Global CO2 emissions from dry inland waters share common drivers across ecosystems

Many inland waters exhibit complete or partial desiccation, or have vanished due to global change, exposing sediments to the atmosphere. Yet, data on carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from these sediments are too scarce to upscale emissions for global estimates or to understand their fundamental driv...

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Published inNature communications Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 1 - 8
Main Authors Keller, P. S., Catalán, N., von Schiller, D., Grossart, H.-P., Koschorreck, M., Obrador, B., Frassl, M. A., Karakaya, N., Barros, N., Howitt, J. A., Mendoza-Lera, C., Pastor, A., Flaim, G., Aben, R., Riis, T., Arce, M. I., Onandia, G., Paranaíba, J. R., Linkhorst, A., del Campo, R., Amado, A. M., Cauvy-Fraunié, S., Brothers, S., Condon, J., Mendonça, R. F., Reverey, F., Rõõm, E.-I., Datry, T., Roland, F., Laas, A., Obertegger, U., Park, J.-H., Wang, H., Kosten, S., Gómez, R., Feijoó, C., Elosegi, A., Sánchez-Montoya, M. M., Finlayson, C. M., Melita, M., Oliveira Junior, E. S., Muniz, C. C., Gómez-Gener, L., Leigh, C., Zhang, Q., Marcé, R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.05.2020
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
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Summary:Many inland waters exhibit complete or partial desiccation, or have vanished due to global change, exposing sediments to the atmosphere. Yet, data on carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from these sediments are too scarce to upscale emissions for global estimates or to understand their fundamental drivers. Here, we present the results of a global survey covering 196 dry inland waters across diverse ecosystem types and climate zones. We show that their CO 2 emissions share fundamental drivers and constitute a substantial fraction of the carbon cycled by inland waters. CO 2 emissions were consistent across ecosystem types and climate zones, with local characteristics explaining much of the variability. Accounting for such emissions increases global estimates of carbon emissions from inland waters by 6% (~0.12 Pg C y −1 ). Our results indicate that emissions from dry inland waters represent a significant and likely increasing component of the inland waters carbon cycle. Many inland waters seasonally or permanently dry up, thus exposing sediments to the atmosphere. Here the authors show that a substantial amount of CO 2 is emitted from these dry sediments, increasing current inland water carbon flux estimates by 6%.
Bibliography:PMCID: PMC7195363
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-020-15929-y