Climate and water-table levels regulate peat accumulation rates across Europe

Graeme T. Swindles; Donal J.  Mullan; Neil T  Brannigan; Richard E.  Fewster; Thomas G.  Sim; Angela  Gallego-Sala; Maarten Blaauw; Mariusz Lamentowicz; Julie Loisel; Matthew J. Amesbury; Antony Blundell; Frank M. Chambers; Dan J. Charman; Callum R C  Evans; Angelica Feurdean; Jennifer M. Galloway; Mariusz Gałka; Edgar Karofeld; Evelyn M  Keaveney; Atte Korhola; Łukasz Lamentowicz; Peter  Langdon; Dimitri Mauquoy; Michelle M. McKeown; Edward A. D. Mitchell; Gill Plunkett; Helen M. Roe; T. Edward Turner; Ülle Sillasoo; Minna Valiranta; Marjolein van der Linden; Barry Warner

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0327422

Climate and water-table levels regulate peat accumulation rates across Europe

Graeme T. Swindles^* (Corresponding Author)
, Donal J. Mullan
, Neil T Brannigan
, Richard E. Fewster
, Thomas G. Sim
, Angela Gallego-Sala
, Maarten Blaauw
, Mariusz Lamentowicz
, Julie Loisel
, Matthew J. Amesbury
, Antony Blundell
, Frank M. Chambers
, Dan J. Charman
, Callum R C Evans
, Angelica Feurdean
, Jennifer M. Galloway
, Mariusz Gałka
, Edgar Karofeld
, Evelyn M Keaveney
, Atte Korhola

Łukasz Lamentowicz, Peter Langdon, Dimitri Mauquoy, Michelle M. McKeown, Edward A. D. Mitchell, Gill Plunkett, Helen M. Roe, T. Edward Turner, Ülle Sillasoo, Minna Valiranta, Marjolein van der Linden, Barry Warner

^*Corresponding author for this work

Geography & Environment

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

Abstract

Background
Peatlands are globally-important carbon sinks at risk of degradation from climate change and direct human impacts, including drainage and burning. Peat accumulates when there is a positive mass balance between plant productivity inputs and litter/peat decomposition losses. However, the factors influencing the rate of peat accumulation over time are still poorly understood.

Methodology/Principal Findings
We examine apparent peat accumulation rates (aPAR) during the last two millennia from 28 well-dated, intact European peatlands and find a range of between 0.005 and 0.448 cm yr-1 (mean = 0.118 cm yr-1). Our work provides important context for the commonplace assertion that European peatlands accumulate at ~0.1 cm per year. The highest aPAR values are found in the Scandinavian and Baltic regions, in contrast to Britain, Ireland, and Continental Europe. We find that summer temperature is a significant climatic control on aPAR across our European sites. Furthermore, a significant relationship is observed between aPAR and water-table depth (reconstructed from testate-amoeba subfossils), suggesting that higher aPAR levels are often associated with wetter conditions. We also note that the highest values of aPAR are found when the water table is within 5–10 cm of the peatland surface. aPAR is generally low when water table depths are < 0 cm (standing water) or > 25 cm, which may relate to a decrease in plant productivity and increased decomposition losses, respectively. Model fitting indicates that the optimal water table depth (WTD) for maximum aPAR is ~10 cm.

Conclusions/Significance
Our study suggests that, in some European peatlands, higher summer temperatures may enhance growth rates, but only if a sufficiently high water table is maintained. In addition, our findings corroborate contemporary observational and experimental studies that have suggested an average water-table depth of ~10 cm is optimal to enable rapid peat growth and therefore carbon sequestration in the long term. This has important implications for peatland restoration and rewetting strategies, in global efforts to mitigate climate change.

Original language	English
Article number	e0327422
Number of pages	16
Journal	PloS ONE
Volume	20
Issue number	7
Early online date	23 Jul 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0327422
Publication status	Published - 23 Jul 2025

Bibliographical note

We thank the two reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. JMGs contribution represents NRCan contribution number/Numéro de contribution de RNCan: 20230392. This paper is a contribution to the PAGES C-PEAT group.

