Widespread drying of European peatlands in recent centuries

Graeme T. Swindles; Paul J. Morris; Donal J. Mullan; Richard J. Payne; Thomas P. Roland; Matthew J. Amesbury; Mariusz Lamentowicz; T. Edward Turner; Angela Gallego-Sala; Thomas Sim; Iestyn D. Barr; Maarten Blaauw; Antony Blundell; Frank M. Chambers; Dan J. Charman; Angelica Feurdean; Jennifer M. Galloway; Mariusz Gałka; Sophie M. Green; Katarzyna Kajukało; Edgar Karofeld; Atte Korhola; Łukasz Lamentowicz; Peter Langdon; Katarzyna Marcisz; Dmitri Mauquoy; Yuri A. Mazei; Michelle M. McKeown; Edward A.D. Mitchell; Elena Novenko; Gill Plunkett; Helen M. Roe; Kristian Schoning; Ülle Sillasoo; Andrey N. Tsyganov; Marjolein van der Linden; Minna Väliranta; Barry Warner

doi:10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z

Widespread drying of European peatlands in recent centuries

Graeme T. Swindles^*, Paul J. Morris, Donal J. Mullan, Richard J. Payne, Thomas P. Roland, Matthew J. Amesbury, Mariusz Lamentowicz, T. Edward Turner, Angela Gallego-Sala, Thomas Sim, Iestyn D. Barr, Maarten Blaauw, Antony Blundell, Frank M. Chambers, Dan J. Charman, Angelica Feurdean, Jennifer M. Galloway, Mariusz Gałka, Sophie M. Green, Katarzyna KajukałoEdgar Karofeld, Atte Korhola, Łukasz Lamentowicz, Peter Langdon, Katarzyna Marcisz, Dmitri Mauquoy, Yuri A. Mazei, Michelle M. McKeown, Edward A.D. Mitchell, Elena Novenko, Gill Plunkett, Helen M. Roe, Kristian Schoning, Ülle Sillasoo, Andrey N. Tsyganov, Marjolein van der Linden, Minna Väliranta, Barry Warner

^*Corresponding author for this work

Environment and Geography

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Climate warming and human impacts are thought to be causing peatlands to dry, potentially converting them from sinks to sources of carbon. However, it is unclear whether the hydrological status of peatlands has moved beyond their natural envelope. Here we show that European peatlands have undergone substantial, widespread drying during the last ~300 years. We analyse testate amoeba-derived hydrological reconstructions from 31 peatlands across Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and Continental Europe to examine changes in peatland surface wetness during the last 2,000 years. We find that 60% of our study sites were drier during the period 1800–2000 ce than they have been for the last 600 years, 40% of sites were drier than they have been for 1,000 years and 24% of sites were drier than they have been for 2,000 years. This marked recent transition in the hydrology of European peatlands is concurrent with compound pressures including climatic drying, warming and direct human impacts on peatlands, although these factors vary among regions and individual sites. Our results suggest that the wetness of many European peatlands may now be moving away from natural baselines. Our findings highlight the need for effective management and restoration of European peatlands.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	922-928
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nature Geoscience
Volume	12
Early online date	21 Oct 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 21 Oct 2019

Bibliographical note

© Crown 2019. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

Access to Document

10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z

Peat drying AAM_EuroH_manuscript_R2_preproof
© Crown 2019. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.
Accepted author manuscript, 16.1 MBLicence: Unspecified

Cite this

Swindles, G. T., Morris, P. J., Mullan, D. J., Payne, R. J., Roland, T. P., Amesbury, M. J., Lamentowicz, M., Turner, T. E., Gallego-Sala, A., Sim, T., Barr, I. D., Blaauw, M., Blundell, A., Chambers, F. M., Charman, D. J., Feurdean, A., Galloway, J. M., Gałka, M., Green, S. M., ... Warner, B. (2019). Widespread drying of European peatlands in recent centuries. Nature Geoscience, 12, 922-928. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z

@article{b1265a971c954edb92f887312624e85e,

title = "Widespread drying of European peatlands in recent centuries",

abstract = "Climate warming and human impacts are thought to be causing peatlands to dry, potentially converting them from sinks to sources of carbon. However, it is unclear whether the hydrological status of peatlands has moved beyond their natural envelope. Here we show that European peatlands have undergone substantial, widespread drying during the last ~300 years. We analyse testate amoeba-derived hydrological reconstructions from 31 peatlands across Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and Continental Europe to examine changes in peatland surface wetness during the last 2,000 years. We find that 60% of our study sites were drier during the period 1800–2000 ce than they have been for the last 600 years, 40% of sites were drier than they have been for 1,000 years and 24% of sites were drier than they have been for 2,000 years. This marked recent transition in the hydrology of European peatlands is concurrent with compound pressures including climatic drying, warming and direct human impacts on peatlands, although these factors vary among regions and individual sites. Our results suggest that the wetness of many European peatlands may now be moving away from natural baselines. Our findings highlight the need for effective management and restoration of European peatlands.",

