A cautionary tale about using the apparent carbon accumulation rate (aCAR) obtained from peat cores

Abstract The carbon (C) accumulation histories of peatlands are of great interest to scientists, land users and policy makers. Because peatlands contain more than 500 billion tonnes of C, an understanding of the fate of this dynamic store, when subjected to the pressures of land use or climate chang...

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Autores principales:	Dylan M. Young, Andy J. Baird, Angela V. Gallego-Sala, Julie Loisel
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/e7c48a7581be4cfda093888f0ec6f969
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:e7c48a7581be4cfda093888f0ec6f9692021-12-02T15:38:11ZA cautionary tale about using the apparent carbon accumulation rate (aCAR) obtained from peat cores10.1038/s41598-021-88766-82045-2322https://doaj.org/article/e7c48a7581be4cfda093888f0ec6f9692021-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88766-8https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The carbon (C) accumulation histories of peatlands are of great interest to scientists, land users and policy makers. Because peatlands contain more than 500 billion tonnes of C, an understanding of the fate of this dynamic store, when subjected to the pressures of land use or climate change, is an important part of climate-change mitigation strategies. Information from peat cores is often used to recreate a peatland’s C accumulation history from recent decades to past millennia, so that comparisons between past and current rates can be made. However, these present day observations of peatlands’ past C accumulation rates (known as the apparent rate of C accumulation - aCAR) are usually different from the actual uptake or loss of C that occurred at the time (the true C balance). Here we use a simple peatland model and a more detailed ecosystem model to illustrate why aCAR should not be used to compare past and current C accumulation rates. Instead, we propose that data from peat cores are used with existing or new C balance models to produce reliable estimates of how peatland C function has changed over time.Dylan M. YoungAndy J. BairdAngela V. Gallego-SalaJulie LoiselNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Dylan M. Young Andy J. Baird Angela V. Gallego-Sala Julie Loisel A cautionary tale about using the apparent carbon accumulation rate (aCAR) obtained from peat cores
description	Abstract The carbon (C) accumulation histories of peatlands are of great interest to scientists, land users and policy makers. Because peatlands contain more than 500 billion tonnes of C, an understanding of the fate of this dynamic store, when subjected to the pressures of land use or climate change, is an important part of climate-change mitigation strategies. Information from peat cores is often used to recreate a peatland’s C accumulation history from recent decades to past millennia, so that comparisons between past and current rates can be made. However, these present day observations of peatlands’ past C accumulation rates (known as the apparent rate of C accumulation - aCAR) are usually different from the actual uptake or loss of C that occurred at the time (the true C balance). Here we use a simple peatland model and a more detailed ecosystem model to illustrate why aCAR should not be used to compare past and current C accumulation rates. Instead, we propose that data from peat cores are used with existing or new C balance models to produce reliable estimates of how peatland C function has changed over time.
format	article
author	Dylan M. Young Andy J. Baird Angela V. Gallego-Sala Julie Loisel
author_facet	Dylan M. Young Andy J. Baird Angela V. Gallego-Sala Julie Loisel
author_sort	Dylan M. Young
title	A cautionary tale about using the apparent carbon accumulation rate (aCAR) obtained from peat cores
title_short	A cautionary tale about using the apparent carbon accumulation rate (aCAR) obtained from peat cores
title_full	A cautionary tale about using the apparent carbon accumulation rate (aCAR) obtained from peat cores
title_fullStr	A cautionary tale about using the apparent carbon accumulation rate (aCAR) obtained from peat cores
title_full_unstemmed	A cautionary tale about using the apparent carbon accumulation rate (aCAR) obtained from peat cores
title_sort	cautionary tale about using the apparent carbon accumulation rate (acar) obtained from peat cores
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/e7c48a7581be4cfda093888f0ec6f969
work_keys_str_mv	AT dylanmyoung acautionarytaleaboutusingtheapparentcarbonaccumulationrateacarobtainedfrompeatcores AT andyjbaird acautionarytaleaboutusingtheapparentcarbonaccumulationrateacarobtainedfrompeatcores AT angelavgallegosala acautionarytaleaboutusingtheapparentcarbonaccumulationrateacarobtainedfrompeatcores AT julieloisel acautionarytaleaboutusingtheapparentcarbonaccumulationrateacarobtainedfrompeatcores AT dylanmyoung cautionarytaleaboutusingtheapparentcarbonaccumulationrateacarobtainedfrompeatcores AT andyjbaird cautionarytaleaboutusingtheapparentcarbonaccumulationrateacarobtainedfrompeatcores AT angelavgallegosala cautionarytaleaboutusingtheapparentcarbonaccumulationrateacarobtainedfrompeatcores AT julieloisel cautionarytaleaboutusingtheapparentcarbonaccumulationrateacarobtainedfrompeatcores
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A cautionary tale about using the apparent carbon accumulation rate (aCAR) obtained from peat cores

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