Data Availability Statement

All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.

Funding

We acknowledge all the organizations that have funded the data used in this analysis: Academy of Finland; Department for Employment and Learning (Northern Ireland); European Commission (Fifth Framework); INTERACT (European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme); Irish Discovery Programme; Leverhulme Trust; National Science Centre (Poland); Natural Environment Research Council (UK); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research; Polish National Science Centre (2021/41/B/ST10/00060 and 2021/03/Y/ST10/00093 [BIODIVRESTORE]); Quaternary Research Association; Swiss Contribution to the enlarged European Union; Swiss Federal Office for Education and Science; Swiss National Science Foundation; World University Network; Wüthrich Fund (University of Neuchâtel); and Yorkshire Water. T.G.S. was funded by the Leeds–York Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Doctoral Training Partnership (grant no. NE/L002574/1). T.E.T. acknowledges NERC Doctoral Training Grant no. NE/G52398X/1. JMGs contribution represents NRCan contribution number/Numéro de contribution de RNCan: 20230392. This paper is a contribution to the PAGES C-PEAT group. PAGES is supported by the Swiss Academy of Sciences and Future Earth. This research was supported by a grant to G.T.S from the UK Leverhulme Trust (Grant No. RPG-2021-354) and a grant to E.M.K from UKRI NERC (Grant No. UKRI182).

Funders	Funder number
The Leverhulme Trust	RPG-2021-354
UK Research and Innovation	UKRI182
Natural Environment Research Council	NE/L002574/1, NE/G52398X/1
European Commission
Polish National Science Centre	2021/41/B/ST10/00060, 2021/03/Y/ST10/00093
Academy of Finland
Department for Employment and Learning (Northern Ireland)
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research
Quaternary Research Association
Irish Discovery Programme
Natural Resources Canada	20230392
Swiss National Science Foundation
Wüthrich Fund
Swiss Academy of Sciences
World University Network
Yorkshire Water

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Cite this

Swindles, G. T., Mullan, D. J., Brannigan, N. T., Fewster, R. E., Sim, T. G., Gallego-Sala, A., Blaauw, M., Lamentowicz, M., Loisel, J., Amesbury, M. J., Blundell, A., Chambers, F. M., Charman, D. J., Evans, C. R. C., Feurdean, A., Galloway, J. M., Gałka, M., Karofeld, E., Keaveney, E. M., ... Warner, B. (2025). Climate and water-table levels regulate peat accumulation rates across Europe. PloS ONE, 20(7), Article e0327422. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0327422

Swindles, GT, Mullan, DJ, Brannigan, NT, Fewster, RE, Sim, TG, Gallego-Sala, A, Blaauw, M, Lamentowicz, M, Loisel, J, Amesbury, MJ, Blundell, A, Chambers, FM, Charman, DJ, Evans, CRC, Feurdean, A, Galloway, JM, Gałka, M, Karofeld, E, Keaveney, EM, Korhola, A, Lamentowicz, Ł, Langdon, P, Mauquoy, D, McKeown, MM, Mitchell, EAD, Plunkett, G, Roe, HM, Turner, TE, Sillasoo, Ü, Valiranta, M, van der Linden, M & Warner, B 2025, 'Climate and water-table levels regulate peat accumulation rates across Europe', PloS ONE, vol. 20, no. 7, e0327422. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0327422

