Peatland-ES-UK

Information

This site has been created to inform you about:

The previously Defra funded peatland project BD5104 'Restoration of blanket bog vegetation for biodiversity, carbon sequestration and water regulation'. The project's Phase 1 initially ran from 2011 to 2017 with Phase 2 until 2022 and Phase 3 currently unit the end of 2027 (i.e. another 2 years). 

The final 5-year Defra report is available here.

The final 10-year PAG report is available here.

Total funding stands just under £3m. 

We are particularly grateful to Defra for funding the project's Phase 1 (£979k), to the Yorkshire Peat Partnership (YPP) for having been such a devoted project partner, and to the Moorland Association (MA) for being a very supportive Project Advisory Group (PAG) member. We also express our thanks to Natural England (NE) which provided valuable day-to-day guidance and support within this project. Finally, we would like to thank all the involved landowners, land users, and especially the gamekeepers and farmers for their patience and contributions. We very much appreciate your support!

We would also like to acknowledge the Phase 2 extension with substantial co-funding (£975k) from United Utilities (UU) and Yorkshire Water Services (YWS) and further contributions from the MA, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), the Heather Trust (HT; via funding from the HD Wills Trust), the Law Family Charitable Foundation (LFCF) and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (via Yorkshire Peat Partnership; YPP). We have also received some maintenance grants from the Ecological Continuity Trust (ECT) with support from the  Ramble Worldwide Outdoor Trust (RWOT). 

Further support was linked to 2 Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) iCASE PhDs (£185k) including support from the YPP and YWS (on peat chemistry) and NE (on soil microbes). 

We are currently funded in Phase 3 by NERC as part of the Ideal UK Fire project with further support from the MA and ECT. The PAG continues to advise the project.

Project aims

The overarching aim of this study is to:

Acquire experimental data to underpin the development and refinement of possible management techniques, for example, applicable through Environmental Stewardship schemes, to address the dominance of heather (Calluna vulgaris) and facilitate the support of ‘active’ blanket bog vegetation (with peat-forming species, particularly Sphagnum spp.). Note that 'active' can be defined by net carbon sequestration and peat growth.

This requires screening for the most suitable management techniques and then including those as part of a manipulative experiment to provide scientifically sound and meaningful data upon which to base policy advice and subsequently inform management decisions, considering both, environmental and socio-economic implications.

Considering the slow responses to any management change in a cold upland environment, a long-term approach is needed in order to capture ecologically meaningful and practitioner relevant trajectories in vegetation changes and impacts on ecosystem services. 

Whilst Phase 1 only allowed capturing the immediate short-term disturbance effects, Phase 2 allowed capturing the medium-term recovery and Phase 3 enables assessing long-term impacts. This long-term aim was outlined by Defra in the original tender for the Phase 1 of the project. Any short-term findings (like those from the 5-year Defra report) should be used in this context and not be mistaken for or used to inform long-term outcomes (Heinemeyer & Ashby, 2023). That is why the Defra peer-review recommended to extend the study to about 25 years.

The unique approach in this project is the at three sites (covering a range of different environmental conditions) replicated Before-After Control-Intervention (BACI) catchment-scale design including further management option plot-level replicates. This is the only such robust peatland study for comparing different vegetation management practices at appropriate temporal and spatial scales. As such it overcomes limitations of previous space-for-time and short-term studies.

Project outcomes

We expect the major project outcomes to be to:

1.  Provide in depth understanding of the management implications on key ecosystem services related to biodiversity (vegetation and birds), carbon (fluxes and stocks), greenhouse gases (methane emissons) and water (considering water storage and quality).

2.  Provide a cost benefit analysis based recommendation on the most feasible and best management regime for heather dominated blanket bogs, particularly in respect to environmental implications.

3.  Achieve increased awareness of the ecosystem functioning and services provided by blanket bogs among stakeholders such as landowners, managers and associated user groups.

Notably, the above outcomes rely on the long-term monitoring of climate and management related impacts on vegetation, soil and hydrological parameters and interpreting findings considering any potential confounding effects (i.e., BACI design capturing pre-management change existing differences). A key issue in the evidence base is limited monitoring time, replication, adequate controls as part of the 'gold standard' BACI design.

In addition to routine monitoring, two NERC-funded iCASE PhD projects were investigating soil microbial (NE) and chemical (YWS & YPP) processes underpinning carbon and water related ecosystem services.

Short-term results are available as part of the Phase 1 (BD5104) Defra Report 

Medium-term results are presented in the recent 10-year PAG report for Phase 2 together with a short & full summary . 

Long-term results are anticipated after a 20-year monitoring period (i.e., a full management cycle).

Some related publications are made available o this site (see Biography), but see here for further publications.