The Importance of Ditches and Canals in Global Inland Water CO2 and N2O Budgets

Article

Silverthorn, Teresa, Audet, Joachim, Evans, Chris D., van der Knaap, Judith, Kosten, Sarian, Paranaíba, José, Struik, Quinten, Webb, Jackie, Wu, Wenxin, Yan, Zhifeng Yan and Peacock, Mike. 2025. "The Importance of Ditches and Canals in Global Inland Water CO2 and N2O Budgets." Global Change Biology. 31 (3). https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70079
Article Title

The Importance of Ditches and Canals in Global Inland Water CO2 and N2O Budgets

ERA Journal ID3258
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsSilverthorn, Teresa, Audet, Joachim, Evans, Chris D., van der Knaap, Judith, Kosten, Sarian, Paranaíba, José, Struik, Quinten, Webb, Jackie, Wu, Wenxin, Yan, Zhifeng Yan and Peacock, Mike
Journal TitleGlobal Change Biology
Journal Citation31 (3)
Article Numbere70079
Number of Pages12
Year2025
PublisherJohn Wiley & Sons
Place of PublicationUnited Kingdom
ISSN1354-1013
1365-2486
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70079
Web Address (URL)https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.70079
Abstract

Ditches and canals are omitted from global budgets of inland water emissions, despite research showing them to be emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Here, we synthesize data across climate zones and land use types to show, for the first time, that global ditches emit notable amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Ditches had higher per-area emissions of CO2 and N2O than ponds, lakes, and reservoirs, likely due to high nutrient inputs. Preliminary upscaling showed that the inclusion of ditches would increase global inland water CO2 emissions by 0.6%–1% and N2O emissions by 3%–9%. Trophic state and climate influenced N2O emissions, while CO2 emissions had complex drivers difficult to disentangle at the global scale. This research highlights the importance of including ditches in global inland water GHG budgets and informs more accurate reporting of anthropogenic emissions in national inventories

Contains Sensitive ContentDoes not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020410501. Environmental biogeochemistry
Byline AffiliationsUniversity of Liverpool, United Kingdom
Aarhus University, Denmark
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, United Kingdom
Radboud University, Netherlands
School of Agriculture and Environmental Science
Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Systems
University of Waterloo, Canada
Tianjin University, China
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
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