Abstract
The project attempts to answer the question what effects changes in temperature, precipitation and N deposition will have on the competition between Sphagnum species and the rate of carbon sequestration. The project will focus on four sites in a North-South transect throughout Western-Europe: North-Sweden, Central Sweden, South-Sweden, Germany. This transect constitutes both a temperature and a N deposition gradient. Along this transect peat samples will be transplanted from northern to southern sites to investigate the combined effects of an increase in temperature and N deposition. After three years changes in Sphagnum and vascular plant species composition and the accumulated amounts of carbon will be measured. Experiments will be performed under controlled conditions to analyse the effects of changes in temperature, water table and N input on growth and competition between Sphagnum species. In separate experiments we will measure potential growth, dead moss decomposability, drought resistance and length growth per unit mass increment. These plant features will be related to morphological features as branching density, leaf density and leaf length and the concentrations of the various chemical compounds that affect dead moss decomposition. We attempt to explain the reconstructed changes in species composition and C accumulation during the last 400 years as affected by climatic fluctuations on the basis of these relations.
Netherlands