Greenhouse gas emissions and carbon burial in a small pond

Sammanfattning: There are a lot of uncertainties when it comes to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which affects society’s ability to effectively respond to climate change. Small ponds have been found to potentially play a large role in global warming. More research is needed, however, to determine to what extent they act as sources or sinks for GHGs, and what factors may contribute. The aim of this thesis was to study carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, and carbon burial in a small pond in Uppsala, Sweden. The pond was a source for both CO2 and CH4, but a sink for N2O. About 50% of CH4 emissions came from ebullition (bubbles). CO2 flux was higher in the vegetated area than in the open water area, no difference was found for CH4 flux. Both CO2 and CH4 flux were higher on colder days, while CH4 ebullition was higher on warmer days. Limited accumulation of CO2 and CH4 occurred under the winter ice coverage. For water chemistry, CO2 flux had the strongest negative relationship with electrical conductivity (EC), nitrate (NO3−) and nitrite (NO2−), and positive with total phosphorous (TP). CH4 flux showed the strongest negative correlation with chlorophyll-a (chl-a) and total nitrogen (TN), and positive with EC and total dissolved solids (TDS). For extracellular enzyme activity, CO2 flux had a very strong positive correlation with β-D-glucosidase (BG), as did CH4 with N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG). Carbon burial rate was low making the pond a carbon source and inefficient at burying carbon