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Graminoids vary in functional traits, carbon dioxide and methane fluxes in a restored peatland: implications for modeling carbon storage

View ORCID ProfileEllie M. Goud, Sabrina Touchette, View ORCID ProfileIan B. Strachan, View ORCID ProfileMaria Strack
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.27.445980
Ellie M. Goud
1Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo
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  • For correspondence: egoud@uwaterloo.ca
Sabrina Touchette
1Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo
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Ian B. Strachan
2Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University
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Maria Strack
1Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo
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Abstract

One metric of peatland restoration success is the re-establishment of a carbon sink, yet considerable uncertainty remains around the timescale of carbon sink trajectories. Conditions post-restoration may promote the establishment of vascular plants such as graminoids, often at greater density than would be found in undisturbed peatlands, with consequences for carbon storage. Although graminoid species are often considered as a single plant functional type (PFT) in land-atmosphere models, our understanding of functional variation among graminoid species is limited, particularly in a restoration context. We used a traits-based approach to evaluate graminoid functional variation and to assess whether different graminoid species should be considered a single PFT or multiple types. We tested hypotheses that greenhouse gas fluxes (CO2, CH4) would vary due to differences in plant traits among five graminoid species in a restored peatland in central Alberta, Canada. We further hypothesized that species would form two functionally distinct groupings based on taxonomy (grass, sedge). Differences in gas fluxes among species were primarily driven by variation in leaf physiology related to photosynthetic efficiency and resource-use, and secondarily by plant size. Multivariate analyses did not reveal distinct functional groupings based on taxonomy or environmental preferences. Rather, we identified functional groups defined by continuous plant traits and carbon fluxes that are consistent with ecological strategies related to differences in growth rate, resource-acquisition, and leaf economics. These functional groups displayed larger carbon storage potential than currently-applied graminoid PFTs. Existing PFT designations in peatland models may be more appropriate for pristine or high-latitude systems than those under restoration. Although replacing PFTs with continuous plant traits remains a challenge in peatlands, traits related to leaf physiology and growth rate strategies offer a promising avenue for future applications.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted May 28, 2021.
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Graminoids vary in functional traits, carbon dioxide and methane fluxes in a restored peatland: implications for modeling carbon storage
Ellie M. Goud, Sabrina Touchette, Ian B. Strachan, Maria Strack
bioRxiv 2021.05.27.445980; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.27.445980
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Graminoids vary in functional traits, carbon dioxide and methane fluxes in a restored peatland: implications for modeling carbon storage
Ellie M. Goud, Sabrina Touchette, Ian B. Strachan, Maria Strack
bioRxiv 2021.05.27.445980; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.27.445980

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