ERTDI Technical Progress Report

ERTDI Technical Progress Report

Section A: Project details:

Technical Progress Report No.: 7

Reporting Period: 1 July 2008-31 Dec 2008

Project Reference Number: 2004-CD-P1-M2

Project Title: BOGLAND: A Protocol for Sustainable Peatland Management

Start Date: May 2005Projected Completion Date: June 2009

Lead Organisation: UniversityCollegeDublin

Project Co-ordinator: Prof. Christoph Müller

Project website:

Section B: Research team details for the reporting period

Employment period /

Name

/ E-mail address / Category
Jan 06-June 09 /

Florence Renou-Wilson

/ / Project manager
June 07-Dec 08 / Craig Bullock / / Post-doc researcher
Sept 05-Sept 08 / Marcus Collier / / PhD student/Post/doc
Sept 05-Sept 08 / Rachel Wisdom / / PhD student
Sept 06 – June 09 / Shane Regan / / PhD student
Sept 06-Sept 08 / Noel Boylan / PhD student
Fionnuala Murphy / Summer student
Declan Peelo / Summer student
Paolo Mengoni / Summer student
Christoph Müller / / Full time academic staff
Tom Bolger / / Full time academic staff
Frank Convery / / Full time academic staff
Con Cunnane / / Full time academic staff
John Feehan / / Full time academic staff
Mark Scott / / Full time academic staff
Mary Kelly-Quinn / / Full time academic staff
Mike Long / / Full time academic staff
Nicholas Clipson / / Full time academic staff
Nick Holden / / Full time academic staff
Paul Johnston / / Full time academic staff
Richard Moles / / Full time academic staff
Mike Gormally / / Full time academic staff
Michael Walsh / / Teagasc
Rogier Schulte / / Teagasc
Catherine Farrell / / Bord na Móna

Section C: Technical Report

1. General outline description of progress and results to date

During the reported period, the project manager was on maternity leave from 25th July 2008 to 31 Dec 2008.
The project featured in the Irish Times thanks to Dr David Wilson's article 'Death by a thousand cuts' published in full on Saturday 24 January 2009.
Sub-project 2: A vegetation survey was carried out in studied blanket bogs.All peatlands were visited for a general vegetation assessment. Training was carried out to further analyse invertebrate samples. This project is progressing well and already there is a very large amount of data gathered with some interesting preliminary results.
Sub-project 3: Several work-packages are now completed or final reports are being drafted. Delay has been encountered in WP3.6: Sheep Grazing.
Sub-project 4: Analyses of surveys have raised interesting preliminary results. Anew questionnaire (Peatland Survey) was carried out during the period. The economic element of the policy document is now in near final form

2. Detailed description of progress and results for period under review

Sub-project 1: Management

Leaders: Christoph Müller and Florence Renou-Wilson

The project manager Dr Florence Renou-Wilson was on maternity leave from 25 July 2008 to 26 January 2009.

Milestones for next six months

Executive summaries from each work-package have been prepared and will be distributed to the steering committee members in advance of next meeting.
A draft final report will be completed by end of June 2009.

Sub-project 2: Biodiversity

Leaders: Tom Bolger and Florence Renou-Wilson

WP2.1 Biodiversity database

Florence Renou-Wilson

Description of progress and results to date

Work is on-going as data from all the various work-packagesin this sub-project has not been released yet.

Deliverables

Database

WP2.2 Vegetation studies

Catherine Farrell, Florence Renou-Wilson

Description of progress and results to date

Vegetation report has been drafted for all blanket bogs.

Deliverables

Base-line database with site cards for each site and general recommendations.

WP2.3 Soil microbial diversity

Louise Deering (supervisors: Nick Clipson, Fiona Doohan)

Description of progress and results to date:

Laboratory and statistical analyses are ongoing. Further field sampling was carried out.

Deliverables

PhD thesis and peer-reviewed articles.

Louise Deering presented a poster at the 12th symposium of the International Society of Microbial Ecology (ISME),Cairns, Australia 17th-22nd August 2008.Louise Deering presented a poster at the 163rd meeting of the Society of General Microbiology (SGM),Trinity College Dublin, 8th- 11th September 2008.

WP2.4 Terrestrial invertebrates

Rachel Wisdom (supervisor: Tom Bolger)

Description of progress and results to date:

Since the last progress report in June 2008, all taxa have now been identified mainly to species level. The identification of the mites has yielded some interesting data with a number of possible new records for Ireland and a possible new species. A number of the spiders that have been collected have been found to be rare within Ireland (not occurring in more than 5 counties). The Coleoptera collected from the new sites that focused on different habitat mosaics within peatlands in 2007 have now all been identified to species level and analysis has been done using CANOCO.

Training for the identification of enchytraeids took place in October 2008. An identification course was undertaken in La Coruña,Spain, under the instruction of Rüdiger Schmelz.

Issues to be Addressed

A new fen site must be selected to sample some of the taxa as the original was not used as the habitat was more aquatic than terrestrial, therefore not suitable for sampling.

Milestones for next six months

Specialised training has now taken place for the identification of the enchytraeids. Sampling for this taxon has now begun and is well under way. Sampling for the all the sites will continue and I would hope that all sampling is completed by March or early April 2009.

Deliverables

PhD thesis and peer-reviewed article

WP2.5 Bird diversity

Completed

Deliverables

Report finalised and peer-reviewed article published.

WP2.6 Aquatic invertebrates

Edel Hannigan (supervisor: Mary Kelly-Quinn)

Description of progress and results to date

Fieldwork was completed and laboratory analysis is on-going while writing PhD thesis.

Deliverables

PhD thesis and peer-reviewed article

Sub-project 3: The peatland resource

Leaders: Nick Holden and Florence Renou-Wilson

WP3.1Estimation of peat depth, volume and carbon content in Ireland

John Connolly and Nick Holden

Completed

Deliverables

Peat volume and carbon map of Ireland – produced and being peer reviewed

Articles in review process

WP3.2 Impact of climate and anthropogenic change on peatland sustainability

Nick Holden

John Connolly did not work on this task as planned. Instead, a summer intern was appointed (Fionnuala Murphy, 2nd BE Biosystems Engineering, funded by Charles Parson’s Energy Research Award Summer Internship)and completed a report.

Deliverables

Integration of research on peatland physical attributes with current thinking about possible climate change in Ireland. Draft report submitted.

WP3.3 Evaluation of Peat Mining / Extraction in the context of sustainable peatland management (SPM)

A taught MSc(Agr) student (Declan Peelo) completed a report addressing the issues of biofuels potential on cutaway peatlands. This supplement the two Masters already completed.

Deliverables

MSc Theses completed.

WP3.4 Examine peat vulnerability to anthropogenic influences, with particular focus on strength and slope stability.

Noel Boylan (supervisor: Mike Long)

PhD Thesissubmitted and defended; final draft report in process of being completed.

Peer-reviewed articles published

WP3.5 Peatland Vulnerability/Greenhouse Gas Fluxes

David Wilson

Completed

Deliverables:

Peer-reviewed paperpublished and final report delivered giving a complete picture of the contribution of Irish peatlands to greenhouse gas fluxes.

WP3.6 Sustainable agri-environmental management of hill and mountain peatland

Bryony Williams, Ger Lynch, Michael Walsh, Rogier Schulte, Mike Gormally, and Richard Moles

Field work completed
Literature review completed

Data from all field methods - splash cup, gerlach trough, erosion pin,soil detachability tray(Calvin Rose) and the surface pin profiler- together with laboratory analysis, where relevant, were organised in spreadsheet format.The data banks were also saved in csv (comma separated value) format and then imported as SAS datasets for further statistical analyses. Examples of the results in relation soil P, pH values and data from the erosion pins were outlined in the previous Progress Report.Other results included a substantial change in the surface profile of the Movement Corridors particularly in the steep Upper Slope, a mainly Time, Location and Activity related variation in suspended solids (SUS) in samples of run-off water and a generally low concentration of soil nutrients with sheep activity, mainly the Rest Areas, providing the main source of variation.

Deliverables

Four scientific papers submitted to international journals- 1 international and 2 national conference presentations, hopefully should lead to journal papers in time

Technical article outlining management strategies for sustainable sheep grazing on peatland- hopefully will be prepared

Technical article on the sustainability assessment of sheep management strategies- hopefully will be prepared

PhD thesis defended

Drafted M.Sc.

WP3.7 Study of peatland hydrology in the context of ecological regeneration

Paul Johnston, Con Cunnane, Shane Regan

Report from NUIG (Prof. Con Cunnane and Paolo Mengoni) on hydrological dynamics of peatlandsin draft format.

In TCD, Paul Johnston and Shane Regan (PhD student) have been working on a synthesis and comprehensive database of the literature on the hydrology and hydrogeology of peatlands. While incorporating and applying the vast work done internationally, the study is largely focused on characterising the hydrology and hydrogeology as applied to the peatlands of Ireland, namely raised bogs, blanket bogs and fens. Understanding the dynamics of the hydrological flows is crucial in understanding the ecological and hydrological functioning of a wetland system. The review is therefore developing an understanding of the hydrological drivers, as interpreted from the literature, which sustain and maintain wetland systems, which are in essence hydrological entities. This will enable conclusions to be drawn on what hydrological processes are most critical in relation to wetland management and conservation. An analysis of the hydrological and to a lesser extent the geotechnical properties of peat as a medium in the context of a wetland will also form a significant part of the review. An understanding of how peat ‘works hydrologically’ is essential when attempting to restore damaged peatlands. Peatland restoration is therefore an additional and important part of the analysis and reviewing the causes and processes that lead to peat degradation/ subsidence is an important component of the report. Understanding the supporting hydrological processes forms the basis of a strategy for conservation of peat-related wetlands.Hydrogeology is also the essential link between groundwater bodies and the dependent terrestrial ecosystem (GWDTE) as recognized by the EU Water Framework Directive. The study, once completed, will be a detailed literature review of peatland hydrology, from which guidelines and strategies on the future sustainability of peat and conceptual models on how Irish peatlands work hydrologically and hydrogeologically will be based.

Deliverables

Identification of hydrological mitigation measures for ecological regeneration and sustainable development of peatlands.

Comprehensive report on the hydrological dynamics of peatlands, under a range of scenarios.Water balance measurement and calculation for a raised bog in the Shannon basin and integration with the outcomes of other known studies. – a full water balance of this bog will not be achieved during the lifetime of the project.

Guidelines for hydrological studies of other peatland areas and guidelines for their future conservation and restoration.

Sub-project 4: Cultural, socio-economic and policy issues

Leader: Frank Convery

WP 4.1 Analysis of socio-cultural aspects

Marcus Collier, Mark Scott, John Feehan

Description of progress and results to date

Marcus Collier submitted his PhD thesis ‘Socio-cultural Interactions in Industrially Mined Landscapes: Implications for Peatland After-use Policies in Ireland’ in July 2008 and successfully defended it in December 2008. The PhD was awarded subject to minor corrections. At the same time a second paper was accepted for publication in the Journal of Rural Studies. A third article has been submitted for publication in Land Use Policy.

The next six months will be carried out as a postdoctoral research fellow. The output from this will be two further papers, the EPA report and completing the PhD process. There will also be some additional collaborative work on research with Craig Bullock which will result in further publications.

Deliverables

PhD thesis submitted and peer-reviewed papers published or in review process

WP4.3 Socio-economic aspectsWP4.4 Synthesis report and policy document

Marcus Collier, Craig Bullock, Mark Scott, Florence Renou-Wilson and Frank Convery

Description of progress and results to date

Two public surveys, with a sample size of 500 people each, are included in the socio-economic work package WP4.4.The first of these dealt with the after use of worked peatlands and the concept of a NationalWetlandsPark in the Longford/Roscommon area of the Midlands (Wetland Survey).The second dealt with the preservation or restoration of both raised and blanket bogs at a national level (Peatland Survey).

