Including hydrological self-regulating processes in peatland models: Effects on peatmoss drought projections
Jelmer J Nijp1, Klaas Metselaar2, Juul Limpens3
1Wageningen University, Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Wageningen, The Netherlands; Wageningen University, Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen, The Netherlands; Wageningen University, Soil Geography and Landscape Group, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
The Science of the Total Environment
|December 26, 2016
Summary
Accurately modeling northern peatlands requires including moss water storage and peat volume change. Ignoring these factors overestimates peatmoss drought frequency, impacting climate change impact assessments.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Hydrology
- Ecology
Background:
- Topsoil water content critically influences biogeochemical processes and greenhouse gas emissions in ecosystems, especially northern peatlands.
- Peatlands are sensitive to changing rainfall and drought patterns, affecting ecosystem function and carbon sequestration.
- Current peatland models vary in hydrological feedback representation, leaving the impact on peatmoss drought projections uncertain.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically assess how hydrological model detail biases projections of water content and drought stress for peatmoss.
- To compare four model variants with differing levels of hydrological self-regulation processes (moss water storage, peat volume change).
Main Methods:
- Utilized downscaled climate projections for rainfall and evapotranspiration for current (1991-2020) and future (2061-2090) periods.
- Developed and validated four model variants against field data from a northern Swedish peatland.
- Incorporated or excluded moss water storage and peat volume change to represent varying hydrological detail.
Main Results:
- Model performance significantly improved with the inclusion of moss water storage and peat volume change, with the best results when both were included.
- Including these hydrological processes consistently reduced projected peatmoss drought frequency by over 50% compared to models excluding them.
- Future climate projections showed a 17% decrease in growing season drought frequency, independent of the inclusion of self-regulating hydrological processes.
Conclusions:
- Fine-scale hydrological processes like moss water storage and peat volume change are crucial for accurate peatmoss drought projections in northern peatlands.
- Ignoring these self-regulation mechanisms leads to significant overestimation of drought frequency and potentially misrepresents climate change impacts on ecosystem processes.
- Accurate modeling of these processes is essential for understanding and predicting the effects of climate change on peatland ecosystems and their role in carbon cycling.
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