VEGANPEAT: Climate warming and vegetation change in peatlands: spatial and temporal effects on biogeochemistry

Project description

This is a project funded by the Swiss NSF during the period 2014-2015 (P.I.: L. Bragazza).

In this project, we propose to study C and nitrogen (N) cycling in peatlands: 1) along an altitudinal gradient (from 550 m to about 1900 m asl), reflecting long-term climatic changes, and 2) in transplanted peat mesocosms from the highest to the lowest altitude, simulating a short-term climate warming.

In particular, we aim to: (1) clarify how climate change will affect extracellular soil enzymatic activity, soil respiration, the quantity and the quality of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and vegetation cover; (2) test if a change in plant cover and soil temperature can enhance the decomposition of old organic matter by evaluating the bomb-14C content in carbon dioxide (CO2) respired from peat soil; (3) estimate if and how climatic warming alters nitrogen cycling by measuring N mineralization and the natural abundance of 15N in leaves of different peatland plant species.