Spruce and Peatland ResponsesUnder Changing Environments
This data set provides the environmental measurements collected during the implementation of operational methods to achieve both deep soil heating (0-3 m) and whole-ecosystem warming (WEW) appropriate to the scale of tall-stature, high-carbon, boreal forest peatlands. The methods were developed to allow scientists to provide a plausible set of ecosystem warming scenarios within which immediate and longer term (one decade) responses of organisms (microbes to trees) and ecosystem functions (carbon, water and nutrient cycles) could be measured. Elevated CO2 was also incorporated to test how temperature responses may be modified by atmospheric CO2 effects on carbon cycle processes. Data through 2020 now available.
This data set provides a record of the half-hourly automated water table depth data collected for 12 SPRUCE plots (4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, and 21) beginning during deep peat heating (DPH) in 2015 and continuing throughout the whole ecosystem warming (WEW) manipulations for the SPRUCE Project (Hanson et al. 2017). Also provided are plot normalized data for water table depths with respect to mean hollow locations within each plot. The hollow referenced data provide the basis for the intercomparison of peat saturation or aeration across treatment plots. A limited data set for manual water table observations in 2019 is also provided as a reference to the plot center automated observations
Data set contains empirical physiological, morphological, and chemical data collected on two dominant conifer species, Picea mariana and Larix laricina, between May 2016 and August 2017 at the SPRUCE (Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments) experiment that assesses the response of peatland ecosystems to whole-ecosystem warming and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Data reported include: measurements of light-saturated net photosynthesis and dark respiration at ambient atmospheric CO2 concentration (2016), CO2 response curves of light-saturated net photosynthesis (2017), leaf morphology (leaf mass per unit leaf area), and nitrogen content (on both mass and area basis).
These data are provided in support of the publication: Warming Promotes the Use of Organic Matter as an Electron Acceptor in a Peatland (Rush et al., 2021)
Rush et al. (2021) reported on the effect of temperature on microbial organic matter reduction at the SPRUCE study site and S1 bog. Specifically, electron shuttling capacity (ESC), CH4 production, CO2 production, and acetate concentration were measured to explore both direct and indirect (through changes in soil quality and water-table level) effects of warming on microbial activity. Samples were collected in the summer of 2016 and 2017 depending on the experiment.
