Land Management for reducing carbon losses from peat

Transcription

1 Land Management for reducing carbon losses from peat Dr Jillian Labadz, Dr Ben Clutterbuck, Roger Hart, Dr Nick Midgley School of Animal Rural and Environmental Sciences Funded by The National Trust, Natural England Environment Agency and Severn Trent Water 1

2 Outline This presentation aims to: Introduce peatlands and their role in the carbon cycle Explain the current state of UK peatlands Outline research at NTU related to land management and carbon export from peatlands 2

3 What is peat? Peat is an organic soil formed of incompletely decomposed remains of plants and animal life. Peat forms where natural processes of decay cannot keep pace with production of organic matter. 3

4 Sphagnum Moss the building block 4

5 Peatlands cover only 3% of global land surface (International Peat Society) 5

6 ..but they hold 30% of the global soil carbon store (Joosten 2011) Peat is often very deep Can be up to 10m in our sites in Cumbria, 4m typical in the Peak District Lots of carbon trapped! 6

7 Undamaged bogs remove carbon from the atmosphere by photosynthesis in mosses and other plants ( sequestration ) Peatland systems that are still peatforming are called mires. Loss of just 1.6% of global peat would equate to the total global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (Verhagen et al 2009) 7

8 Instrumental Value of Peatlands: the Ecosystem Services Approach Carbon sequestration is just one of the ecosystem services provided by healthy peatlands. Also: Water supply Biodiversity/habitat Recreation Archaeology Environmental archive (pollen record) 8

9 But most UK peatlands are badly damaged 94% of lowland raised bogs lost Most upland bogs in unfavourable condition EXPORT of carbon into the atmosphere and streams (both dissolved and particulate forms) 9

10 The UK Peatlands Campaign (1997) had a quote from the Prince of Wales (p382) If we would like other countries to stop regarding their rainforests as useless jungle, we would do well to set an example by not treating our peatland habitat as useless bog, to be drained, dug up and scattered about in our gardens. 10

11 Context: National Trust Concerned about headward cutting of gullies and effect on integrity of peat body, hydrology, water table, vegetation (or lack of in places!) 2003 began blocking gullies on Within Clough Gully blocks shown effective at raising water tables and improving vegetation over 5 years, plus reducing dissolved organic carbon export (O Brien, 2009; NTU PhD) of1120

12 Context for current NTU research: BBC News 20 Sept 2013 The National Trust has launched its vision to undo decades of damage on high peak moors and return the landscape to its former glory 12

13 5 year project ( ): Featherbed Moss, Peak District National Park 13

14 Experimental Design: Gully Blocking and Flow monitoring 2 styles of blocking to be investigated 8 months pre-block data: Begin monitoring April August 2013 Gullies blocked April

15 V-notch weirs not successful on slopes over 6 used plastic piling dams instead April July August

16 Experimental Design: Gully erosion (particulate organic carbon loss) Erosion pins 10 in each headward scar 10 in the side of each gully Measured every 6 months 16

17 Laser Scanning: 3mm resolution DSM 17

18 Low level aerial imagery from UAV 18

19 Results: Some gully blocks have worked better than others not all pooled 19

20 Early Results: Water quality DOC (Dissolved organic carbon) 20