Rising dissolved organic carbon concentrations in coastal waters of northwestern Borneo related to tropical peatland conversion

Sanwlani, Nivedita; Evans, Chris D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7052-354X; Müller, Moritz; Cherukuru, Nagur; Martin, Patrick. 2022 Rising dissolved organic carbon concentrations in coastal waters of northwestern Borneo related to tropical peatland conversion. Science Advances, 8 (15), eabi5688. 10, pp. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abi5688

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abi5688

Abstract/Summary

Southeast Asia’s peatlands are considered a globally important source of terrigenous dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to the ocean. Human disturbance has probably increased peatland DOC fluxes, but the lack of monitoring has precluded a robust demonstration of such a regional-scale impact. Here, we use a time series of satellite ocean color data from northwestern Borneo to show that DOC concentrations in coastal waters have increased between 2002 and 2021 by 0.31 μmol liter−1 year−1 (95% confidence interval, 0.18 to 0.44 μmol liter−1 year−1). We show that this was caused by a ≥30% increase in the concentration of terrigenous DOC and coincided with the conversion of 69% of regional peatland area to nonforest land cover, suggesting that peatland conversion has substantially increased DOC fluxes to the sea. This rise in DOC concentration has also increased the underwater light absorption by dissolved organic matter, which may affect marine productivity by altering underwater light availability.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abi5688
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Soils and Land Use (Science Area 2017-)
ISSN:	2375-2548
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment Agriculture and Soil Science
Date made live:	09 Jun 2022 14:21 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/532724

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abi5688

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Soils and Land Use (Science Area 2017-)

ISSN:

2375-2548

Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:

Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.

NORA Subject Terms:

Ecology and Environment
Agriculture and Soil Science