Open Access

Mridul Trehan

• Peatland drainage results in peat degradation and CO2 emissions, therefore, peatland rewetting is recommended. However, this leads to CH4 emissions due to anoxic conditions, and loss of long standing economic land use. Paludiculture can potentially overcome the economic loss, and grazing by water buffaloes is one such promising approach for wet management of peatlands. However, water buffaloes also produce CH4, and it is important to understand how they influence the CH4 flux in a wet peatland. For this reason, to develop a scientific understanding the current study has been conducted. The study employs eddy covariance measurements coupled with GPS tracking data for extensive grazing by buffaloes in the year 2024. With the help of modelled flux footprint, GPS data was used to establish two scenarios for CH4 flux. These were, grazing and non-grazing time periods by buffaloes inside the footprint area. This helped in investigating any differences that occurred in the CH4 emissions for both the scenarios. Visual analysis and statistical testing showed that CH4 emissions were higher when buffaloes grazed within the footprint area. It accounts to an yearly mean CH4 flux of 0.138 g m-2 day-1, against 0.091 g m-2 day-1 of yearly mean CH4 flux during the nongrazing period. This is a 52% increase in overall CH4 emissions from the wet management of peatland. Moreover, under the same environmental conditions as the counter scenario, buffalo grazing reported in higher mean monthly emissions, except in June. An additional key observation was that buffalo grazing caused a shift in CH4 emissions toward higher ranges relative to the counter scenario. Thus, concluding a scientific basis that, grazing by water buffaloes lead to higher CH4 emissions in a wet fen. Nevertheless, the climatic significance of this observed increase demands further research.