The influence of various ecological factors (air and soil temperature, atmospheric pressure, level of peatland waters, and the content of CO₂ in the atmosphere) on the emission of CO₂ from the surface of a peat deposit of an oligotrophic peatland in the south taiga subzone of West Siberia was studied. On the basis of the investigations, day and seasonal dynamics of the emission of CO₂ from the surface of the peat deposit were revealed. A detailed correlation analysis allowed us to describe the dependences of the CO₂ flux from the surface of the peat deposit on the environmental parameters at various levels of averaging: hour, day, and month. It was shown that the temperature of the air and surface of the peat deposit have a reliable impact on the emission of CO₂ on all time scales. The atmospheric pressure, as a factor that changes relatively slowly, influences the emission of CO₂ weakly. The performed studies did not allow us to draw an unambiguous conclusion about the influence of the level of bog waters on the emission of CO₂ from the surface of a peat deposit.

Quantitative estimates of the rate of transformation of moss residues of two species (Sphagnum angustifolium and Sphagnum fuscum) in the peat soils (Histosols) were obtained for two oligotrophic bogs with different hydrological conditions in the southern taiga of Western Siberia. The coefficients of decomposition rate (k) significantly differed for the studied species; the decomposition of Sphagnum fuscum proceeded much slower. The most intense decomposition was observed in the first year of transformation (k = 0.06 and 0.16–0.66 for Sph. fuscum and Sph. angustifolium, respectively); then, the rate of moss decomposition decreased. Despite the great amount of fungal mass in the moss residues (exceeding the bacterial biomass by 3–10 times), the rate of the initial decomposition was very low. The hydrological conditions affected the intensity of this process—in the peat of the Kirsanovskoe bog with the low level of bog water, losses of the mass of sphagnum moss were 1.1–1.6 times greater as compared to those in the Bakcharskoe bog. For Sph. angustifolium, the level of bog water was more important than for Sphagnum fuscum, whereas for Sphagnum fuscum, the composition of organic matter played a decisive role in the rate of decomposition of moss residues. The activity of the microflora also depended on the level of bog water, which was manifested in a greater abundance of bacteria in the peat of the Kirsanovskoe bog.

We report the results of continuous temperature monitoring (812 days, from 28 June 2005 to 26 September 2007) in a 80 cm layer of peat soil in Bakchar bog (West Siberia), at sampling rates of 60 min in wintertime and 15 min in summertime. Both annual and daily temperature patterns are controlled by water table position and weather conditions. Wintertime soil temperature patterns are disturbed by the formation of a seasonal frozen layer with its thickness (freezing depth) depending on the time when steady snow cover sets up and on soil moisture. During the period of frozen layer thawing, the temperature of peat becomes sensitive to peat moisture and water table position as well as to the air and peat surface temperature. The warm-season soil temperature patterns bear effects of peat warming by rainwater percolation, both in nightand daytime. The patterns with soil warming during rainfall and phase change during seasonal freezing-thawing cycles record disturbances to conductive heat transfer.