Plant roots but not hydrology control microbiome composition and methane flux in temperate fen mesocosms.

The rewetting of formerly drained peatlands can help to counteract climate change through the reduction of CO emissions. However, this can lead to resuming CH emissions due to changes in the microbiome, favoring CH-producing archaea. How plants, hydrology and microbiomes interact as ultimate determinants of CH dynamics is still poorly understood.

Active afforestation of drained peatlands is not a viable option under the EU Nature Restoration Law.

The EU Nature Restoration Law (NRL) is critical for the restoration of degraded ecosystems and active afforestation of degraded peatlands has been suggested as a restoration measure under the NRL. Here, we discuss the current state of scientific evidence on the climate mitigation effects of peatlands under forestry. Afforestation of drained peatlands without restoring their hydrology does not fully restore ecosystem functions.

The unexpected long period of elevated CH emissions from an inundated fen meadow ended only with the occurrence of cattail (Typha latifolia).

Drainage and agricultural use transform natural peatlands from a net carbon (C) sink to a net C source. Rewetting of peatlands, despite of high methane (CH ) emissions, holds the potential to mitigate climate change by greatly reducing CO emissions. However, the time span for this transition is unknown because most studies are limited to a few years.

Long-term rewetting of degraded peatlands restores hydrological buffer function.

Precipitation is a key factor affecting shallow water table fluctuations. Although the literature on shallow aquifers is vast, groundwater response to precipitation in peatlands has received little attention so far. Characterizing groundwater response to precipitation events in differently managed peatlands can give insight into ecohydrological processes.

Long-Term Rewetting of Three Formerly Drained Peatlands Drives Congruent Compositional Changes in Pro- and Eukaryotic Soil Microbiomes through Environmental Filtering.

Drained peatlands are significant sources of the greenhouse gas (GHG) carbon dioxide. Rewetting is a proven strategy used to protect carbon stocks; however, it can lead to increased emissions of the potent GHG methane. The response to rewetting of soil microbiomes as drivers of these processes is poorly understood, as are the biotic and abiotic factors that control community composition.

Prompt rewetting of drained peatlands reduces climate warming despite methane emissions.

Peatlands are strategic areas for climate change mitigation because of their matchless carbon stocks. Drained peatlands release this carbon to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO). Peatland rewetting effectively stops these CO emissions, but also re-establishes the emission of methane (CH).

Carbon accumulation in a permafrost polygon peatland: steady long-term rates in spite of shifts between dry and wet conditions.

Ice-wedge polygon peatlands contain a substantial part of the carbon stored in permafrost soils. However, little is known about their long-term carbon accumulation rates (CAR) in relation to shifts in vegetation and climate. We collected four peat profiles from one single polygon in NE Yakutia and cut them into contiguous 0.