author = "Swindles, {Graeme T.} and Morris, {Paul J.} and Mullan, {Donal J.} and Payne, {Richard J.} and Roland, {Thomas P.} and Amesbury, {Matthew J.} and Mariusz Lamentowicz and Turner, {T. Edward} and Angela Gallego-Sala and Thomas Sim and Barr, {Iestyn D.} and Maarten Blaauw and Antony Blundell and Chambers, {Frank M.} and Charman, {Dan J.} and Angelica Feurdean and Galloway, {Jennifer M.} and Mariusz Ga{\l}ka and Green, {Sophie M.} and Katarzyna Kajuka{\l}o and Edgar Karofeld and Atte Korhola and {\L}ukasz Lamentowicz and Peter Langdon and Katarzyna Marcisz and Dmitri Mauquoy and Mazei, {Yuri A.} and McKeown, {Michelle M.} and Mitchell, {Edward A.D.} and Elena Novenko and Gill Plunkett and Roe, {Helen M.} and Kristian Schoning and {\"U}lle Sillasoo and Tsyganov, {Andrey N.} and {van der Linden}, Marjolein and Minna V{\"a}liranta and Barry Warner",

note = "{\textcopyright} Crown 2019. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher{\textquoteright}s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.",

year = "2019",

month = oct,

day = "21",

doi = "10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z",

language = "English",

volume = "12",

pages = "922--928",

journal = "Nature Geoscience",

issn = "1752-0894",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

}

Swindles, GT, Morris, PJ, Mullan, DJ, Payne, RJ, Roland, TP, Amesbury, MJ, Lamentowicz, M, Turner, TE, Gallego-Sala, A, Sim, T, Barr, ID, Blaauw, M, Blundell, A, Chambers, FM, Charman, DJ, Feurdean, A, Galloway, JM, Gałka, M, Green, SM, Kajukało, K, Karofeld, E, Korhola, A, Lamentowicz, Ł, Langdon, P, Marcisz, K, Mauquoy, D, Mazei, YA, McKeown, MM, Mitchell, EAD, Novenko, E, Plunkett, G, Roe, HM, Schoning, K, Sillasoo, Ü, Tsyganov, AN, van der Linden, M, Väliranta, M & Warner, B 2019, 'Widespread drying of European peatlands in recent centuries', Nature Geoscience, vol. 12, pp. 922-928. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z

TY - JOUR

T1 - Widespread drying of European peatlands in recent centuries

AU - Swindles, Graeme T.

AU - Morris, Paul J.

AU - Mullan, Donal J.

AU - Payne, Richard J.

AU - Roland, Thomas P.

AU - Amesbury, Matthew J.

AU - Lamentowicz, Mariusz

AU - Turner, T. Edward

AU - Gallego-Sala, Angela

AU - Sim, Thomas

AU - Barr, Iestyn D.

AU - Blaauw, Maarten

AU - Blundell, Antony

AU - Chambers, Frank M.

AU - Charman, Dan J.

AU - Feurdean, Angelica

AU - Galloway, Jennifer M.

AU - Gałka, Mariusz

AU - Green, Sophie M.

AU - Kajukało, Katarzyna

AU - Karofeld, Edgar

AU - Korhola, Atte

AU - Lamentowicz, Łukasz

AU - Langdon, Peter

AU - Marcisz, Katarzyna

AU - Mauquoy, Dmitri

AU - Mazei, Yuri A.

AU - McKeown, Michelle M.

AU - Mitchell, Edward A.D.

AU - Novenko, Elena

AU - Plunkett, Gill

AU - Roe, Helen M.

AU - Schoning, Kristian

AU - Sillasoo, Ülle

AU - Tsyganov, Andrey N.

AU - van der Linden, Marjolein

AU - Väliranta, Minna

AU - Warner, Barry

N1 - © Crown 2019. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

PY - 2019/10/21

Y1 - 2019/10/21

N2 - Climate warming and human impacts are thought to be causing peatlands to dry, potentially converting them from sinks to sources of carbon. However, it is unclear whether the hydrological status of peatlands has moved beyond their natural envelope. Here we show that European peatlands have undergone substantial, widespread drying during the last ~300 years. We analyse testate amoeba-derived hydrological reconstructions from 31 peatlands across Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and Continental Europe to examine changes in peatland surface wetness during the last 2,000 years. We find that 60% of our study sites were drier during the period 1800–2000 ce than they have been for the last 600 years, 40% of sites were drier than they have been for 1,000 years and 24% of sites were drier than they have been for 2,000 years. This marked recent transition in the hydrology of European peatlands is concurrent with compound pressures including climatic drying, warming and direct human impacts on peatlands, although these factors vary among regions and individual sites. Our results suggest that the wetness of many European peatlands may now be moving away from natural baselines. Our findings highlight the need for effective management and restoration of European peatlands.

AB - Climate warming and human impacts are thought to be causing peatlands to dry, potentially converting them from sinks to sources of carbon. However, it is unclear whether the hydrological status of peatlands has moved beyond their natural envelope. Here we show that European peatlands have undergone substantial, widespread drying during the last ~300 years. We analyse testate amoeba-derived hydrological reconstructions from 31 peatlands across Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and Continental Europe to examine changes in peatland surface wetness during the last 2,000 years. We find that 60% of our study sites were drier during the period 1800–2000 ce than they have been for the last 600 years, 40% of sites were drier than they have been for 1,000 years and 24% of sites were drier than they have been for 2,000 years. This marked recent transition in the hydrology of European peatlands is concurrent with compound pressures including climatic drying, warming and direct human impacts on peatlands, although these factors vary among regions and individual sites. Our results suggest that the wetness of many European peatlands may now be moving away from natural baselines. Our findings highlight the need for effective management and restoration of European peatlands.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074561623&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z

DO - 10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85074561623

SN - 1752-0894

VL - 12

SP - 922

EP - 928

JO - Nature Geoscience

JF - Nature Geoscience

ER -

Widespread drying of European peatlands in recent centuries

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

Other files and links

Cite this