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Although mangrove forests are great carbon sinks, they also release carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from soil, plants, and water through respiration. Many studies have focused on CO 2 effluxes only from soils, but the role of biogenic structures such as pneumatophore roots has been poorly studied. Hence, CO 2 effluxes from pneumatophores were quantified at sediment-air (non-flooded sediment) and water-air (flooded sediment) interfaces along a salinity gradient in three mangrove types (fringe, scrub, and basin) dominated by Avicennia germinans during the dry and rainy seasons in Yucatan, Mexico. Pneumatophore abundance explained up to 91% of CO 2 effluxes for scrub, 87% for fringe, and 83% for basin mangrove forests at the water-air interface. Overall, CO 2 effluxes were inversely correlated with temperature and salinity. The highest CO 2 effluxes were in the fringe and the lowest were in the scrub mangrove forests. Flooding decreased CO 2 effluxes from the dry to the rainy season in all mangrove forests. These results highlight the contribution of pneumatophores to mangrove respiration, and the need to include them in our current carbon budgets and models, but considering different exchange interfaces, seasons, and mangrove ecotypes., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Peatlands are recognized as crucial greenhouse gas sources and sinks and have been extensively studied. Their emissions exhibit high spatial heterogeneity when measured on site using flux chambers. However, the mechanism by which this spatial variability behaves on a very fine scale remains unclear. This study investigates the fine-scale spatial variability of greenhouse gas emissions from a subantarctic Sphagnum peatland bog. Using a recently developed skirt chamber, methane emissions and ecosystem respiration (as carbon dioxide) were measured at a submeter scale resolution, at five specific 3 × 3 m plots, which were examined across the site throughout a single campaign during the Austral summer season. The results indicated that methane fluxes were significantly less homogeneously distributed compared with ecosystem respiration. Furthermore, we established that the spatial variation scale, i.e., the minimum spatial domain over which notable changes in methane emissions and ecosystem respiration occur, was <0.56 m 2 . Factors such as ground height relative to the water table and vegetation coverage were analyzed. It was observed that Tetroncium magellanicum exhibited a notable correlation with higher methane fluxes, likely because of the aerenchymatous nature of this species, facilitating gas transport. This study advances understanding of gas exchange patterns in peatlands but also emphasizes the need for further efforts for characterizing spatial dynamics at a very fine scale for precise greenhouse gas budget assessment.

Accurate measurements of methane (CH 4 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) fluxes from tree stems are important for understanding greenhouse gas emissions. Closed chamber methods are commonly employed for this purpose; however, leaks between the chamber and the atmosphere as well as gas accumulation, known as the concentration buildup effect, can impact flux measurements significantly. In this study, we investigated the impacts of concentration buildup and leaks on semi-rigid closed chamber methods. Field measurements were conducted on six tree species, including three species from a Mexican mangrove ecosystem and three species from a Magellanic sub-Antarctic forest. Systematic observations revealed significant leak flow rates, ranging from 0.00 to 465 L h -1 , with a median value of 1.25 ± 75.67 L h -1 . We tested the efficacy of using cement to reduce leaks, achieving a leak flow rate reduction of 46-98 % without complete elimination. Our study also demonstrates a clear and substantial impact of concentration buildup on CH 4 flux measurements, while CO 2 flux measurements were relatively less affected across all tree species studied. Our results show that the combined effects of leaks and concentration buildup can lead to an underestimation of CH 4 emissions by an average of 40 ± 20 % and CO 2 emissions by 22 ± 22 %, depending on the bark roughness. Based on these findings, we recall a straightforward yet effective method to minimize experimental errors associated with these phenomena, previously established, and reiterated in the current context, for calculating emissions that considers effects of leaks and concentration buildup, while eliminating the need for separate determinations of these phenomena. Overall, the results, combined with a literature review, suggest that our current estimates of GHG flux from tree stems are currently underestimated., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)