Global CO2 emissions from dry inland waters share common drivers across ecosystems
Philipp S. Keller, Núria Catalán, Daniel von Schiller, Hans‐Peter Grossart, Matthias Koschorreck, Biel Obrador, Marieke A. Frassl, Nusret Karakaya, Nathan Barros, Julia Howitt, Clara Mendoza‐Lera, Ada Pastor, Giovanna Flaim, Ralf Aben, Tenna Riis, María Isabel Arce, Gabriela Onandía, José R. Paranaíba, Annika Linkhorst, Rubén del Campo, André Megali Amado, Sophie Cauvy‐Fraunié, Soren Brothers, Jason Condon, Raquel Mendonça, Florian Reverey, Eva‐Ingrid Rõõm, Thibault Datry, Fábio Roland, Alo Laas, Ulrike Obertegger, Jin Ha Park, Haijun Wang, Sarian Kosten, Rosa Gómez, Claudia Feijoó, Arturo Elosegi, María del Mar Sánchez‐Montoya, C. Max Finlayson, Marco Melita, Ernandes Sobreira Oliveira, Claumir César Muniz, Lluís Gómez‐Gener, Catherine Leigh, Q. Zhang, Rafael Marcé
Abstract
Abstract Many inland waters exhibit complete or partial desiccation, or have vanished due to global change, exposing sediments to the atmosphere. Yet, data on carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from these sediments are too scarce to upscale emissions for global estimates or to understand their fundamental drivers. Here, we present the results of a global survey covering 196 dry inland waters across diverse ecosystem types and climate zones. We show that their CO 2 emissions share fundamental drivers and constitute a substantial fraction of the carbon cycled by inland waters. CO 2 emissions were consistent across ecosystem types and climate zones, with local characteristics explaining much of the variability. Accounting for such emissions increases global estimates of carbon emissions from inland waters by 6% (~0.12 Pg C y −1 ). Our results indicate that emissions from dry inland waters represent a significant and likely increasing component of the inland waters carbon cycle.