Mrv approaches in the belarus bmu peatland

2. Eastern Europe: famous for its vast and largely undisturbed peatlands... Rospuda Valley, Poland

3. Belarus has high proportion of peatlands... fens (green), bogs (red), transitional peatlands (purple): former extent ~15% of the area

4. Present area of natural peatlands: 1.5 mio ha

5. Present area of drained peatlands: 1.5 mio ha (agriculture 72%, forestry 25%, peat extraction 3%)

6. Drained peatlands are huge emittors of CO 2 + N 2 O

7. CO 2 emission Central Europe is peatland emission hot spot

8. Does rewetting reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

9. How much less emissions after rewetting?

12. Measuring directly is complicated, time consuming, expensive ( € 10,000 /ha/yr)  proxy indicators

13. Mean water level is best predictor of emissions (meta-analysis of 25 site parameters in W-Europe)

14. CO 2 emissions clearly correlate with water levels: they become less with higher water levels

15. CH 4 emissions clearly correlate with water levels: they increase when higher than 20 cm - surface

16. N 2 O emissions clearly correlate with water levels: they do not occur when higher than 15 cm - surface

17. N 2 O erratic, but lower with higher water levels Leave N 2 O emissions out  conservative estimate

18. By rewetting, greenhouse gas emissions decrease, but less between – 20 cm and 0 cm

19. Emissions strongly related to water level Vegetation strongly related to water level  Use vegetation as indicator for emissions!

20. In an environmental gradient some plant species occur together; others exclude each other. Species groups (and their absence!) indicate site conditions much sharper than individual plant species: “ vegetation forms ” . site factor gradient species groups site factor classes subunits 1 1 2 2 3 4 5 1 2

21. Vegetation types calibrated for GHG emissions: GESTs: Greenhouse gas Emission Site Types Some examples: Water level Vegetation CH 4 CO 2 GWP 1 7 11 16.5 16.5 24 0 0 8 13 (8.5 – 16.5) 15 24 1 (0.3 – 1.7) 7 (5.0 – 9.5) 3 3.5 (2.5 – 6) 1.5 (1.3 – 2) 0 FLOODED TALL AND SHORT REEDS WET TALL SEDGE MARSHES VERY MOIST MEADOWS, FORBS & TALL REEDS VERY MOIST MEADOWS MOIST FORBS & MEADOWS MOD. MOIST FORBS & MEADOWS 6+ 5+ 4+ 4+/3+ (3+/2+) 3+ 2-, 2+, 2~

22. GESTs with indicator species groups Each GEST with typical species Each GEST with typical GHG emissions 2 <0 2 5+ Polytrichum commune Polytrichum-lawn 8 -2 10 5+ Sph. cuspidatum, Scheuchzeria Green Sphagnum hollow 3 -2 5 5+ Sph. magellanicum, Sph. rubellum, Sph. fuscum, Sph. recurvum agg. Red or green Sphagnum lawn (optimal) Glyceria maxima, Berula erecta, Bidens tripartita, B. cernua Bidens-Glyceria-reeds Typha latifolia, Phragmites, Rorippa aquatica, Lemna minor Rorippa-Typha-Phragmites-reeds Scorpidium, Eleocharis quinqueflora - Phragmites + Solanum without Urtica-gr. Solano-Phragmitetum 10 <0 / ±0 10 5+ Phragmites, Solanum dulcamara Sphagnum-Phragmites-reeds Cladium, Scorpidium Scorpidium-Cladium-reeds Equisetum fluviatile Equisetum-reeds Juncus effusus, Sphagnum recurvum agg. Sphagnum-Juncus effusus-marsh Scorpidium, Eleocharis quinqueflora - Carex (shunt) dominated Scorpi dium-Eleocharis-marsh Drepanocladus div. spec., Carex diandra, Carex rostr., Carex limosa - Carex dominated Drepanocladus-Carex-marsh Sph. recurvum agg., Carex nigra, C. curta, Eriophorum angustifolium Sphagnum-Carex-Eriophorum-marsh 12.5 <0 (±0) 12.5 5+ Sphagnum recurvum agg., Carex limosa, Scheuchzeria Sphagnum-Carex limosa-marsh GWP CO 2 CH 4 WL class Typical/differentiating species Vegetation type

25. Vegetation forms: developed for NE Germany  test of correlations in Belarusian peatlands

27. Major gap: abandoned peat extraction sites

30. info: joosten@uni-greifswald.de GESTs !