Methane emissions from natural and drained peatlands in the Zoigê, eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Abstract

Peatlands are one of the major natural sources of methane (CH₄), but the level of CH₄ efflux is uncertain, especially in alpine peatlands. In this study, CH₄ emission fluxes from natural and drained peatlands on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, southwest China, were measured from June to October in 2013 using the opaque static chamber technique and the Fast Greenhouse Gas Analyzer (DLT-100, Los Gatos Research Corp.). CH₄ emission fluxes ranged from 2.07 to 56.33 mg m⁻² h⁻¹ in natural peatlands and from 0.02 to 0.42 mg m⁻² h⁻¹ in drained peatlands. Mean CH₄ emission flux was 19.13 mg m⁻² h⁻¹ in natural peatlands and 0.14 mg m⁻² h⁻¹ in drained peatlands. These results showed that drainage led to a significant decrease in CH₄ emissions. CH₄ emission fluxes for all sampling plots were significantly correlated with variation in water table depth for linear (R ² = 0.453, P < 0.01) and exponential functions (R ² = 0.429, P < 0.01).

Keywords

Drainage / CH₄ emission / Peatland / Zoigê Plateau

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