The unrecognized importance of carbon stocks and fluxes from swamps in Canada and the USA

Abstract Swamps are a highly significant wetland type in North America both terms of areal extent and their role terrestrial carbon cycling. These wetlands, characterized by woody vegetation cover, encompass diverse suite ecosystems, including broad-leaved, needle-leaved, mixedwood or shrub/thicket swamps. Uncertainties the swamps uptake release continue to be substantial due insufficient data on variabilities densities across swamp types relatively few flux measurements from sites. Robust rates vertical accretion soils associated long-term accumulation, alongside losses swamps, needed for emerging frameworks accounting, assessments impacts climate warming land use change this important type. Based compilation, we present here comparative analysis series American sites dioxide, methane dissolved organic fluxes, aboveground biomass, net primary productivity (NPP), soil properties bulk densities, contents, peat depths, accretion, accumulation. We compare these four major types: show differences biomass NPP types, with broad-leaved having largest CH 4 flux, highest thinnest depths lowest matter whereas needle-leaved have smallest NPP. high stocks (kg C m −2 ) all even those where deposits were too shallow meet definition peat. However, note there is lack studies focused dynamics despite abundance Canada United States.