Bart Crezee
Mapping peat thickness and carbon stocks of the central Congo Basin using field data
Crezee, Bart; Dargie, Greta C.; Ewango, Corneille E. N.; Mitchard, Edward T. A.; Emba B., Ovide; Kanyama T., Joseph; Bola, Pierre; Ndjango, Jean-Bosco N.; Girkin, Nicholas T.; Bocko, Yannick E.; Ifo, Suspense A.; Hubau, Wannes; Seidensticker, Dirk; Batumike, Rodrigue; Imani, Gérard; Cuní-Sanchez, Aida; Kiahtipes, Christopher A.; Lebamba, Judicaël; Wotzka, Hans-Peter; Bean, Hollie; Baker, Timothy R.; Baird, Andy J.; Boom, Arnoud; Morris, Paul J.; Page, Susan E.; Lawson, Ian T.; Lewis, Simon L.
Authors
Greta C. Dargie
Corneille E. N. Ewango
Edward T. A. Mitchard
Ovide Emba B.
Joseph Kanyama T.
Pierre Bola
Jean-Bosco N. Ndjango
NICHOLAS GIRKIN Nicholas.Girkin3@nottingham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor in Environmental Sci
Yannick E. Bocko
Suspense A. Ifo
Wannes Hubau
Dirk Seidensticker
Rodrigue Batumike
Gérard Imani
Aida Cuní-Sanchez
Christopher A. Kiahtipes
Judicaël Lebamba
Hans-Peter Wotzka
Hollie Bean
Timothy R. Baker
Andy J. Baird
Arnoud Boom
Paul J. Morris
Susan E. Page
Ian T. Lawson
Simon L. Lewis
Abstract
The world’s largest tropical peatland complex is found in the central Congo Basin. However, there is a lack of in situ measurements to understand the peatland’s distribution and the amount of carbon stored in it. So far, peat in this region has been sampled only in largely rain-fed interfluvial basins in the north of the Republic of the Congo. Here we present the first extensive field surveys of peat in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which covers two-thirds of the estimated peatland area, including from previously undocumented river-influenced settings. We use field data from both countries to compute the first spatial models of peat thickness (mean 1.7 ± 0.9 m; maximum 5.6 m) and peat carbon density (mean 1,712 ± 634 MgC ha−1; maximum 3,970 MgC ha−1) for the central Congo Basin. We show that the peatland complex covers 167,600 km2, 36% of the world’s tropical peatland area, and that 29.0 PgC is stored below ground in peat across the region (95% confidence interval, 26.3–32.2 PgC). Our measurement-based constraints give high confidence of globally significant peat carbon stocks in the central Congo Basin, totalling approximately 28% of the world’s tropical peat carbon. Only 8% of this peat carbon lies within nationally protected areas, suggesting its vulnerability to future land-use change.
Citation
Crezee, B., Dargie, G. C., Ewango, C. E. N., Mitchard, E. T. A., Emba B., O., Kanyama T., J., …Lewis, S. L. (2022). Mapping peat thickness and carbon stocks of the central Congo Basin using field data. Nature Geoscience, 15(8), 639-644. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00966-7
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | May 10, 2022 |
Online Publication Date | Jul 21, 2022 |
Publication Date | Aug 1, 2022 |
Deposit Date | Jan 17, 2024 |
Journal | Nature Geoscience |
Print ISSN | 1752-0894 |
Electronic ISSN | 1752-0908 |
Publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 15 |
Issue | 8 |
Pages | 639-644 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00966-7 |
Keywords | General Earth and Planetary Sciences |
Public URL | https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/10357488 |
Publisher URL | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-022-00966-7 |
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