Lavoie, C., A. Saint-Louis & D. Lachance. (2005). Vegetation dynamics on an abandoned vacuum-mined peatland: Five years of monitoring. Wetlands Ecology and Management 13: 621-633.
Several years ago, research was started on regenerartion with common peatland plant species (notably Sphagnum moss) of vacuum-mined peatlands. The process was studied over a five-year period in a vacuum-mined peatland in the Rivière-du-Loup area, province of Québec. Surprisingly, not only did the vegetation cover not expand (with the exception of some ericaceous shrubs), but most of the plants actually regressed, like Sphagnum moss, trees and cotton grass; even though these species posses great resistance to the harsh conditions in this kind of environment. This again emphasizes that with respect to restoration efforts in (vacuum-mined) peatlands: free reign management is decidedly not an option.
Mazerolle, M., M. Poulin, C. Lavoie, L. Rochefort, A. Desrochers & B. Drolet. (2006). Animal and vegetation patterns in natural and man-made bog pools: implication for restoration. Freshwater Biology, 51: 333-350.
Are man-made bog pools at Bois-des-Bel (BDB) a representative sample of natural bog pools? That's what Mazerolle et al. have investigated based on water chemistry, vegetation structure and composition, as well as amphibian and arthropod diversity. Natural New-Brunswick bog pools served as reference sites. Dominant plant species in the BDB bog pools always differ from natural bog pools: the cover of Sphagnum, low shrubs, submerged, emergent and floating vegetation was lower at BDB than in natural bog pools. BDB bog pools showed a higher pH, which may be an explanation for the profusion of amphibians compared to what is commonly observed in natural pools. Only two specialised bog species were found at BDB.
Cleary, J., Roulet, N.T. & Moore, T.R. (2005) Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Canadian Peat Extraction, 1990–2000: A Life-cycle Analysis. Ambio 34: 456-461
This study uses life-cycle analysis to examine the net
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the Canadian
peat industry for the period 1990–2000. GHG exchange is estimated for land-use change, peat extraction and processing, transport to market, and the in situ decomposition of extracted peat. The estimates, based on an additive GHG accounting model, show that the peat extraction life cycle emitted 0.543106 t of GHG in 1990, increasing to 0.89 3 106 t in 2000 (expressed as CO2 equivalents using a 100-y time horizon). Peat decomposition associated with end use was the largest source of GHGs, comprising 71% of total emissions during this 11-y period. Land use change resulted in a switch of the peatlands from a GHG sink to a source and contributed an additional 15%. Peat transportation was responsible for 10% of total GHG emissions, and extraction and processing contributed 4%. It would take approximately 2000 y to restore the carbon pool to its original size if peatland restoration is successful and the cutover peatland once again becomes a net carbon sink.
PDF download: http://tinyurl.com/gnvv7
IPS Peat Dictionary
The IPS Peat Dictionary of 1984 can now be found online at the IPS website. Currently, the database includes 6,373 peat and peatland related terms in five languages: English, Russian, Finnish, Swedish and German. Updates will be carried out in close cooperation with the IPS Scientific Advisory Board. The Dictionary can also be downloaded. You can find the Peat Dictionary at www.peatsociety.org/index.php?id=93
Printed copies of the Dictionary can be ordered for €35 including mailing costs.
Keppler, F. , Hamilton, J. T. G. , Brass, M. & Röckmann, T. (2006). Methane emissions from terrestrial plants under aerobic conditions. Nature 439, 187–191
Keppler et al. report the remarkable discovery that living terrestrial vegetation emits methane into the atmosphere. The emission occurs under normal physiological conditions, in the presence of oxygen and not through bacterial action in anoxic environments. The estimated emissions are large, constituting 10–30% of the annual total of methane entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Keppler et al. showed that methane emission depends on sunlight and temperature, with emissions approximately doubling for each rise of 10 °C. The details of the methane-production are not known, but seems related to the quantity of pectin.
