Introduction

Site & Vegetation

Experimental Setup

Example Data

Results

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Of the wetlands that existed in New Zealand before European settlement, 10% remain and many are threatened by development. Wetlands are often threatened by land development because they occupy lowland areas and, once drained, their organic soils are valuable for agriculture. Those left are often limited in size and their hydrological regimes may be affected by surrounding landuse practices. Attempts to restore or manage wetlands have been ineffective to date, because of the lack of knowledge about basic peatland processes. Studies of wetland hydrology and its association with peat accumulation are vital, given that high water tables are responsible for maintaining anaerobic conditions and minimising wetland decomposition.

There is a paucity of hydrological research for New Zealand wetlands hence research is needed to ascertain their role as atmospheric carbon sinks, for the development of effective management and restoration practises and to act as a basis for evaluating the ecological impact of changes to their hydrological regimes.

An experiment using the eddy covariance method was established at Moanatuatua peat bog (Waikato, New Zealand) to achieve the following objectives:

Objectives

1. Investigate controls on evaporation at diurnal and seasonal timescales, and develop a model to be used for water balance studies.

2. Investigate controls and feedbacks of net ecosystem production including identification of switches between sink and source of CO₂ from diurnal to annual time scales.

3. Investigate the link between substrate temperature and water table level and CO₂ fluxes.

4. Model peatland carbon exchange to investigate if the wetland is a net source or sink of CO₂ and predict for climate and ecological change scenarios.

The next section describes the site and vegetation.