The spatial variability of methane emission from subtaiga and forest–steppe grass–moss fens of Western Siberia

Abstract

Methane emission from the grass–moss fens of the Western Siberia subtaiga was studied using a static chamber method. It was established that CH₄ flux median ± half of the interquartile range in the studied wetland ecosystems constituted 4.9 ± 2.9 mg of CH₄/(m² h). It was shown that such a high spatial variability of emission is caused mainly by the difference in the water table level. It was found that, in these observations, a higher water table level correlates with lower emission values. The causes of this phenomenon are discussed, and recommendations for conducting field studies for estimating the regional flux are given.