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^* (Corresponding Author)
, 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

^*Corresponding author for this work

Geography & Environment

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

252 Citations (Scopus)

22 Downloads (Pure)

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
Issue number	11
Early online date	21 Oct 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z
Publication status	Published - Nov 2019

Bibliographical note

We thank all the organizations that have funded the data used in this analysis: Academy of Finland (grant no. 296423); 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 (grant no. 2015/17/B/ST10/01656); Quaternary Research Association; Russian Science Foundation (grant no. 19-14-00102); 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. is 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. For J.M.G., this paper represents a contribution from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan contribution number/Numéro de contribution de RNCan, 20190079). G.T.S. acknowledges financial support from the Dutch Foundation for the Conservation of Irish Bogs. We thank L. Brown and A. Baird (University of Leeds) for constructive comments on the manuscript. This is a contribution to the PAGES C-PEAT group. PAGES is supported by the US National Science Foundation and the Swiss Academy of Sciences. We dedicate this work to co-author Richard J. Payne who was tragically killed while climbing Nanda Devi in the Garhwal Himalayas whilst the manuscript was in review.

UN SDGs

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

SDG 13 Climate Action

Keywords

wetlands
climate change
hydrology
carbon
Europe
HYDROLOGICAL CHANGE
WATER TABLES
MULTI-PROXY
CLIMATE-CHANGE
HUMAN IMPACT
TESTATE AMEBAS
LATE HOLOCENE
CARBON ACCUMULATION
LAST 2000 YEARS
RAISED BOG

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10.1038/s41561-019-0462-zLicence: Unspecified

Accepted ManuscriptAccepted author manuscript, 16.1 MBLicence: Other

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(11), 922–928. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z

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, no. 11, pp. 922–928. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z

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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 \textasciitilde{}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{\textendash}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. ",

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note = "We thank all the organizations that have funded the data used in this analysis: Academy of Finland (grant no. 296423); Department for Employment and Learning (Northern Ireland); European Commission (Fifth Framework); INTERACT (European Community{\textquoteright}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 (grant no. 2015/17/B/ST10/01656); Quaternary Research Association; Russian Science Foundation (grant no. 19-14-00102); Swiss Contribution to the enlarged European Union; Swiss Federal Office for Education and Science; Swiss National Science Foundation; World University Network; W{\"u}thrich Fund (University of Neuch{\^a}tel); and Yorkshire Water. T.G.S. is funded by the Leeds{\textendash}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. For J.M.G., this paper represents a contribution from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan contribution number/Num{\'e}ro de contribution de RNCan, 20190079). G.T.S. acknowledges financial support from the Dutch Foundation for the Conservation of Irish Bogs. We thank L. Brown and A. Baird (University of Leeds) for constructive comments on the manuscript. This is a contribution to the PAGES C-PEAT group. PAGES is supported by the US National Science Foundation and the Swiss Academy of Sciences. We dedicate this work to co-author Richard J. Payne who was tragically killed while climbing Nanda Devi in the Garhwal Himalayas whilst the manuscript was in review.",

year = "2019",

month = nov,

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

language = "English",

volume = "12",

pages = "922{\textendash}928",

journal = "Nature Geoscience",

issn = "1752-0894",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

number = "11",

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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 - We thank all the organizations that have funded the data used in this analysis: Academy of Finland (grant no. 296423); 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 (grant no. 2015/17/B/ST10/01656); Quaternary Research Association; Russian Science Foundation (grant no. 19-14-00102); 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. is 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. For J.M.G., this paper represents a contribution from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan contribution number/Numéro de contribution de RNCan, 20190079). G.T.S. acknowledges financial support from the Dutch Foundation for the Conservation of Irish Bogs. We thank L. Brown and A. Baird (University of Leeds) for constructive comments on the manuscript. This is a contribution to the PAGES C-PEAT group. PAGES is supported by the US National Science Foundation and the Swiss Academy of Sciences. We dedicate this work to co-author Richard J. Payne who was tragically killed while climbing Nanda Devi in the Garhwal Himalayas whilst the manuscript was in review.

PY - 2019/11

Y1 - 2019/11

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.

KW - wetlands

KW - climate change

KW - hydrology

KW - carbon

KW - Europe

KW - HYDROLOGICAL CHANGE

KW - WATER TABLES

KW - MULTI-PROXY

KW - CLIMATE-CHANGE

KW - HUMAN IMPACT

KW - TESTATE AMEBAS

KW - LATE HOLOCENE

KW - CARBON ACCUMULATION

KW - LAST 2000 YEARS

KW - RAISED BOG

U2 - 10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z

DO - 10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z

M3 - Article

SN - 1752-0894

VL - 12

SP - 922

EP - 928

JO - Nature Geoscience

JF - Nature Geoscience

IS - 11

ER -

Widespread drying of European peatlands in recent centuries

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Keywords

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