Peatlands

Galicia, an oceanic region located in the NW of the Iberian Peninsula, hosts a large diversity of peatlands. Here we briefly describe them, based on the body of research conductedsince the mid 1940s, that was largely boosted since the 1990s. Galician peatlands are both present key landscapes, libraries of past landscapes and priority protected landscapes, i.e.,windows to our past, present and future. Regarding typology, blanket bogs, raised bogs, and several types of fens can be recognized. They are mostly acidic and are mainly located inmountain areas. Grasses, sedges and reeds are the dominant components of the vegetation, while mosses are a much less relevant group compared to northern European mires. Peatformation started at the Early Holocene in many places, but there are also peatlands that started to form in the Mid and Late Holocene. As the peat deposit grows and increases indepth/age, peatlands store information in the form of biotic (pollen, spores, diatoms, organic compounds, etc.) and abiotic (minerals, spheroidal particles, etc.) indicators. Thus, theyprovide long-term (i.e., centuries to millennia) records of environmental changes—including human activities. Research developed in peatlands from Galicia enabled to reconstructvegetation changes, atmospheric pollution (metals and organic pollutants), climate changes (rainfall, temperature, and storminess) and dust deposition, as well as peatlands’ ecologicalevolution along the Holocene. The relevance of the ecosystem services provided by peatlands (hydric regulation, carbon-storage, biodiversity reservoir) together with the pervasiveincrease in the pressures and threats they are facing, prompted their inclusion as priority protection habitats in the Habitats Directive. Natura2000 Network is the legal Europeanframework under which large efforts are been made to stablish the ecological bases for conservation, improve mapping, and implement new protection and restoration measures.