Aquatic biofilms are an understudied component of northern peatlands and are expected to play a more prominent role in ecosystem processes in areas where aquatic habitat is expanding. The goal of this study was to investigate how hydrologic history influences biofilm diversity and functional genes. This study was conducted in a long‐term water table manipulation that simulates drought (lowered water table treatment) and floodi...

To better understand linkages between hydrology and ecosystem carbon flux in northern aquatic ecosystems, we evaluated the relationship between plant communities, biofilm development, and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) exchange following long‐term changes in hydrology in an Alaskan fen. We quantified seasonal variation in biofilm composition and CO 2 exchange in response to lowered and raised water table position (relative to a contro...

Shifts in plant functional groups associated with climate change have the potential to influence peatland carbon storage by altering the amount and composition of organic matter available to aquatic microbial biofilms. The goal of this study was to evaluate the potential for plant subsidies to regulate ecosystem carbon flux (CO 2 ) by governing the relative proportion of primary producers (microalgae) and heterotrophic decompo...

Characterizing spatial and temporal variability of food web dynamics is necessary to predict how wetter and more nutrient‐rich conditions expected with climate change will influence the fate of organic matter within northern peatlands. The goals of this study were to (1) document spatial and temporal variability in the contribution of periphyton to peatland food webs using isotope analysis ( 13 C and 15 N), and (2) quantify th...

Peatlands are the most efficient natural ecosystems for long‐term storage of atmospheric carbon. Our understanding of peatland carbon cycling is based entirely on bottom‐up controls regulated by low nutrient availability. Recent studies have shown that top‐down controls through predator‐prey dynamics can influence ecosystem function, yet this has not been evaluated in peatlands to date. Here, we used a combination of nutrient...