Paludiculture on rewetted fens maintains similarly low greenhouse gas fluxes as rewetted fens without agricultural use

The re-wetting of drained agricultural peatlands can help to curb their substantial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but limits conventional agricultural use. Paludiculture — peat-conserving agriculture and forestry on wet peatlands, may offer a solution, but it remains uncertain whether this leads to higher, lower or similar GHG emissions compared to peatlands left to naturally regenerate after re-wetting (wet wilderness). We investigated the effect of a paludiculture intensity gradient [3 levels: wet wilderness (no paludiculture); low-intensity paludiculture; high-intensity paludiculture], and dominant vegetation type [ Typha spp. and Carex spp. ] on ecosystem respiration (R eco ), CH 4 and N 2 O fluxes from 14 previously drained temperate European fens. Total CO 2 equivalent GHG flux, expressed as Dark ecosystem GHG fluxes (F GHG,dark ), showed pronounced temporal variability, with significant seasonal effects on R eco and CH₄, whereas diurnal differences were limited, occurring only in specific seasons. Paludiculture intensity had no detectable effect on R eco , N₂O, or F GHG,dark . In contrast, CH₄ fluxes varied significantly with paludiculture intensity, but the direction of this response depended on dominant vegetation type and geographical sub-region. Despite these context-dependent CH₄ responses, F GHG,dark did not differ systematically among paludiculture intensities and was broadly consistent across geographical sub-regions and vegetation types. Our results suggest that the implementation of paludiculture on rewetted, formerly drained agricultural peatlands can provide productive land-use without a detectable increase in F GHG,dark relative to non-productive wet wilderness. Paludiculture may therefore offer a viable alternative to passive post-rewetting regeneration, although CH₄ responses depend strongly on local vegetation and site context.