For Peat’s Sake
One of the terrible tipping points is oxidation of Peat due to warming (another is release of methane from melting tundra). But one key question is why didn’t the carbon in peat turn to methane?
I think the reason is that methanogens can’t handle low pH and that a combination of waste and acid promotes takeover by Spagnum moss which is one of the worlds leading carbon sinks.
Links. Ph, Sphagnum, preventing bovine flatulence, For Pete’s Sake.
Radiocarbon Analyses Quantify Peat Carbon Losses With Increasing Temperature in a Whole Ecosystem Warming Experiment
How Much Worse Will Thawing Arctic Permafrost Make Climate Change?
Scientific American – August 11, 2021
High peatland methane emissions following permafrost thaw: enhanced acetoclastic methanogenesis during early successional stages
Biogeosciences – June 24, 2022
How microbes in permafrost could trigger a massive carbon bomb
Nature – March 17, 2021