Abstract
Boreal peatlands provide an important carbon store, which is highly susceptible to future changes in the global climate. Predictions of climate feedbacks on the peatland carbon balance require an in-depth understanding of how vegetation dynamics and environmental conditions jointly govern the production and decomposition of organic matter. However, detailed knowledge on the separate roles of plant functional groups (PFGs) in regulating peatland production and respiration fluxes in response to various abiotic factors at sub-seasonal scales is currently lacking. In this study, we used high-temporal resolution CO(2) flux data from an automated chamber system established across experimental vegetation removal plots to separate the production and respiration fluxes of vascular plants and Sphagnum mosses over three growing seasons (2021-2023) in a boreal peatland. We found that gross primary production (GPP) of Sphagnum mosses exceeded that of vascular plants during green-up (average ratio: 1.18) and senescence (1.11), whereas vascular plants were the main contributor during the peak season (0.88). Vascular plants dominated autotrophic respiration (RA; 78%-93%) in all phenophases and contributed 38%-40% to growing season ecosystem respiration. For both PFGs, plant phenology was the primary driver for variations in GPP during green-up, whereas photosynthetic photon flux density was most important in regulating GPP during the peak season and senescence. Vascular plants reached greater maximum GPP throughout all phenophases, whereas Sphagnum mosses had a higher initial light use efficiency during green-up and senescence. Moss RA exhibited greater daytime temperature sensitivity than vascular plants during the peak season and senescence, but not during nighttime. These findings highlight that climate change effects on vegetation phenology and composition may strongly alter the peatland carbon cycle. Thus, understanding the separate roles of vascular plants and Sphagnum mosses in regulating production and respiration fluxes in different environmental conditions is crucial to improve predictions of northern peatland carbon cycle-climate feedbacks.