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Reduced global warming potential after wood ash application in drained Northern peatland forests

Rütting, Tobias ; Björk, Robert G. ; Meyer, Astrid ; Klemedtsson, Leif and Sikstrom, U. (2014) In Forest Ecology and Management 328. p.159-166
Abstract
Past land use change has converted vast areas of Northern peatland by drainage to agricultural or forested land. This change often reduces the greenhouse gas (GHG) sink strength of peatlands or turns them even from sinks to sources, which affects the global climate. Therefore, there is a need for suitable mitigation options for GHG emissions from drained peatlands. Addition of wood ash to peatland forests has been suggested as such a measure, but the overall effect on the global warming potential (GWP) of these ecosystems is still unclear. In order to fill this knowledge gap, we investigated three drained peatland forests in Sweden that had been fertilized with wood ash and monitored stand growth as well as the GHG emissions from soil,... (More)
Past land use change has converted vast areas of Northern peatland by drainage to agricultural or forested land. This change often reduces the greenhouse gas (GHG) sink strength of peatlands or turns them even from sinks to sources, which affects the global climate. Therefore, there is a need for suitable mitigation options for GHG emissions from drained peatlands. Addition of wood ash to peatland forests has been suggested as such a measure, but the overall effect on the global warming potential (GWP) of these ecosystems is still unclear. In order to fill this knowledge gap, we investigated three drained peatland forests in Sweden that had been fertilized with wood ash and monitored stand growth as well as the GHG emissions from soil, i.e. net effluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Our results show that over the first five to eight years after wood ash application, tree growth was enhanced at all sites. This was accompanied by generally little changes in the GHG emissions. Overall, we found that wood ash application reduced the GWP of drained peatland forests. Even though that our study was limited to eight years after wood ash application, we can conclude that in the short term wood ash application may be a suitable mitigation option for GHG emissions from Northern drained peatland forests. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
FLUXES, FERTILIZER, Mitigation option, Forestry, Greenhouse gas, Land use change, Tree growth, NITROUS-OXIDE EMISSIONS, SCOTS PINE, SOIL RESPIRATION, MANAGED, PEATLANDS, ORGANIC SOIL, CENTRAL FINLAND, GROWTH, PICEA-ABIES
in
Forest Ecology and Management
volume
328
pages
159 - 166
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:84902239678
ISSN
1872-7042
DOI
10.1016/j.foreco.2014.05.033
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
41c46a18-2dd0-4830-831d-3b3ee121d89f (old id 7515451)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 09:30:52
date last changed
2022-01-29 18:16:18
@article{41c46a18-2dd0-4830-831d-3b3ee121d89f,
  abstract     = {{Past land use change has converted vast areas of Northern peatland by drainage to agricultural or forested land. This change often reduces the greenhouse gas (GHG) sink strength of peatlands or turns them even from sinks to sources, which affects the global climate. Therefore, there is a need for suitable mitigation options for GHG emissions from drained peatlands. Addition of wood ash to peatland forests has been suggested as such a measure, but the overall effect on the global warming potential (GWP) of these ecosystems is still unclear. In order to fill this knowledge gap, we investigated three drained peatland forests in Sweden that had been fertilized with wood ash and monitored stand growth as well as the GHG emissions from soil, i.e. net effluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Our results show that over the first five to eight years after wood ash application, tree growth was enhanced at all sites. This was accompanied by generally little changes in the GHG emissions. Overall, we found that wood ash application reduced the GWP of drained peatland forests. Even though that our study was limited to eight years after wood ash application, we can conclude that in the short term wood ash application may be a suitable mitigation option for GHG emissions from Northern drained peatland forests.}},
  author       = {{Rütting, Tobias and Björk, Robert G. and Meyer, Astrid and Klemedtsson, Leif and Sikstrom, U.}},
  issn         = {{1872-7042}},
  keywords     = {{FLUXES; FERTILIZER; Mitigation option; Forestry; Greenhouse gas; Land use change; Tree growth; NITROUS-OXIDE EMISSIONS; SCOTS PINE; SOIL RESPIRATION; MANAGED; PEATLANDS; ORGANIC SOIL; CENTRAL FINLAND; GROWTH; PICEA-ABIES}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{159--166}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Forest Ecology and Management}},
  title        = {{Reduced global warming potential after wood ash application in drained Northern peatland forests}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.05.033}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.foreco.2014.05.033}},
  volume       = {{328}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}