Response of Southern Shrub Peatland Phenolics and Carbon Dioxide Flux to Drought and Nitrogen Additions
Abstract
Peat forms under wetland conditions where flooding obstructs flows of oxygen from
the atmosphere and reduces the decomposition rate of plant litter. Peatlands only
cover three percent of land area worldwide, yet they store one third of all terrestrial
carbon due to thwarted decay. Wetlands are currently threatened by increasingly severe
and frequent drought as well as nitrogen loading from agriculture and atmospheric
deposition. Furthermore, the length of exposure to these inputs may produce varying
outcomes. The degradation of critical wetland ecosystems amplifies carbon dioxide
emissions and dissolved organic carbon release. Existing research focuses on sphagnum
or grassland peat while this study examines shrub peatland soil from the Pocosin Lakes
region of Eastern North Carolina. This project utilizes chemical and statistical analyses
to determine the impacts of drought and nitrogen on the biogeochemical processes that
occur within a shrub peatland.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6920Citation
Burke, Meaghan (2013). Response of Southern Shrub Peatland Phenolics and Carbon Dioxide Flux to Drought and
Nitrogen Additions. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6920.Collections
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