Data from: Controlled burning of peat before rewetting modifies soil chemistry and microbial dynamics to reduce short-term methane emissions

This dataset documents methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
from rewetted organic soils under controlled experimental conditions.
Increased CH4 emissions from rewetted organic soils can undermine the
climate benefits of reduced CO2 release. This is especially problematic in
low-lying areas that tend to remain waterlogged and act as potential CH4
hotspots. Here we test whether burning the soil surface before rewetting
can reduce CH4 emissions. Using laboratory experiments with soil cores
collected from degraded farmland in Denmark, we found that rewetting
organic soils following burning reduced CH4 emissions by more than 95%
over a 90-day period compared to rewetting alone. The dataset includes
time-series measurements of CH4 and CO2 fluxes, along with associated
environmental variables and microbial community information. The reduction
was likely associated with changed soil chemistry, such as increased soil
carbon stability and the decrease in methanogen abundance and activity.
Our results suggest that targeted burning could help suppress short-term
CH4 emissions after rewetting. However, long-term field studies are needed
to understand whether this effect persists and to assess potential
ecological risks, such as pollution runoff, before any broader field-scale
implementation is considered.