When do restored and reclaimed peatlands regain their typical carbon sink function?
Human activities, like resource extraction, inevitably overlap with peatland areas. While only an estimated 2% of Canadian peatlands have been disturbed to date, ongoing human development will continue to impact new areas. These industrial activities disrupt the natural ability of peatlands to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and store it as soil carbon. Depending on the disturbance type and how it changes the normal conditions present in that peatland, impacted areas may also release previously stored soil carbon as CO2 or methane (CH4). These changes to the usual greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange have significant global implications for climate regulation, so ecological restoration or reclamation is necessary for disturbed areas to regain their normal GHG functions.