Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T12:27:56.421Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Response of a warm temperate peatland to Holocene climate change in northeastern Pennsylvania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Shanshan Cai  and
Zicheng Yu
Shanshan Cai
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lehigh University, 1 West Packer Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA
Zicheng Yu*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lehigh University, 1 West Packer Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA
*
⁎Corresponding author at: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Studying boreal-type peatlands near the edge of their southern limit can provide insight into responses of boreal and sub-arctic peatlands to warmer climates. In this study, we investigated peatland history using multi-proxy records of sediment composition, plant macrofossil, pollen, and diatom analysis from a 14C-dated sediment core at Tannersville Bog in northeastern Pennsylvania, USA. Our results indicate that peat accumulation began with lake infilling of a glacial lake at ~ 9 ka as a rich fen dominated by brown mosses. It changed to a poor fen dominated by Cyperaceae (sedges) and Sphagnum (peat mosses) at ~ 1.4 ka and to a Sphagnum-dominated poor fen at ~ 200 cal yr BP (~ AD 1750). Apparent carbon accumulation rates increased from 13.4 to 101.2 g C m− 2 yr− 1 during the last 8000 yr, with a time-averaged mean of 27.3 g C m− 2 yr− 1. This relatively high accumulation rate, compared to many northern peatlands, was likely caused by high primary production associated with a warmer and wetter temperate climate. This study implies that some northern peatlands can continue to serve as carbon sinks under a warmer and wetter climate, providing a negative feedback to climate warming.

Keywords

Carbon accumulationPlant macrofossilFossil pollenPoor fenPeatlandClimate changeHolocene
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 75 , Issue 3 , May 2011 , pp. 531 - 540
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barber, K.E., Chambers, F.M., Maddy, D., Stoneman, R., and Brew, J.S. A sensitive high resolution record of late Holocene climatic change from a raised bog in northern England. The Holocene 4, (1994). 198–205.Google Scholar
Belyea, L.R., and Malmer, N. Carbon sequestration in peatland: patterns and mechanisms of response to climate change. Global Change Biology 10, (2004). 1043–1052.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, G.C., Kromer, B., Beer, J., Muscheler, R., Evans, M.N., Showers, W., Hoffmann, S., Lotti-Bond, R., Hajdas, I., and Bonani, G. Persistent solar influence on North Atlantic climate during the Holocene. Science 294, (2001). 2130–2136.Google Scholar
Booth, R.K. Testate amoebae as paleoindicators of surface-moisture changes on Michigan peatlands: modern ecology and hydrological calibration. Journal of Paleolimnology 28, (2007). 329–348.Google Scholar
Booth, R.K., Jackson, S.T., and Gray, C.E.D. Paleoecology and high-resolution paleohydrology of a kettle peatland in upper Michigan. Quaternary Research 61, (2004). 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Botch, M.S., Kobak, K.I., Vinson, T.S., and Kolchugina, T.P. Carbon pools and accumulation in peatlands of the former Soviet Union. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 9, (1995). 37–46.Google Scholar
Bunting, M.J., Morgan, C.R., Van Bakel, M., and Warner, B.G. Pre-European settlement conditions and human disturbance of a coniferous swamp in southern Ontario. Canadian Journal of Botany 76, (1998). 1770–1779.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cai, S., (2008). Peatland responses to Holocene climate change in a temperate poor fen, northeastern Pennsylvania. M.Sc. Thesis, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.Google Scholar
Campbell, D.R., Duthie, H.C., and Warner, B.G. Post-glacial development of a kettle-hole peatland in southern Ontario. Ecoscience 4, (1997). 404–418.Google Scholar
Carroll, P., and Crill, P. Carbon balance of a temperate poor fen. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 11, (1997). 349–356.Google Scholar
Charman, D.J., Aravena, R., and Warner, B.G. Carbon dynamics in a forested peatland in north-eastern Ontario, Canada. Journal of Ecology 82, (1994). 55–62.Google Scholar
Clymo, R.S. The limits to peat bog growth. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 303, (1984). 605–654.Google Scholar
Davidson, E.A., and Janssens, I.A. Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change. Nature 440, (2006). 165–173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dean, W.E.J. Determination of carbonate and organic matter in calcareous sediments and sedimentary rocks by loss on ignition: comparison with other methods. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 44, (1974). 242–248.Google Scholar
