Diatoms in peat – Dominant producers in a changing environment?

Changes in hydrology and temperature can induce rapid changes in boreal wetland ecosystems. Factors such as hydrosere, permafrost, climate and human interference may disturb the prevailing mire vegetation, whereby a new dominant assemblage can develop. At the transition from one vegetation type to another, the old vegetation may be suppressed, die out or start to decay, and some time may pass until a new mire vegetation is fully established. Here, we demonstrate that diatoms may thrive during such transitions, creating isolated and shallow peat layers with significantly elevated biogenic silica content. Biogenic silica and other nutrients that would otherwise be lost during mineralization in runoff are in this way retained in the ecosystem. Our results imply that silica storage originating from diatoms can be expected to increase in todayʹs rapidly changing boreal wetlands. The impacts on transport of Si through boreal watersheds are currently unknown.