Soil nitrogen determines greenhouse gas emissions from northern peatlands under concurrent warming and vegetation shifting

Abstract

Boreal peatlands store an enormous pool of soil carbon that is dependent upon - and vulnerable to changes in - climate, as well as plant community composition. However, how nutrient availability affects the effects of climate and vegetation change on ecosystem processes in these nutrient-poor ecosystems remains unclear. Here we show that although warming promoted higher CH₄ emissions, the concurrent addition of N counteracted most (79%) of this effect. The regulation effects of the vegetation functional group, associated with the substrate quality, suggest that CH₄ emissions from peatlands under future warming will be less than expected with predicted shrub expansion. In contrast, N₂O flux will be enhanced under future warming with predicted shrub expansion. Our study suggests that changes in greenhouse gas emissions in response to future warming and shifts in plant community composition depend on N availability, which reveals the complex interactions that occur when N is not a limiting nutrient.