Peatlands cover more than 10% of Canada and store over 100 Gt C, making them one of Canada’s largest terrestrial carbon pools. Peatlands are currently experiencing climate and land-use change, altering their ecohydrology and biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements. Peatlands are ecosystems looked to for natural climate solutions, but assessing their capacity to contribute requires understanding the links among their hydrology, ecology and biogechemistry. This session seeks presentations of research on the ecohydrology and biogeochemistry of undisturbed and disturbed peatlands. Empirical and theoretical studies are welcome.

Oral talks:

10:00 - 10:30: Towardsthe development of greenhouse gas emission factors for soil disturbance inboreal peatlands
Presenter(s): Maria Strack, University of Waterloo, Nicole Balliston, Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Marissa Davies, Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo and Percy Korsah, Department of Geography and Environmental Management

10:30 - 10:45: Plotand ecosystem scale CO2 and CH4 emissions from a peatland under activeextractionPresenter(s): Miranda Hunter, University of Waterloo, Rebecca Frei, University of Alberta, Ian Strachan Queen's University, David Olefeldt, University of Alberta, Maria Strack, University of Waterloo.

10:45 - 11:00: Towardsimproved Canadian greenhouse gas accounting: Evaluating emissions from peat extractionmanagement practices.
Presenter(s): Steffy Velosa, Graduate Student, McGill Univeristy, Nigel Roulet, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec Canada and Ian Strachan, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

11:00 - 11:15: Evaluatingthe effects of seismic line disturbance on the function of peatland plantcommunitiesPresenter(s): Jie Bao, MSc student, University of Waterloo, Christina Bao, Anna Dabros, Ellie Goud and Maria Strack

11:15 - 11:30: Simulatinggreenhouse gas exchanges and ecohydrology for peat extraction and implicationsfor emission reporting
Presenter(s): Hongxing He, McGill University, Hongxing He, Laura Clark,  Oi Yin Laim Rachel Kendall, Ian Strachan and Nigel T Roulet, 1 Department of Geography, McGill University, Burnside Hall, 805 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec H3A OB9, Canada 2 Department of Natural Resource Science