A study simulating the dynamics of peat in a Peruvian Amazon basin from 2100 AD to 12,000 years ago finds that although peatlands are currently a sink of soil organic carbon, under warm and wet conditions peat accumulation may slow and peatlands may become a net source of carbon to the atmosphere, with basin peatland and nonpeatland soils together releasing up to 0.4 petagrams of carbon into the atmosphere by 2100, according to the authors.
###
Article #18-01317: "Potential shift from a carbon sink to a source in Amazonian peatlands under a changing climate," by Sirui Wang, Qianlai Zhuang, Outi Lähteenoja, Freddie Draper, and Hinsby Cadillo-Quiroz.
MEDIA CONTACT: Qianlai Zhuang, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN; tel: 765-494-9610; e-mail: qzhuang@purdue.edu
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences