Imperial College London
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Professor Iain Colin Prentice

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Life Sciences (Silwood Park)

Chair in Biosphere and Climate Impacts
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 2482c.prentice

 
 
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Location

 

2.3Centre for Population BiologySilwood Park

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@inbook{Gallego-Sala:2016:10.1017/CBO9781139177788.009,
author = {Gallego-Sala, AV and Booth, RK and Charman, DJ and Prentice, IC and Yu, Z},
booktitle = {Peatland Restoration and Ecosystem Services: Science, Policy and Practice},
doi = {10.1017/CBO9781139177788.009},
pages = {129--150},
title = {Peatlands and climate change},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139177788.009},
year = {2016}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - CHAP
AB  - Introduction The fundamental reason for the presence of peatlands is a positive balance between plant production and decomposition of organic matter. Organic matter accumulates in these systems because prolonged waterlogged conditions result in soil anoxia (i.e. exclusion of oxygen), and under these conditions decomposition rates can be lower than those of primary production, as seen in Figure 8.1. Climate therefore plays an important role in peat accumulation, both directly by affecting plant productivity and decomposition of organic matter, and indirectly through its effects on hydrology, water balance and vegetation composition (for a summary, refer to Yu, Beilman and Jones (2009)). Climate provides broad-scale controls on peatland extent, types and vegetation, and ultimately, ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and storage, as well as water and hazard regulation (Chapters 4 and 5). Peatlands can therefore play a vital role in ecosystem-based adaptation in helping society mitigate and adapt to climate change. Future climate change is likely to alter the hydrology and soil temperature of peatlands, with far-reaching consequences for their biodiversity, ecology and biogeochemistry, and interactions with the Earth system. For example, the possibility of drier conditions allowing peat erosion and increases in CO2 emissions that would result in a positive feedback to climate change (Turetsky 2010). Peatlands that have been damaged by human activity are more vulnerable to climate-induced changes in hydrology and temperature, but suitable management strategies may make them more resilient to changes and help to stabilise the delivery of ecosystem services (Chapter 1). This chapter describes the interactions between climate and peatlands in three sections. The first section explains how present climate influences peatlands, by documenting how climate limits peatland geographical extent globally, and how bioclimatic envelope models can predict peatland extent.
AU  - Gallego-Sala,AV
AU  - Booth,RK
AU  - Charman,DJ
AU  - Prentice,IC
AU  - Yu,Z
DO  - 10.1017/CBO9781139177788.009
EP  - 150
PY  - 2016///
SN  - 9781107025189
SP  - 129
TI  - Peatlands and climate change
T1  - Peatland Restoration and Ecosystem Services: Science, Policy and Practice
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139177788.009
ER  -
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