Abstract
CO2 efflux from tropical peat swamp substrates was measured under three different land uses (selectively logged forest, recently burned and cleared forest, and agriculture) in Jambi Province, eastern Sumatra over a six-month period that incorporated parts of both the major wet and dry seasons. Clearance of peat swamp forest and cultivation led to increased emissions: mean CO2 effluxes ranged from 2.59 ± 0.22 μmolCO2 m−2 sec-1 for peat beneath selectively logged forest to 4.44 ± 1.16 μmolCO2 m−2 sec-1 beneath recently burned and cleared forest to 5.58 ± 1.34 μmolCO2 m−2 sec-1 beneath settled agriculture. Mean CO2 effluxes were significantly correlated with soil temperature at 20 cm depth (Q10 = 2.5) and water-table position. We combined SPOT satellite and CO2 efflux data to establish that the conversion of selectively logged forest to agricultural land has led to a substantial increase in annual emissions of CO2-C in the study area.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Aerts, R. and F. Ludwig. 1997. Water-table changes and nutritional status affect trace gas emissions from laboratory columns of peatland soils. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 29: 1691–1698.
Chapman, S. J. and M. Thurlow. 1996. The influence of climate on CO2 and CH4 emissions from organic soils. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 79: 205–217.
Chimner, R. A. 2004. Soil respiration rates of tropical peatlands in Micronesia and Hawaii. Wetlands 24: 51–56.
Chimner, R. A. and D. J. Copper. 2003. Influence of water table levels on CO2 emissions in a Colorado subalpine fen: an in situ microcosm study. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 35: 345–351.
Couturier, S., D. Taylor, F. Siegert, A. Hoffmann, and M. Q. Bao. 2001. ERS SAR backscatter—A potential real-time indicator of the proneness of modified rainforests to fire. Remote Sensing of Environment 76: 410–417.
Crutzen, P. J. and M. O. Andreae. 1990. Biomass burning in the tropics: impact on atmospheric chemistry and biogeochemical cycles. Science 250: 1669–1678.
Fearnside, P. M. 2000. Global warming and tropical land-use change: greenhouse gas emissions from biomass burning, decomposition and soils in forest conversion, shifting cultivation and secondary vegetation. Climate Change 46: 115–158.
Furukawa, H. 1994. Coastal Wetlands of Indonesia: Environment, Subsistence and Exploitation. Kyoto University Press, Kyoto, Japan.
Gorham, E. 1991. Northern peatlands: role in the carbon cycle and probable responses to climate warming. Ecological Applications 1: 182–195.
Hadi, A., M. Haridi, K. Inubushi, E. Purnomo, F. Razie, and H. Tsuruta. 2001. Effects of land-use changes in tropical peat soil on the microbial population and emission of greenhouse gases. Microbes and Environments 16: 79–86.
Inubushi, K., Y. Furukawa, A. Hadi, E. Purnomo, and H. Tsuruta. 2003. Seasonal changes of CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes in relation to land-use change in tropical peatlands located in coastal area of South Kalimantan. Chemosphere 52: 603–608.
Inubushi, K., A. Hadi, M. Okazaki, and K. Yonebayashi. 1998. Effect of converting wetland forest to sago palm plantations on methane gas flux and organic carbon dynamics in tropical peat soil. Hydrological Processes 12: 2073–2080.
IPCC 1996. Climate Change 1995: Impacts, Adaptations and Mitigation of Climate Change: Scientific-Technical Analyses. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
IPCC 2001. Climate Change 2001: Scientific Basis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Janssens, I. A., A. S. Kowalski, B. Longdoz, and R. Ceulemans. 2000. Assessing forest soil CO2 efflux: an in situ comparison of four techniques. Tree Physiology 20: 23–32.
Kalbitz, K., W. Geyer, and S. Geyer. 1999. Spectroscopic properties of dissolved humic substances—a reflection of land use history in a fen area. Biogeochemistry 47: 219–238.
Laumonier, Y. 1997. The Vegetation and Physiography of Sumatra. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Lessard, R., P. Rochette, E. Topp, E. Pattey, R. L. Desjardins, and G. Beaumont. 1994. Methane and carbon dioxide fluxes from poorly drained adjacent cultivated and forest sites. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 74: 139–146.
Mitra, S., R. Wassmann, and P. L. G. Vlek. 2005. An appraisal of global wetland area and its organic carbon stock. Current Science 88: 25–35.
Murayama, S. and Z. A. Bakar. 1996. Decomposition of tropical soils 2. Estimation of in situ decomposition by measurement of CO2 flux. Japan Agricultural Research Quarterly 30: 153–158.
Page, S. E., F. Siegert, J. O. Rieley, H. D. V. Boehm, A. Jaya, and S. Limin. 2003. The amount of carbon released from peat and forest fires in Indonesia during 1997. Nature 420: 61–65.
Raich, J. W. and W. H. Schlesinger. 1992. The global carbon dioxide flux in soil respiration and its relationship to vegetation and climate. Tellus 44B: 81–99.
Rosenzweig, C. and D. Hillel. 2000. Soils and global climate changes: challenges and opportunities. Soil Science 165: 47–56.
Silvola, J., J. Alm, U. Ahlholm, H. Nykänen, and P. J. Martikainen. 1996. CO2 fluxes from peat in boreal mires under varying temperature and moisture conditions. Journal of Ecology 84: 219–228.
Stolle, F., K. M. Chomitz, E. F. Lambin, and T. P. Tomich. 2003. Land use and vegetation fires in Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. Forest Ecology and Management, 179: 277–292.
Stolle, F. and T. P. Tomich. 1999. The 1997–1998 fire event. Nature and Resources 35: 22–30.
Taylor, D. and P. G. Sanderson. 2002 Global changes, mangrove forests and implications for hazards along continental shorelines, p. 203–226. In R. Sidle (ed.) Environmental Change and Geomorphic Hazards in Forests, IUFRO Research Series 9, Wallingford, U.K.
Tinker, P. B., J. S. I. Ingram, and S. Struwe. 1996. Effects of slash and burn agriculture and deforestation on climate change. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 58: 13–22.
Van Nieuwstadt, M. G. L. and D. Sheil. 2005. Drought, fire and tree survival in a Borneo rain forest, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Journal of Ecology 93: 191–201.
Waelbroeck, C. 1993. Climate soil processes in the presence of permafrost—a systems modelling approach. Ecological Modelling 69: 185–225.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ali, M., Taylor, D. & Inubushi, K. Effects of environmental variations on CO2 Efflux from a Tropical Peatland in eastern Sumatra. Wetlands 26, 612–618 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2006)26[612:EOEVOC]2.0.CO;2
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2006)26[612:EOEVOC]2.0.CO;2