CO 2 emissions from an undrained tropical peatland: Interacting influences of temperature, shading and water table depth

Emission of CO from tropical peatlands is an important component of the global carbon budget. Over days to months, these fluxes are largely controlled by water table depth. However, the diurnal cycle is less well understood, in part, because most measurements have been collected daily at midday. We used an automated chamber system to make hourly measurements of peat surface CO emissions from chambers root-cut to 30 cm. We then used these data to disentangle the relationship between temperature, water table and heterotrophic respiration (R ). We made two central observations. First, we found strong diurnal cycles in CO flux and near-surface peat temperature (