Deevey, E.S., (1939). Studies on Connecticut lake sediments. I. A postglacial climatic chronology for southern New England. American Journal of Science 237, 691–724.Google Scholar
Fægri, K., and Iversen, J. Textbook of Pollen Analysis. (1989). Wiley, London.Google Scholar
Foster, D.R. The dynamics of Sphagnum in forest and peatland communities in southeastern Labrador, Canada. Arctic 37, (1984). 133–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, D.R., Oswald, W.W., Faison, E.K., Doughty, E.D., and Hansen, B.C.S. A climatic driver for abrupt mid-Holocene vegetation dynamics and the hemlock decline in New England. Ecology 87, (2006). 2959–2966.Google Scholar
Frolking, S., Roulet, N.T., Moore, T.R., Richard, P.J.H., Lavoie, M., and Muller, S.D. Modeling northern peatland decomposition and peat accumulation. Ecosystems 4, (2001). 479–498.Google Scholar
Gehris, C. W., (1964). : Pollen analysis of the Cranberry Bog Preserve, Tannersville, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Ph.D. Dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, USA.Google Scholar
Gorham, E. Northern peatlands: role in the carbon cycle and probable responses to climatic warming. Ecological Applications 1, (1991). 182–195.Google Scholar
Gorham, E., Janssens, J.A., and Glaser, P.H. Rates of peat accumulation during the postglacial period in 32 sites from Alaska to Newfoundland, with special emphasis on northern Minnesota. Canadian Journal of Botany 81, (2003). 429–438.Google Scholar
Heiri, O., Lotter, A.F., and Lemcke, G. Loss on ignition as a method for estimating organic and carbonate content in sediments: reproducibility and comparability of results. Journal of Paleolimnology 25, (2001). 101–110.Google Scholar
Hirsch, A.M. Geology of the Tannersville Bog study area, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. The Nature Conservancy Report. (1977). Jack McCormick & Associates Inc., Boston. 65 Google Scholar
Huber, U.M., and Markgraf, V. European impact on fire regimes and vegetation dynamics at the steppe-forest ecotone of southern Patagonia. The Holocene 13, (2003). 567–579.Google Scholar
Lamentowicz, M., Tobolski, K., and Mitchell, E.A.D. Paleoecological evidence for anthropogenic acidification of a kettle-hole peatland in northern Poland. The Holocene 17, (2007). 1185–1196.Google Scholar
Lévesque, P.E.M., Dinel, H., and Larouche, A. Guide to the Identification of Plant Macrofossils in Canadian Peatlands. (1988). Land Resource Research Centre Ottawa, Ontario.Google Scholar
Li, Y.X., Yu, Z.C., and Kodama, K.P. Sensitive moisture response to Holocene millennial-scale climate variations in the Mid-Atlantic region, USA. The Holocene 17, (2007). 3–8.Google Scholar
Luebbe, A. J., (2007). Hydrology and dissolved organic carbon dynamics of a temperate peatland. M.Sc. Thesis, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.Google Scholar
McAndrews, J.H., Berti, A.A., and Norris, G. Key to the Quaternary Pollen and Spores of the Great Lakes Region. (1973). Royal Ontario Museum Life Sciences Miscellaneous Publication, Toronto, Ontario.Google Scholar
Muller, S.D., Richard, P.H., and Larouche, A.C. Holocene development of a peatland (southern Quebec): a spatio-temporal reconstruction based on pachymetry, sedimentology, microfossils and macrofossils. The Holocene 13, (2003). 649–664.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ovenden, L. Peat accumulation in northern wetlands. Quaternary Research 33, (1990). 377–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Bertrand, C.J.H., Blackwell, P.G., Buck, C.E., Burr, G.S., Cutler, K.B., Damon, P.E., Edwards, R.L., Fairbanks, R.G., Friedrich, M., Guilderson, T.P., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., Manning, S.W., Ramsey, C.B., Reimer, R.W., Remmele, S., Southon, J.R., Stuiver, M., Talamo, S., Taylor, F.W., van der Plicht, J., and Weyhenmeyer, C.E. IntCal04 Terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration, 26–0 ka BP. Radiocarbon 46, (2004). 1029–1058.Google Scholar
Roulet, N.T., Lafleur, P.M., Richard, P.J.H., Moore, T.R., Humphreys, E.R., and Bubier, J. Contemporary carbon balance and late Holocene carbon accumulation in a northern peatland. Global Change Biology 13, (2007). 397–411.Google Scholar
Russell, E.W.B. Vegetational change in northern New Jersey from precolonization to the present: a palynological interpretation. Bulletin of The Torrey Botanical Club 107, (1980). 432–446.Google Scholar
Rydin, H., and Jeglum, J. The Biology of Peatlands. (2006). Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Shuman, B., Newby, P., Huang, Y., Webb, T. III Evidence for the close climatic control of New England vegetation history. Ecology 85, (2004). 1297–1310.Google Scholar
Smol, J.P. Freshwater algae. Warner, B.G. Methods in Quaternary Ecology. (1990). Love Printing Service Ltd., Stittsville. 3–14.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Beck, J.W., Burr, G.S., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., van der Plicht, J., and Spurk, M. INTCAL98 Radiocarbon age calibration 24,000–0 cal BP. Radiocarbon 40, (1998). 1041–1083.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tansley, A.G. The British Islands and their Vegetation. (1939). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Tarnocai, C., Kettles, I.M., and Lacelle, B. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 4002. (2002). http://geopub.rncan.gc.ca/moreinfo_e.php?id=213529&_h=lac Google Scholar
Tolonen, K., and Turunen, J. Accumulation rates of carbon in mires in Finland and implications for climate change. The Holocene 6, (1996). 171–178.Google Scholar
Turunen, J., Tomppo, E., Tolonen, K., and Reinikainen, A. Estimating carbon accumulation rates of undrained mires in Finland — application to boreal and subarctic regions. The Holocene 12, (2002). 69–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Breemen, N. How Sphagnum bogs down other plants. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 10, (1995). 270–275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vasander, H., and Kettunen, A. Carbon in boreal peatlands. Wieder, R.K., Vitt, D.H. Boreal Peatland Ecosystems 188, (2006). Springer, Ecological Studies, 165–194.Google Scholar
Verhoeven, J.T.A., and Liefveld, W.M. The ecological significance of organochemical compounds in Sphagnum . Acta Botanica Neerlandica 46, (1997). 117–130.Google Scholar
Vitt, D.H., Halsey, L.A., Bauer, I.E., and Campbell, C. Spatial and temporal trends in carbon storage of peatlands of continental western Canada through the Holocene. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 37, (2000). 683–693.Google Scholar
Walker, D. Direction and rate in some British post-glacial hydroseres. Walker, D., and West, R.G. Studies in the Vegetation History of the British Isles. (1970). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 43–57.Google Scholar
Warner, B.G., Clymo, R.S., and Tolonen, K. Implications of peat accumulation at Point Escuminac, New Brunswick. Quaternary Research 39, (1993). 245–248.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A. Late Quaternary vegetation of central Appalachia and the New Jersey coastal plain. Ecological Monographs 49, (1979). 427–469.Google Scholar
Wieder, R.K., and Yavitt, J.B. Peatlands and global climate change: insights from comparative studies situated along a latitudinal gradient. Wetlands 14, (1994). 233–242.Google Scholar
Wieder, R.K., Vitt, D.H., and Benscoter, B.W. Peatlands and the boreal forest. Wieder, R.K., Vitt, D.H. Boreal Peatland Ecosystems 188, (2006). Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Ecological Studies, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willard, D.A., Cronin, T.M., and Verardo, S. Late-Holocene climate and ecosystem history from Chesapeake Bay sediment cores, USA. The Holocene 13, (2003). 201–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, H.E.J., Mann, D.H., and Glaser, P.H. Piston corers for peat and lake sediments. Ecology 65, (1984). 657–659.Google Scholar
Yu, Z.C., McAndrews, J.H., and Eicher, U. Middle Holocene dry climate caused by change in atmospheric circulation patterns: evidence from lake levels and stable isotopes. Geology 25, (1997). 251–254.Google Scholar
Yu, Z.C., Turetsky, M.R., Campbell, I.D., and Vitt, D.H. Modelling long-term peatland dynamics. II. Processes and rates as inferred from litter and peat-core data. Ecological Modelling 145, (2001). 159–173.Google Scholar
Yu, Z.C., Vitt, D.H., Campbell, I.D., and Apps, M.J. Understanding Holocene peat accumulation pattern of continental fens in western Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 81, (2003). 267–282.Google Scholar
Yu, Z.C., Beilman, D.W., and Jones, M.C. Sensitivity of northern peatland carbon dynamics to Holocene climate change. Baird, A.J., Belyea, L.R., Comas, X., Reeve, A., Slater, L. Carbon Cycling in Northern Peatlands, Geophysical Monograph 184, (2009). American Geophysical Union, Washington D.C., USA. 55–69.Google Scholar
Yu, Z.C., Loisel, J., Brosseau, D.P., Beilman, D.W., and Hunt, S.J. Global peatland dynamics since the Last Glacial Maximum. Geophysical Research Letters 37, L13402 (2010). http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2010GL043584Google Scholar