Climate and peat type in relation to spatial variation of the peatland carbon mass in the Hudson Bay Lowlands, Canada

Abstract

Northern peatlands store ~500 Pg of carbon (C); however, controls on the spatial distribution of the stored C may differ regionally, owing to the complex interaction among climate, ecosystem processes, and geophysical controls. As a globally significant C sink, elucidation of controls on the distribution of C in the Hudson Bay Lowlands, Canada (HBL), is of particular importance. Although peat age is related to timing of land emergence and peat depth in the HBL, considerable variation in the total C mass (kg m-2) among sites of similar peat age suggests that other factors may explain spatial patterns in C storage (Pg) and sequestration. Here we quantify the role of two key factors in explaining the spatial distribution of the C mass in the HBL (n = 364 sites), (i) climate variability and (ii) peat lithology, for two major peatland classes in the HBL (bogs and fens). We find that temperature, precipitation, and evapotranspiration each explained nearly half of the C mass variability. Regions characterized by warmer and wetter conditions stored the most C as peat. Our results show that bogs and fens store similar amounts of C within a given climate domain, although via distinct storage mechanisms. Namely, fen peats tend to be shallower and more C dense (kg m-3) compared to bogs. Following geophysical controls on the timing of peat initiation, our results reveal that both the widespread bog-fen patterning and variability in regional climate contribute to explaining the spatial distribution of the peat C mass in the HBL.