Northern Peatlands Soil Warming Project

Climate Change and the Interactions among Plant Community Structure and Carbon, Nutrient, and Energy Fluxes in Northern Peatlands: A Mesocosm Approach

An understanding of climate change effects on ecosystem structure and function must consider interactions and feedbacks among plant communities and carbon, nutrient, and energy flow. A manipulative, experimental approach greatly enhances the ability to examine these interactions and feedbacks. To achieve our objectives, we constructed a large peatland mesocosm facility in northern Minnesota.

Thus, our focus is on the interactions among:

plant community composition
canopy structure and geometry
nutrient fluxes and availability
CH₄ and CO₂ fluxes
Whole-ecosystem carbon exchange (NEP)
energy fluxes
soil temperature

Conceptual Model

Experimental Design

Results

GALLERY 1	GALLERY 2	GALLERY 3
GALLERY 4	GALLERY 5

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STAFF

METHODS