Chamber measurements of methane transport through individual aerenchymous plants at a boreal fen and a bog

The presented dataset contains chamber measurements of methane transport (mg CH₄ g dry plant mass-1 day-1) through individual aerenchymous peatland plants and the ancillary data for these measurements. Chamber measurements were performed for 7 plant species at two peatland sites, an oligotrophic fen and an ombrotrophic bog part of Siikaneva peatland complex in Southern Finland (61.8249° N, 24.1390° E, altitude 170 m a.s.l.) , during growing seasons 2013 and 2014 (between 1st of May and 28th of October). The ancillary data contains measurements of water table depth from the moss surface, air and peat temperature during the measurement as well as leaf area, dry mass of plant material, specific leaf area, number of leaves and the proportion of brown leaves in each sample that was measured. The dataset was collected to quantify the impact of plant species, plant properties and environmental factors on methane transport through aerenchymous plants. Plant CH₄ transport rate was measured using custom-made cylinder-shaped chambers that varied in volume between 0.7 and 5.0 liters. A plant sample of 2–104 leaves (depending on the growth form of the measured plant) belonging to the same species was separated from the peat and moss underneath by two plexiglass plates that were attached together with a hinge and had a smooth rubber seal between them to avoid compression of the plant. The proportion of green leaves in the sample varied from 0 to 100 % depending on the phase of the growing season. The sample was then covered with an opaque plastic chamber that was sealed with the plate by a smooth rubber seal attached to the bottom of the chamber. Airtightness of the system was ensured by tightening a belt that extended from one plate to the other over the chamber. Finally, a rubber stopper was used to seal a vent hole in the top of the chamber. Each plant sample was measured for 35 minutes, during which four 20 ml air samples were drawn from the chamber with a syringe through the rubber stopper in the top of the chamber at 5, 15, 25 and 35 minutes after chamber closure. The air samples were then injected into evacuated 12 ml glass vials (Labco Limited, UK). Simultaneous to the flux measurements, temperatures in the chamber (air) and peat at 5, 15 and 30 cm depth were recorded. WT was measured from a perforated plastic tube installed into the peat next to the sample after the WT level in the tube had stabilized for at least 30 minutes. After the flux measurement, the plant sample was cut with scissors and transported to the laboratory in a plastic bag. In each plant sample, the number of leaves was counted, the leaf area of brown and green leaf parts was measured with a scanner, and the dry weight was obtained for brown and green leaf parts separately after oven drying the sample at 60 °C for 24 hours. Using these data, specific leaf area (SLA, m²/g) was calculated for each sample. CH₄ concentration in the glass vials was analyzed with an Agilent Technologies 7890A gas chromatograph and Gilson GX-271 liquid handler. The CH₄ flux was calculated as the linear change in CH~4~ concentration in relation to time, chamber volume and temperature. Nonlinear changes in CH₄ concentration that were visually detected, were surmised to have resulted from a leak in the chamber or in the vial and were excluded from the analysis. In total 6 % of the measurements were excluded from the final dataset due to such nonlinearities