Plant belowground traits indicate increased plant-mediated methane transport along a peatland permafrost thaw gradient

Määttä, Tiia M.; Bosman, Samantha H.; Chanton, Jeffrey P.; Crill, Patrick; Hodgkins, Suzanne B.; Kallingal, Jalisha Theanutti; Wilson, Rachel M.; Varner, Ruth; Malhotra, Avni

doi:10.5194/bg-23-6639-2026

Articles | Volume 23, issue 18

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-6639-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-6639-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 18

Research article

|

21 Sep 2026

Research article |

| 21 Sep 2026

Plant belowground traits indicate increased plant-mediated methane transport along a peatland permafrost thaw gradient

Tiia M. Määttä, Samantha H. Bosman, Jeffrey P. Chanton, Patrick Crill, Suzanne B. Hodgkins, Jalisha Theanutti Kallingal, Rachel M. Wilson, Ruth Varner, and Avni Malhotra

Data sets

Plant belowground trait and vegetation survey data from the Stordalen mire 2023 T. Määttä and A. Malhotra https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18269229

CH4 & DIC concentrations & δ13C from porewater at Stordalen Mire, July 2023 R. Wilson et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18363867

Daily CH4 fluxes (from LGR at autochamber sites) and associated peat temperatures at 5 cm, during the productive period of 2023 (2023-05-19 to 2023-08-30) R. Varner et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22086216

Daily peat moisture data associated with automated chamber CH4 flux measurements at the Stordalen mire 2024–2025 C. Biasi et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22091373

Model code and software

Code for Increased plant mediated methane transport along a peatland permafrost thaw gradient, version v1 T. Määttä https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20718440

Short summary

Permafrost thaw can lead to vegetation shifts and higher methane (CH₄) emissions in peatlands. However, plant belowground controls of these emissions are uncertain. We investigated how plant roots and rhizomes contribute to CH₄ emissions along a peatland permafrost thaw gradient. We found that low herbaceous plant root tissue density and high rhizome surface area were associated with higher CH₄ emissions. This indicated increased plant-mediated CH₄ transport with thaw.