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Wetland Invasion by Typha×glauca Increases Soil Methane Emissions
Aquatic Botany
  • Beth A Lawrence, University of Connecticut
  • Shane Lishawa, Loyola University Chicago
  • Nancy Tuchman, Loyola University Chicago
  • Nia Hurst, DePaul University
  • Buck T Castillo, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-24-2016
Pages
80-87
Disciplines
Abstract

Wetland invasion by monotypic dominant plants can alter the physicochemical and biological properties of soils that affect methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas. We examined the effects of Typha × glauca invasion on soil methane using laboratory incubation and controlled mesocosm experiments. Typha-invaded soils collected from three Midwestern (USA) wetlands had greater methane production potential during laboratory incubation than soils dominated by native wet meadow vegetation. Ten years post-invasion of native plant-dominated mesocosms, Typha increased methane emissions at least three-fold (native: 15.0 ± 10.5 mg CH4-C m−2 h−1, median: 6.1 mg CH4-C m−2 h−1; Typha: mean: 45.9 ± 16.7 mg CH4-C m−2 h−1, median: 26.8 mg CH4-C m−2 h−1) under high (+10 cm) water levels, though methane emissions were negligible under low (–10 cm) water levels. Methane emissions were positively correlated with soil carbon, nitrogen, and aboveground biomass, all of which were greater in Typha-invaded mesocosms. Together, our data suggest that replacement of large tracts of native wetlands throughout eastern North America with monocultures of invasive Typha could alter regional methane emissions.

Comments

Author Posting. © Elsevier B.V. 2016. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Aquatic Botany, vol. 137, January, 2017. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304377016302169

Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
Citation Information
Beth A Lawrence, Shane Lishawa, Nancy Tuchman, Nia Hurst, et al.. "Wetland Invasion by Typha×glauca Increases Soil Methane Emissions" Aquatic Botany Vol. 137 (2016)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/nancy_tuchman/13/