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The flux of organic matter through a peatland ecosystem: The role of cellulose, lignin, and their control of the ecosystem oxidation state

Worrall, Fred; Moody, Catherine S.; Clay, Gareth D.; Burt, Tim P.; Rose, Rob

The flux of organic matter through a peatland ecosystem: The role of cellulose, lignin, and their control of the ecosystem oxidation state Thumbnail


Authors

Catherine S. Moody

Gareth D. Clay

Tim P. Burt

Rob Rose



Abstract

This study used thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to study the transit of organic C through a peatland ecosystem. The biomass, litter, peat soil profile, particulate organic matter (POM), and dissolved organic matter (DOM) fluxes were sampled from the Moor House National Nature Reserve, a peat-covered catchment in northern England where both the dry matter and carbon budget for the catchment were known. The study showed that although TGA traces showed distinct differences between organic matter reservoirs and fluxes, the traces could not readily be associated with particular functionalities or elemental properties. The TGA trace shows that polysaccharides are preferentially removed by humification and degradation with residual peat being dominated by lignin compositions. The DOM is derived from the degradation of lignin while the POM is derived from erosion of the peat profile. The carbon lost as gases (CO2 and CH4) was estimated to be composed of 92 to 95% polysaccharide carbon. The composition of the organic matter lost from the peat ecosystem means that the oxidative ratio (OR) of the ecosystem experienced by the atmosphere was between 0.96 and 0.99: currently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change uses an OR value of 1.1 for all ecosystems.

Citation

Worrall, F., Moody, C. S., Clay, G. D., Burt, T. P., & Rose, R. (2017). The flux of organic matter through a peatland ecosystem: The role of cellulose, lignin, and their control of the ecosystem oxidation state. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 122(7), 1655-1671. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jg003697

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 21, 2017
Online Publication Date Jul 11, 2017
Publication Date Jul 11, 2017
Deposit Date Jul 25, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
Print ISSN 2169-8953
Electronic ISSN 2169-8961
Publisher American Geophysical Union
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 122
Issue 7
Pages 1655-1671
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jg003697

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Copyright Statement
Advance online version Worrall, F., C. S. Moody, G. D. Clay, T. P. Burt, and R. Rose (2017), The flux of organic matter through a peatland ecosystem: The role of cellulose, lignin, and their control of the ecosystem oxidation state, Journal of geophysical research : biogeosciences, 122, doi:10.1002/2016JG003697. To view the published open abstract, go to https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JG003697





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