Data for plant phenolic trait regimes govern contrasting peatland carbon responses to drying

We hypothesised that drainage‑induced drying and vegetation succession, and the associated shifts in plant phenolic trait regimes, control whether peatlands remain Sphagnum‑like C sinks under warming or instead transition to states that stabilise or accelerate C loss. We test this hypothesis by combining mechanistic incubations of low‑, medium‑ and high‑Mw phenolics, a 36‑year successional drainage gradient in a boreal peatland, reciprocal peat-porewater incubations, and a global synthesis stratified by woody versus non‑woody peatlands