@article{1405488835f944af82c03a300b25efd6,

title = "Climate and water-table levels regulate peat accumulation rates across Europe",

abstract = "Background Peatlands are globally-important carbon sinks at risk of degradation from climate change and direct human impacts, including drainage and burning. Peat accumulates when there is a positive mass balance between plant productivity inputs and litter/peat decomposition losses. However, the factors influencing the rate of peat accumulation over time are still poorly understood. Methodology/Principal Findings We examine apparent peat accumulation rates (aPAR) during the last two millennia from 28 well-dated, intact European peatlands and find a range of between 0.005 and 0.448 cm yr-1 (mean = 0.118 cm yr-1). Our work provides important context for the commonplace assertion that European peatlands accumulate at \textasciitilde{}0.1 cm per year. The highest aPAR values are found in the Scandinavian and Baltic regions, in contrast to Britain, Ireland, and Continental Europe. We find that summer temperature is a significant climatic control on aPAR across our European sites. Furthermore, a significant relationship is observed between aPAR and water-table depth (reconstructed from testate-amoeba subfossils), suggesting that higher aPAR levels are often associated with wetter conditions. We also note that the highest values of aPAR are found when the water table is within 5–10 cm of the peatland surface. aPAR is generally low when water table depths are < 0 cm (standing water) or > 25 cm, which may relate to a decrease in plant productivity and increased decomposition losses, respectively. Model fitting indicates that the optimal water table depth (WTD) for maximum aPAR is \textasciitilde{}10 cm. Conclusions/Significance Our study suggests that, in some European peatlands, higher summer temperatures may enhance growth rates, but only if a sufficiently high water table is maintained. In addition, our findings corroborate contemporary observational and experimental studies that have suggested an average water-table depth of \textasciitilde{}10 cm is optimal to enable rapid peat growth and therefore carbon sequestration in the long term. This has important implications for peatland restoration and rewetting strategies, in global efforts to mitigate climate change.",

author = "Swindles, \{Graeme T.\} and Mullan, \{Donal J.\} and Brannigan, \{Neil T\} and Fewster, \{Richard E.\} and Sim, \{Thomas G.\} and Angela Gallego-Sala and Maarten Blaauw and Mariusz Lamentowicz and Julie Loisel and Amesbury, \{Matthew J.\} and Antony Blundell and Chambers, \{Frank M.\} and Charman, \{Dan J.\} and Evans, \{Callum R C\} and Angelica Feurdean and Galloway, \{Jennifer M.\} and Mariusz Ga{\l}ka and Edgar Karofeld and Keaveney, \{Evelyn M\} and Atte Korhola and {\L}ukasz Lamentowicz and Peter Langdon and Dimitri Mauquoy and McKeown, \{Michelle M.\} and Mitchell, \{Edward A. D.\} and Gill Plunkett and Roe, \{Helen M.\} and Turner, \{T. Edward\} and {\"U}lle Sillasoo and Minna Valiranta and \{van der Linden\}, Marjolein and Barry Warner",

note = "We thank the two reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. JMGs contribution represents NRCan contribution number/Num{\'e}ro de contribution de RNCan: 20230392. This paper is a contribution to the PAGES C-PEAT group.",

year = "2025",

month = jul,

day = "23",

doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0327422",

language = "English",

volume = "20",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Climate and water-table levels regulate peat accumulation rates across Europe

AU - Swindles, Graeme T.

AU - Mullan, Donal J.

AU - Brannigan, Neil T

AU - Fewster, Richard E.

AU - Sim, Thomas G.

AU - Gallego-Sala, Angela

AU - Blaauw, Maarten

AU - Lamentowicz, Mariusz

AU - Loisel, Julie

AU - Amesbury, Matthew J.

AU - Blundell, Antony

AU - Chambers, Frank M.

AU - Charman, Dan J.

AU - Evans, Callum R C

AU - Feurdean, Angelica

AU - Galloway, Jennifer M.

AU - Gałka, Mariusz

AU - Karofeld, Edgar

AU - Keaveney, Evelyn M

AU - Korhola, Atte

AU - Lamentowicz, Łukasz

AU - Langdon, Peter

AU - Mauquoy, Dimitri

AU - McKeown, Michelle M.

AU - Mitchell, Edward A. D.

AU - Plunkett, Gill

AU - Roe, Helen M.

AU - Turner, T. Edward

AU - Sillasoo, Ülle

AU - Valiranta, Minna

AU - van der Linden, Marjolein

AU - Warner, Barry

N1 - We thank the two reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. JMGs contribution represents NRCan contribution number/Numéro de contribution de RNCan: 20230392. This paper is a contribution to the PAGES C-PEAT group.

