Volume 19 (2017) Article 12

Questioning ten common assumptions about peatlands

by University of Leeds Peat Club: K.L. Bacon, A.J. Baird, A. Blundell, M-A. Bourgault, P.J. Chapman, G. Dargie, G.P. Dooling, C. Gee, J. Holden, T. Kelly, K.A. McKendrick-Smith, P.J. Morris, A. Noble, S.M. Palmer, A. Quillet, G.T. Swindles, E.J. Watson and D.M. Young

Published online: 16.07.2017

Summary

Peatlands have been widely studied in terms of their ecohydrology, carbon dynamics, ecosystem services and palaeoenvironmental archives. However, several assumptions are frequently made about peatlands in the academic literature, practitioner reports and the popular media which are either ambiguous or in some cases incorrect. Here we discuss the following ten common assumptions about peatlands:

• 1. the northern peatland carbon store will shrink under a warming climate;
  2. peatlands are fragile ecosystems;
  3. wet peatlands have greater rates of net carbon accumulation;
  4. different rules apply to tropical peatlands;
  5. peat is a single soil type;
  6. peatlands behave like sponges;
  7. Sphagnum is the main ‘ecosystem engineer’ in peatlands;
  8. a single core provides a representative palaeo-archive from a peatland;
  9. water-table reconstructions from peatlands provide direct records of past climate change; and
  10. restoration of peatlands results in the re-establishment of their carbon sink function.

In each case we consider the evidence supporting the assumption and, where appropriate, identify its shortcomings or ways in which it may be misleading. 

Citation

University of Leeds Peat Club: Bacon, K.L., Baird, A.J., Blundell, A., Bourgault, M-A., Chapman, P.J., Dargie, G., Dooling, G.P., Gee, C., Holden, J., Kelly, T., McKendrick-Smith, K.A., Morris, P.J., Noble, A., Palmer, S.M., Quillet, A., Swindles, G.T., Watson, E.J. & Young, D.M. (2017): Questioning ten common assumptions about peatlands. Mires and Peat, 19(12), 1-23. (Online: http://www.mires-and-peat.net/pages/volumes/map19/map1912.php); 10.19189/MaP.2016.OMB.253

Reviewers

IMCG and IPS acknowledge the work of the reviewers.