions are experiencing rapid climate change, which has led to longer growing seasons, permafrost degradation, and more than a doubling of annual burn areas. The boreal biome has the potential to either curtail or amplify future climate change depending on how ecosystem carbon and energy fluxes respond to environmental change. More than 80% of the boreal soil carbon pool is stored in peatlands, which cover about 1.2 million km2 of land in Canada. While peatlands clearly have served as a long-term sink of atmospheric carbon, it is unclear whether they will continue to accumulate carbon, or whether these ecosystems will begin to release carbon back to the atmosphere under future climate regimes. Investigations of the controls on peatland carbon cycling are important for understanding the fundamental principles of ecosystem function in northern systems, but also have significant applied relevance for the understanding and amelioration of global change.