Under climate warming, increased microbial carbon emissions could diminish the vast carbon stores held in northern peatlands. This large-scale experimental study reveals that warming amplifies carbon uptake by peatland microalgae and partially offsets warming-related increases in microbial carbon emissions.
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References
Nichols, J. E. & Peteet, D. M. Rapid expansion of northern peatlands and doubled estimate of carbon storage. Nat. Geosci. 12, 917–921 (2019). This paper quantifies the sink and stock of carbon in northern peatlands.
Dorrepaal, E. et al. Carbon respiration from subsurface peat accelerated by climate warming in the subarctic. Nature 460, 616–619 (2009). This paper quantifies the loss of carbon from increased microbial respiration caused by warming in peatlands.
Qiu, C. et al. A strong mitigation scenario maintains climate neutrality of northern peatlands. One Earth 5, 86–97 (2022). This paper shows that carbon uptake might balance carbon emissions from peatlands in the future.
Hamard, S. et al. Contribution of microbial photosynthesis to peatland carbon uptake along a latitudinal gradient. J. Ecol. 109, 3424–3441 (2021). This paper quantifies the contribution of microalgae to peatland primary productivity.
Reich, P. B. et al. Effects of climate warming on photosynthesis in boreal tree species depend on soil moisture. Nature 562, 263–267 (2018). This study supplies evidence of the sensitivity of plant photosynthesis to rising temperatures in boreal systems.
Melton, J. R. et al. A map of global peatland extent created using machine learning (Peat-ML). Geosci. Model Dev. 15, 4709–4738 (2022). The source of the global peatland base maps.
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This is a summary of: Hamard, S. et al. Microbial photosynthesis mitigates carbon loss from northern peatlands under warming. Nat. Clim. Change https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02271-8 (2025).
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Peatland microalgae are unsung heroes of climate change mitigation. Nat. Clim. Chang. 15, 360–361 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02272-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02272-7