The discovery accounts for observations from space of inexplicably large plumes of methane above tropical forests. Deforestation may now explain the decrease in the global growth rate of atmospheric methane. The global methane emissions from vegetation are estimated to lie between 63 million and 243 million tonnes per year.
Methane is second only to carbon dioxide in enhancing the greenhouse effect. It also affects the way the atmosphere cleans itself of pollutants, and influences ozone depletion through the production of water vapour in the stratosphere. So methane has been the subject of intense scientific and political scrutiny, and is targeted for emissions controls under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
The main sources of atmospheric methane previously recognized were microbial activity in wetlands and the eructation of ruminant animals. In the past 250 years, increases in rice culture and livestock farming, led to large rises in methane emissions from both of these sources. It was thought that methane production in flooded rice paddy fields was due to microbial activity in the anoxic environment, but it is likely the rice plants themselves are a significant source of methane.
Borgmark, A. (2005) The colour of
climate: changes in peat decomposition as a proxy for climate change – a study
of raised bogs in south-central
This thesis focuses on responses in raised bogs
to changes in the effective humidity during the Holocene. Analyses on different
spatial and temporal scales have been conducted on a number of raised bogs in
south-central
For a PDF download of a synthesis of this thesis, follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/hb9lz
Shoreline protection and other ecosystem services from mangroves and coral reefs UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series No. 24
The tragic and devastating consequences of the Asian tsunami, December 2004, and the hurricanes and cyclones of 2005 were a wake up call for the global community, dramatically drawing attention to the dangers of undermining the services that coastal ecosystems provide to humankind.
This report has gathered lessons that have been learned since these events that will be relevant to future management of the coasts in the context of severe weather events and other potential consequences of global warming. More than ever it is essential to consider the full value of ecosystem services that is the benefits that people derive from ecosystems when making decisions about coastal development.
The publication aims to help decision and policy makers around the world understand the importance of coastal habitats to humans, focusing on the role of coral reefs and mangroves. As well as coastal protection, it also addresses the huge range of other benefits provided by these ecosystems and the role that they can play in coastal development and in restoring livelihoods for those suffering from the effects of extreme events.
For a PDF download surf to:
http://sea.unep-wcmc.org/resources/publications/ UNEP_WCMC_bio_series/24.cfm
Also available, a list of projects involving mangroves that have been supported by the Ramsar Convention over the years , through its Wetlands for the Future Fund for the Americas and the Ramsar Small Grants Fund; here:
www.ramsar.org/types_mangroves_projects.pdf
Sengbusch, P. von (2006): Ein multivariates Monitoring-Verfahren zur Bewertung der Gefährdung von Bergkiefern-Mooren im Schwarzwald, Dissertationes Botanicae, Band 400, J. Cramer, Berlin Stuttgart.
(A multivariate monitoring-procedure for the assessment of endangerment of bogpine in the Black Forest. [in german])
Bogpine (Pinus rotundata Link) is an endemic species, restricted to central-European mountains like the Black Forest, the Czech Sumava mountains, the Swiss Jura mountains and the foothills of the Bavarian alps. As many bogs were damaged or drained in the past, the area covered by bogpine decreased.
Since 1990, dying of bogpine stands in several bogs in the southern Black Forest could be observed. This dieback is related to hydrological disturbance followed by a change of population dynamics and by the invasion of spruce. The most important question that arose from this analysis was whether more bogs will be affected by the dying in the future.
The investigation showed that spruce has already established itself in more than 50 % of the area formerly covered by bogpine in the Black Forest. By means of multivariate analysis five site types were defined for the upright growth form var. arborea, of which one was identified to reflect the sites that will be overgrown by spruce. Only one site type was not affected by drainage, the Pino mugo – Sphagnetum magellanici, which nowadays is rare in the Black Forest.
A dichotomous determination key for the assessment of endangerment of bogpine was developed.
In a detailed appendix (not published), all populations of bogpine were described and restoration was recommended for those bogs where the species is expected to go extinct in the coming ten to twenty years.