Estimation of carbon dioxide fluxes on a ridge-hollow bog complex using a high resolution orthophotoplan

• Main Authors: Dmitry G. Ivanov, Ivan P. Kotlov, Tatiana Y. Minayeva, Julia A. Kurbatova
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Fund for Support and Development of Protected Areas 2021-05-01
• Series: Nature Conservation Research: Zapovednaâ Nauka
• Subjects: chamber method; co2; groundwater level; microtopography; peatland; spatial heterogeneity; unmanned aerial vehicle
• Online Access: http://ncr-journal.bear-land.org/article/326

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles for detailed mapping of ecosystems has become increasingly important in recent years. As one of the main terrestrial carbon reserves, peatland ecosystems are of the great interest in obtaining highly detailed orthophotoplans. At the same time, there is a lack of publications devoted to the total carbon dioxide fluxes in each type of bog microforms. This paper presents the results of our study, which aimed to develop methods for mapping peatland microlandscapes and for estimation of integral carbon dioxide fluxes between the peatland surface and the atmosphere. Based on a highly detailed orthophotoplan compiled using unmanned aerial vehicles, we assessed the areas of major microform groups (swamps, hollows, and ridges) in a bog located in the Central Forest State Nature Biosphere Reserve (European Russia). The classification accuracy ranged from 79% to 93%. The areas of ridges, hollows, and swamps were 0.16 km2, 0.32 km2, and 0.12 km2, respectively. To make an integral estimation of carbon dioxide fluxes, we used earlier data on carbon dioxide emissions (ecosystem respiration), uptake (gross ecosystem exchange), and balance (net ecosystem exchange) measured by soil chamber method on representative experimental plots of respective microform types. After recalculating fluxes to areas of microforms, the integral values for different classes in the summer seasons of 2014, 2016 and 2017 were 15–91 kg CO2 × h-1 for ecosystem respiration, 21–190 kg CO2 × h-1 for gross ecosystem exchange, and from -122 kg CO2 × h-1 to 41 kg CO2 × h-1 for net ecosystem exchange. The results of the study confirmed that highly detailed orthophotoplans, obtained with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, make it possible to distinguish the boundaries of such bog microforms as swamps, hollows and ridges with a high accuracy, despite the presence of some errors in the classification. The study of the structural and functional organisation of the bog should be carried out with considering its seasonal and interannual dynamics as well as all microform types.