Letter: Trophic interactions regulate peatland carbon cycling

Peatlands are the most efficient natural ecosystems for long-term storage of atmospheric carbon. Our understanding of peatland carbon cycling is based entirely on bottom-up controls regulated by low nutrient availability. Recent studies have shown that top-down controls through predator-prey dynamics can influence ecosystem function, yet this has not been evaluated in peatlands to date. Here, we used a combination of nutrient enrichment and trophic-level manipulation to test the hypothesis that interactions between nutrient availability (bottom-up) and predation (top-down) influence peatland carbon fluxes. Elevated nutrients stimulated bacterial biomass and organic matter decomposition. In the absence of top-down regulation, carbon dioxide (CO₂ ) respiration driven by greater decomposition was offset by elevated algal productivity. Herbivores accelerated CO₂ emissions by removing algal biomass, while predators indirectly reduced CO₂ emissions by muting herbivory in a trophic cascade. This study demonstrates that trophic interactions can mitigate CO₂ emissions associated with elevated nutrient levels in northern peatlands.