Elevated CO2 mitigated warming-enhanced carbon loss from northern peatland
12 affiliations
- 1Soil and Crop Sciences Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
- 2Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
- 3Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA.
- 4Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA.
- 5Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA.
- 6Institue for Earth System Science & Remote Sensing, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
- 7Division of Plant Science, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
- 8Department of Biology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
- 9Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
- 10Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
- 11College of Information Sciences and Technology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
- 12Institute of Energy and the Environment, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Abstract
Peatlands store one-third of the global soil carbon (C) on only ∼3% of Earth's land surface but risk becoming C sources to accelerate climate change due to warming-induced C loss. Elevated CO₂ (eCO₂) may mitigate this loss by boosting plant C uptake. However, how eCO₂ and climate warming interact to influence peatland C dynamics remains unclear. Here, we investigated peatland C fate at five warming levels (+0°, +2.25°, +4.5°, +6.75°, and + 9°C), each under ambient CO₂ (aCO₂) and eCO₂ (+500 parts per million), by model-guided synthesis of 18 measured variables for each of the 10 treatments from an experiment. Our results showed that the peatland C loss increased with warming at a rate of 62.6 g C m⁻² year⁻¹°C⁻¹, reaching 476.5 ± 104.7 g C m⁻² year⁻¹ at +9°C under aCO₂, primarily because of increased Sphagnum mortality and accelerated decomposition. eCO₂ reduced the loss rate to 17.3 g C m⁻² year⁻¹°C⁻¹, nearly halving the C loss at +9°C (269.4 ± 80.5 g C m⁻² year⁻¹), mainly due to enhanced tree and shrub growth. Methane emissions increased with warming, similarly under aCO₂ and eCO₂. Our findings suggest that northern peatlands likely become major C sources under climate warming, although rising atmospheric CO₂ concentration may partially slow down the C loss. Climate-driven shifts in plant community structure, rather than peat decomposition alone, play a critical role in regulating peatland C fate and may threaten the stability of peatland ecosystem functions and services in the future.
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BibTeX
@article{zhou2026elevated,
title = {{Elevated CO2 mitigated warming-enhanced carbon loss from northern peatland}},
author = {Jian Zhou and Quan Quan and Wenjuan Huang and Paul J. Hanson and Daniel Ricciuto and Melanie A. Mayes and Natalie A. Griffiths and Verity G. Salmon and Sören Eliot Weber and Jeffrey M. Warren and Richard J. Norby and Mara Y. McPartland and Mirindi Eric Dusenge and Danielle Way and Lifen Jiang and Yu Zhou and Haodi Xu and Feng Tao and Xiaoying Shi and Weinan Chen and Yahai Zhang and Yiqi Luo},
journal = {Science Advances},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aek1491},
url = {https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/sciadv.aek1491},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Elevated CO2 mitigated warming-enhanced carbon loss from northern peatland
AU - Jian Zhou
AU - Quan Quan
AU - Wenjuan Huang
AU - Paul J. Hanson
AU - Daniel Ricciuto
AU - Melanie A. Mayes
AU - Natalie A. Griffiths
AU - Verity G. Salmon
AU - Sören Eliot Weber
AU - Jeffrey M. Warren
AU - Richard J. Norby
AU - Mara Y. McPartland
AU - Mirindi Eric Dusenge
AU - Danielle Way
AU - Lifen Jiang
AU - Yu Zhou
AU - Haodi Xu
AU - Feng Tao
AU - Xiaoying Shi
AU - Weinan Chen
AU - Yahai Zhang
AU - Yiqi Luo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - Science Advances
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aek1491
UR - https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/sciadv.aek1491
AB - Peatlands store one-third of the global soil carbon (C) on only ∼3% of Earth's land surface but risk becoming C sources to accelerate climate change due to warming-induced C loss. Elevated CO₂ (eCO₂) may mitigate this loss by boosting plant C uptake. However, how eCO₂ and climate warming interact to influence peatland C dynamics remains unclear. Here, we investigated peatland C fate at five warming levels (+0°, +2.25°, +4.5°, +6.75°, and + 9°C), each under ambient CO₂ (aCO₂) and eCO₂ (+500 parts per million), by model-guided synthesis of 18 measured variables for each of the 10 treatments from an experiment. Our results showed that the peatland C loss increased with warming at a rate of 62.6 g C m⁻² year⁻¹°C⁻¹, reaching 476.5 ± 104.7 g C m⁻² year⁻¹ at +9°C under aCO₂, primarily because of increased Sphagnum mortality and accelerated decomposition. eCO₂ reduced the loss rate to 17.3 g C m⁻² year⁻¹°C⁻¹, nearly halving the C loss at +9°C (269.4 ± 80.5 g C m⁻² year⁻¹), mainly due to enhanced tree and shrub growth. Methane emissions increased with warming, similarly under aCO₂ and eCO₂. Our findings suggest that northern peatlands likely become major C sources under climate warming, although rising atmospheric CO₂ concentration may partially slow down the C loss. Climate-driven shifts in plant community structure, rather than peat decomposition alone, play a critical role in regulating peatland C fate and may threaten the stability of peatland ecosystem functions and services in the future.
SN - 2375-2548
ER -