Both surveys were preceded by focus groups and pre-testing and were completed in the late autumn of 2007.The surveys contain both non-valuation and economic valuation components, the latter intended to provide estimates of the public’s perception of the value of peatlands, or alternative after uses.These values will feed into a large benefit-cost analysis of sustainable peatland management which itself forms part of a final peatland policy document.

As of July 2008, the analysis of the non-valuation components of both surveys had been completed.However, severe problems were noted with the valuations methodology applied in the Peatland Survey.The survey company acknowledged these problems and attempted to re-contact the majority of respondents in an effort to provide the correct data.The data was not satisfactory and we asked Lansdowne Market Research to re-run the national Peatlands Survey.The data was received in December and checked shortly afterwards in January.It would appear to be satisfactory.The timing of the survey will now be out of sync with the former Wetlands survey, although it will be interesting to examine the influence of the intervening recession of people’s willingness to pay for peatland protection.

The economic element of the policy document is now in near final form.Two elements remain, namely a) input from Prof. Frank Convery on the current status of carbon emissions trading and b) some re-assessment of the economic gains from the hydrological ecosystem services performed by peatlands, for which the most recent research by TCD could provide some input.Aside from these two elements, the economic element of the policy document simply awaits integration with other aspects of the final policy document and its recommendations.

Deliverables

Report on-going.

3. Project management issues including staffing and equipment

-4 PhD students, 1 Master student, 2 summer students and 3 Post-Docs were working full time on this project during the reported period.

4. Milestones for next six months

-See specific milestones under each work-package

-Short recommendations to be compiled from each work-package to communicate to relevant Departments and their ministers.

-Submitting papers and theses

5. Overall statement regarding progress vis-à-vis project aims and timeframe

Deadline for the delivery of the final report is June 2009.

Section D (Report on Physical Indicators):

Number of peer reviewed publications:

Authors / Title of Paper and publication details / Journal / Status (in press or published)
Collier, M.J. and Scott, M. 2008 / Industrially harvested peatlands and after-use potential: understanding local stakeholder narratives and landscape preferences / Landscape Research 33(4), pp. 439-460doi: 10.1080/01426390801948406 / Published
Collier, M.J. and Scott, M. 2009 / Conflicting rationalities, knowledge and values in scarred landscapes / Journal of Rural Studies / In press, corrected proof
Renou-Wilson and Farrell, 2009 / Peatland vulnerability to energy-related developments from climate change policy in Ireland: the case of wind farms / Mires and Peat / In press

Number of other scientific/technical articles/reports published

List of Conferences/Workshops presentations

Other Publicity Events (e.g. open days, launches etc.)

The project featured in the Irish Timeson Saturday 24 January 2009thanks toDr David Wilson's article 'Death by a thousand cuts' in the Heritage section of the Irish Times. He highlighted the ravage of small-scale peat extraction from local bogs which are legally protected and which drain our carbon store. Since then, Mr John Gormley,Environment Minister has said that the ban on cutting turf in all raised bogs will not be imposed this year. But he warned that the reprieve would be temporary and that 32 raised bogs will be closed this summer as part of a 10-year EU derogation. Mr Gormley told turf-cutters in Galway on 1 February 2009 that transitional arrangements would allow cutting take place in over 100 bogs until next year.

Number of research products (e.g. models, data-sets, methodologies, innovations):

None

6.Number of Reports to policy and decision makers on urgent environmental issues

None

7.Number of examples / case studies illustrate the principle of sustainable development in action:

None

8.Number of new eco-audit methodologies developed:

None

9.Number of firms/ organisations adopting new processes and products for sustainable development developed as a result of funded research:

None

10.Reports on integrated assessments of sectoral development impacts with particular reference to agriculture, forestry, industry, tourism and transport

None