Stephen Boult

Methane and Carbon Dioxide Flux from Peat Soils and Rice Fields Stephen Boult

Peat soils act as carbon sink storing huge quantities of carbon while very high rate of carbon cycling is occurred through rice cultivation. So, peat soils and rice fields are two important sources of greenhouse gases where the former is likely to be subject to change and therefore needs to be studied whilst rice paddies are also likely to be important sources of greenhouse gas but have not been well quantified. This research was conducted to quantify the present fluxes of methane and carbon dioxide from peat lands and rice soils and also to investigate the controls on gas production. This research revealed that ex-situ measurements of greenhouse gas fluxes are reliable enough for uneroded peat but not in rice soils as they are invalidated by comparison with concentration ratios of in-situ measurement of greenhouse fluxes. Although there is no strong relationship between atmospheric pressure and patterns of greenhouse gas production in peat and rice soils but the gas production and atmospheric pressure showed fluctuation during the measurement period.