PY - 2025/7/23

Y1 - 2025/7/23

N2 - Background Peatlands are globally-important carbon sinks at risk of degradation from climate change and direct human impacts, including drainage and burning. Peat accumulates when there is a positive mass balance between plant productivity inputs and litter/peat decomposition losses. However, the factors influencing the rate of peat accumulation over time are still poorly understood. Methodology/Principal Findings We examine apparent peat accumulation rates (aPAR) during the last two millennia from 28 well-dated, intact European peatlands and find a range of between 0.005 and 0.448 cm yr-1 (mean = 0.118 cm yr-1). Our work provides important context for the commonplace assertion that European peatlands accumulate at ~0.1 cm per year. The highest aPAR values are found in the Scandinavian and Baltic regions, in contrast to Britain, Ireland, and Continental Europe. We find that summer temperature is a significant climatic control on aPAR across our European sites. Furthermore, a significant relationship is observed between aPAR and water-table depth (reconstructed from testate-amoeba subfossils), suggesting that higher aPAR levels are often associated with wetter conditions. We also note that the highest values of aPAR are found when the water table is within 5–10 cm of the peatland surface. aPAR is generally low when water table depths are < 0 cm (standing water) or > 25 cm, which may relate to a decrease in plant productivity and increased decomposition losses, respectively. Model fitting indicates that the optimal water table depth (WTD) for maximum aPAR is ~10 cm. Conclusions/Significance Our study suggests that, in some European peatlands, higher summer temperatures may enhance growth rates, but only if a sufficiently high water table is maintained. In addition, our findings corroborate contemporary observational and experimental studies that have suggested an average water-table depth of ~10 cm is optimal to enable rapid peat growth and therefore carbon sequestration in the long term. This has important implications for peatland restoration and rewetting strategies, in global efforts to mitigate climate change.

AB - Background Peatlands are globally-important carbon sinks at risk of degradation from climate change and direct human impacts, including drainage and burning. Peat accumulates when there is a positive mass balance between plant productivity inputs and litter/peat decomposition losses. However, the factors influencing the rate of peat accumulation over time are still poorly understood. Methodology/Principal Findings We examine apparent peat accumulation rates (aPAR) during the last two millennia from 28 well-dated, intact European peatlands and find a range of between 0.005 and 0.448 cm yr-1 (mean = 0.118 cm yr-1). Our work provides important context for the commonplace assertion that European peatlands accumulate at ~0.1 cm per year. The highest aPAR values are found in the Scandinavian and Baltic regions, in contrast to Britain, Ireland, and Continental Europe. We find that summer temperature is a significant climatic control on aPAR across our European sites. Furthermore, a significant relationship is observed between aPAR and water-table depth (reconstructed from testate-amoeba subfossils), suggesting that higher aPAR levels are often associated with wetter conditions. We also note that the highest values of aPAR are found when the water table is within 5–10 cm of the peatland surface. aPAR is generally low when water table depths are < 0 cm (standing water) or > 25 cm, which may relate to a decrease in plant productivity and increased decomposition losses, respectively. Model fitting indicates that the optimal water table depth (WTD) for maximum aPAR is ~10 cm. Conclusions/Significance Our study suggests that, in some European peatlands, higher summer temperatures may enhance growth rates, but only if a sufficiently high water table is maintained. In addition, our findings corroborate contemporary observational and experimental studies that have suggested an average water-table depth of ~10 cm is optimal to enable rapid peat growth and therefore carbon sequestration in the long term. This has important implications for peatland restoration and rewetting strategies, in global efforts to mitigate climate change.

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0327422

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0327422

M3 - Article

SN - 1932-6203

VL - 20

JO - PloS ONE

JF - PloS ONE

IS - 7

M1 - e0327422

ER -

Climate and water-table levels regulate peat accumulation rates across Europe

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Funding

UN SDGs

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