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| Titel |
Impacts of drain blocking on the aquatic carbon export from a UK
peatland |
| VerfasserIn |
Fraser Leith, Kerry Dinsmore, Jennifer Carfrae |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2016
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 18 (2016) |
| Datensatznummer |
250123276
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2016-2502.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Drainage ditches, which have historically been used across UK peatlands, provide a rapid
pathway for carbon export between terrestrial and aquatic systems, potentially reducing or
reversing the net uptake of carbon by peatlands. Currently, considerable investment is being
made in Scotland to restore drained peatlands with the aim of raising water tables, restoring
active vegetation cover, enhancing carbon uptake and reducing carbon losses via the aquatic
pathway. However, monitoring of restoration and its impact is often restricted by a lack of
pre-restoration data and typically does not cover the full range of fluvial carbon
species.
Drain blocking was carried out in March 2015 at the Auchencorth Moss peatland, SE
Scotland, which has an extensive record of fluvial carbon measurements (from 2007 to
present day). This study combines an intensive 12 month field monitoring campaign,
during and after drain blocking works, with the long-term record to investigate the
impacts of drain blocking on the dissolved and gaseous carbon export via the aquatic
pathway.
Post-restoration, concentrations and fluxes of all stream water dissolved and
gaseous carbon species were in the range of values measured over the period 2007 to
present; with no significant change in the 12 months post-restoration. The results
from this study indicate that the drain blocking works did not have a significant
impact on the concentration or speciation of carbon exported via the aquatic pathway
which can be attributed to the largely overgrown nature of the drains and the large
inter- and intra-annual variability in the system. This study raises questions on the
suitability of some peatlands for drain blocking and the pre- and post-restoration
monitoring required to accurately assess the impacts of peatland restoration activities. |
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