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Contributed Talk

Session: : Wetlands 1

COS 272-6 - CANCELLED - Impacts of grazing on greenhouse gas emissions from high elevation Andean peatlands

Thursday, August 10, 2023
11:15 AM – 11:30 AM PDT
Location: E145
Abstract: High elevation Andean peatlands, while small in area, are large in number and hold deep deposits of dense peat that have accumulated into a major C store. These systems are also under-studied despite having unusual peat-forming plant communities and experiencing different land-use pressures from their northern counterparts. This is problematic for policy and management because international standards such as the default emissions factors in the IPCC are unlikely to apply. Indeed, there is not currently a default emissions factor for grazing on undrained peatlands – a major land-use pressure on this system. To improve our understanding of the impacts of grazing pressures on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Andean peatlands, we conducted an extensive survey of CH4 and CO2 fluxes at high elevation peat sites in Ecuador. We then assessed the influence of environmental parameters such as pH, plant community composition, and grazing pressure on GHG emissions. We found that grazing pressure and pH played dominant roles in driving emissions regardless of plant community composition. This study provides an indication of the major drivers of GHG emissions from Andean peatlands that can be used to design emissions factors for use in conservation and emissions reduction policy.