Diagram from the study.
A conceptual model of biogeochemical processes of greenhouse gas production and transformations (arrows with dashed lines) and transport pathways (black arrows) in peat soil pore waters and surface waters. The oxic layer denotes soil pores contain oxygen; anoxic layer does not have oxygen. The region in light blue represents surface water in a channel. Credit: Taillardat et al. [2025], Figure 1
Editors’ Highlights are summaries of recent papers by AGU’s journal editors.
Source: Geophysical Research Letters

Approximately 41% of Southeast Asia’s peatland forests were impacted by land-use change, and conversion to tree plantations is one of the most common practices. However, data on the altered greenhouse gas production and emissions in these systems remain extremely limited.

Taillardat et al. [2025] measure the concentration, composition, and age of carbon in water and soil at an industrial, short-rotation Acacia plantation in peatland areas of Sumatra, Indonesia. Exceptionally high levels of dissolved organic carbon, carbon dioxide, and methane were found in porewater and drainage networks, indicating that these plantations are carbon hotspots. This was century-old carbon in the water, highlighting the combination of both high productivity and exposure of old carbon-dense substrates to exposure in a plantation setting.  

Citation: Taillardat, P., Moore, J., Sasmito, S., Evans, C. D., Alfina, T., Lok, S., et al. (2025). Methane and carbon dioxide production and emission pathways in the belowground and draining water bodies of a tropical peatland plantation forest. Geophysical Research Letters, 52, e2024GL112903. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112903

—Valeriy Ivanov, Editor, Geophysical Research Letters

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