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Insights Into the Persistence and Vulnerability of Tropical Peat Carbon Stocks From a Long‐Term Field Decomposition Experiment

Clarice R. Perryman,M. R. Baysinger,A. Cobb,L. Gandois,J. Chanton,Theo A. Evans,A. Chua,Janguran Eri,Haji Bohari bin Haji Idi,Jeffery Muli Incham,J. Pu,Aloysius Teo,R. Zulkiflee,Charles F. Harvey,A. M. Hoyt

Published 2026 in Global Biogeochemical Cycles

ABSTRACT

Tropical peatlands contain around one‐sixth of the global peat carbon stock. Decomposition is a key determinant of tropical peat persistence, but there is a scarcity of data on decomposition in tropical peatlands. To further understand decomposition in tropical peatlands, we conducted an 8‐year field experiment in a primary peat swamp forest in Brunei. We tracked mass loss and the organic matter composition of Shorea albida wood buried at multiple depths over 8 years, including blocks buried with and without termite exclusion mesh. The proportion of time wood blocks spent above the water table explained the majority of the variation in wood decomposition over time. Carbon loss from wood that spent <1% of the time under the water table was 32.1%–86.5% higher on average than from wood that spent 30%–100% of the time under the water table. We estimate that termites enhanced wood decomposition by ∼2% per year. Despite significant decomposition, we did not observe a strong shift in wood organic matter composition. To contextualize our results, we synthesized past work on wood decomposition across tropical peatlands. We found that burial in waterlogged peat soils slows decomposition across tropical peatlands and that decomposition is also strongly influenced by peatland trophic status. Overall, our results affirm that waterlogging is the key to tropical peat persistence. Our study highlights the vulnerability of tropical peat carbon stocks to lowered water tables by either drainage or prolonged dry spells, as well as the promise of peatland rewetting to mitigate carbon losses from disturbed peatlands.

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