An expert system model for mapping tropical wetlands and peatlands reveals South America as the largest contributor

• Published in: Global change biology Vol. 23; no. 9; pp. 3581 - 3599
• Main Authors: Gumbricht, Thomas, Roman‐Cuesta, Rosa Maria, Verchot, Louis, Herold, Martin, Wittmann, Florian, Householder, Ethan, Herold, Nadine, Murdiyarso, Daniel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2017
• Subjects: Africa; Air pollution; Area; Asia; Atmospheric water; basins; Brazil; Climate; Climate Change; Current distribution; Distribution; Ecosystem disturbance; Ecosystem services; Ecosystems; Estimates; Expert Systems; flooded conditions; Geomorphology; Global warming; Greenhouse effect; greenhouse gas emissions; Greenhouse gases; Histosols; Hosts; Indonesia; Laboratorium voor Geo-informatiekunde en remote sensing; Laboratory of Geo-information Science and Remote Sensing; land use; Mapping; PE&RC; Peat; Peatlands; Regulators; River basins; Soil; Soil water; topography; Tropical climate; Tropical environments; tropics; Variability; Water demand; Water supply; Wetlands; South America; Brazil; Asia; Africa; Indonesia; wetlands; land use; peatlands; tropics; climate change
• ISSN: 1354-1013; 1365-2486; 1365-2486
• DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13689

Wetlands are important providers of ecosystem services and key regulators of climate change. They positively contribute to global warming through their greenhouse gas emissions, and negatively through the accumulation of organic material in histosols, particularly in peatlands. Our understanding of wetlands’ services is currently constrained by limited knowledge on their distribution, extent, volume, interannual flood variability and disturbance levels. We present an expert system approach to estimate wetland and peatland areas, depths and volumes, which relies on three biophysical indices related to wetland and peat formation: (1) long‐term water supply exceeding atmospheric water demand; (2) annually or seasonally water‐logged soils; and (3) a geomorphological position where water is supplied and retained. Tropical and subtropical wetlands estimates reach 4.7 million km2 (Mkm2). In line with current understanding, the American continent is the major contributor (45%), and Brazil, with its Amazonian interfluvial region, contains the largest tropical wetland area (800,720 km2). Our model suggests, however, unprecedented extents and volumes of peatland in the tropics (1.7 Mkm2 and 7,268 (6,076–7,368) km3), which more than threefold current estimates. Unlike current understanding, our estimates suggest that South America and not Asia contributes the most to tropical peatland area and volume (ca. 44% for both) partly related to some yet unaccounted extended deep deposits but mainly to extended but shallow peat in the Amazon Basin. Brazil leads the peatland area and volume contribution. Asia hosts 38% of both tropical peat area and volume with Indonesia as the main regional contributor and still the holder of the deepest and most extended peat areas in the tropics. Africa hosts more peat than previously reported but climatic and topographic contexts leave it as the least peat‐forming continent. Our results suggest large biases in our current understanding of the distribution, area and volumes of tropical peat and their continental contributions. Tropical wetlands and peatlands are key providers of ecosystems services, including a role in global climate regulation. Our understanding of extents, volumes, temporal variability and disturbance levels of these ecosystems is limited and controversial. This research presents an expert system model that offers maps and unbiased estimates of area, volume and continental distributions of tropical wetlands and peatlands, suggesting a major contribution of Latin America for them both. These results are against current understanding and shift the continental peatland contribution outside Asia and into Latin America.