Fig. 4: Relationships between the relative changes in soil respiration (SR) and environmental variables due to WT decline.

Relationships between the relative changes in SR and the a peat depth of pristine peatlands, b soil organic C concentration of pristine peatlands, c WT decline duration, d net changes in water table depth, e relative changes in soil water content and f relative changes in dissolved organic carbon concentration due to WT decline. The gray area indicates the 95% confidence interval for the fitted regression curve. We note that the SR observations were classified based on the climate, peatland type, and driver of WT decline (i.e., land use).