Articles | Volume 22, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6057-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6057-2025
Ideas and perspectives
 | 
24 Oct 2025
Ideas and perspectives |  | 24 Oct 2025

Ideas and Perspectives: Potentially large but highly uncertain carbon dioxide emissions resulting from peat erosion

Thomas C. Parker, Chris Evans, Martin G. Evans, Miriam Glendell, Richard Grayson, Joseph Holden, Changjia Li, Pengfei Li, and Rebekka R. E. Artz

Related authors

Reviews and syntheses: Understanding the impacts of peatland catchment management on dissolved organic matter concentration and treatability
Jennifer Williamson, Chris Evans, Bryan Spears, Amy Pickard, Pippa J. Chapman, Heidrun Feuchtmayr, Fraser Leith, Susan Waldron, and Don Monteith
Biogeosciences, 20, 3751–3766, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3751-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3751-2023, 2023
Short summary
Developing a Bayesian network model for understanding river catchment resilience under future change scenarios
Kerr J. Adams, Christopher A. J. Macleod, Marc J. Metzger, Nicola Melville, Rachel C. Helliwell, Jim Pritchard, and Miriam Glendell
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2205–2225, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2205-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2205-2023, 2023
Short summary
Probabilistic modelling of the inherent field-level pesticide pollution risk in a small drinking water catchment using spatial Bayesian belief networks
Mads Troldborg, Zisis Gagkas, Andy Vinten, Allan Lilly, and Miriam Glendell
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 1261–1293, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1261-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1261-2022, 2022
Short summary
The impact of wildfire on biogeochemical fluxes and water quality in boreal catchments
Gustaf Granath, Christopher D. Evans, Joachim Strengbom, Jens Fölster, Achim Grelle, Johan Strömqvist, and Stephan J. Köhler
Biogeosciences, 18, 3243–3261, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3243-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3243-2021, 2021
Short summary
Will UK peatland restoration reduce dissolved organic matter concentrations in upland drinking water supplies?
Jennifer Williamson, Christopher Evans, Bryan Spears, Amy Pickard, Pippa J. Chapman, Heidrun Feuchtmayr, Fraser Leith, and Don Monteith
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2020-450,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2020-450, 2020
Manuscript not accepted for further review
Short summary

Cited articles

Adamczyk, B., Sietio, O. M., Strakova, P., Prommer, J., Wild, B., Hagner, M., Pihlatie, M., Fritze, H., Richter, A., and Heinonsalo, J.: Plant roots increase both decomposition and stable organic matter formation in boreal forest soil, Nat. Commun., 10, 3982, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11993-1, 2019. 
Alderson, D. M., Evans, M. G., Rothwell, J. J., Rhodes, E. J., and Boult, S.: Geomorphological controls on fluvial carbon storage in headwater peatlands, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 44, 1675–1693, https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4602, 2019. 
Alderson, D. M., Evans, M. G., Garnett, M. H., and Worrall, F.: Aged carbon mineralisation from headwater peatland floodplains in the Peak District, UK, Geomorphology, 461, 109271, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2024.109271, 2024. 
Artz, R. R. E., Chapman, S. J., Jean Robertson, A. H., Potts, J. M., Laggoun-Défarge, F., Gogo, S., Comont, L., Disnar, J.-R., and Francez, A.-J.: FTIR spectroscopy can be used as a screening tool for organic matter quality in regenerating cutover peatlands, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 40, 515–527, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2007.09.019, 2008. 
Artz, R. R. E., Coyle, M., Donaldson-Selby, G., and Morrison, R.: Net carbon dioxide emissions from an eroding Atlantic blanket bog, Biogeochemistry, 159, 233–250, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-022-00923-x, 2022. 
Download
Short summary
Many peatlands around the world are eroding and causing carbon losses to the atmosphere and to freshwater systems. To accurately report emissions from peatlands we need to understand how much of the eroded peat is converted to CO2 once exposed to the atmosphere. We need more direct measurements of this process and a better understanding of the environmental conditions that peat is exposed to after it erodes. This information will help quantify the emissions savings from peatland restoration.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint