@article {2725,
	title = {Tropical peatland carbon storage linked to global latitudinal trends in peat recalcitrance},
	journal = {Nature Communications},
	volume = {9},
	year = {2018},
	month = {Jan-12-2018},
	abstract = {Peatlands represent large terrestrial carbon banks. Given that most peat accumulates in boreal regions, where low temperatures and water saturation preserve organic matter, the existence of peat in (sub)tropical regions remains enigmatic. Here we examined peat and plant chemistry across a latitudinal transect from the Arctic to the tropics. Near-surface low-latitude peat has lower carbohydrate and greater aromatic content than near-surface high-latitude peat, creating a reduced oxidation state and resulting recalcitrance. This recalcitrance allows peat to persist in the (sub)tropics despite warm temperatures. Because we observed similar declines in carbohydrate content with depth in high-latitude peat, our data explain recent field-scale deep peat warming experiments in which catotelm (deeper) peat remained stable despite temperature increases up to 9 {\textdegree}C. We suggest that high-latitude deep peat reservoirs may be stabilized in the face of climate change by their ultimately lower carbohydrate and higher aromatic composition, similar to tropical peats.},
	doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-06050-2},
	url = {http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06050-2},
	author = {Hodgkins, Suzanne B. and Richardson, Curtis J. and Dommain, Ren{\'e} and Wang, Hongjun and Glaser, Paul H. and Verbeke, Brittany and Winkler, B. Rose and Cobb, Alexander R. and Rich, Virginia I. and Missilmani, Malak and Flanagan, Neal and Ho, Mengchi and Hoyt, Alison M. and Harvey, Charles F. and Vining, S. Rose and Hough, Moira A. and Moore, Tim R. and Richard, Pierre J. H. and De La Cruz, Florentino B. and Toufaily, Joumana and Hamdan, Rasha and Cooper, William T. and Chanton, Jeffrey P.}
}
