37 research outputs found
Modelling wildlife corridors:a tool for creating habitat in fragmented landscapes
No full textIncreasing human population and climate change are impacting wildlife habitats. Conservation ecologist Lydia Cole explains how conservation biologists can model movement corridors and create new habitats for threatened populations
Palaeoecological data for three peat cores
No full textTaxanomic data, i.e. fossil pollen (relative abundances) and spore types (counts), and micro- and macrocharcoal counts displayed in Figs. 2 and 3 of the associated paper
Interdisciplinary research
No full textMany messages emerging from scientific panels on the state of biodiversity, climate change and the planet emphasise the importance of greater integration between disciplines. But there’s no textbook to read before diving into interdisciplinary work. This guide is for researchers embarking on their first interdisciplinary project. It covers practical steps to take when conceiving, planning, or participating in an interdisciplinary project
Interdisciplinary research
No full textMany messages emerging from scientific panels on the state of biodiversity, climate change and the planet emphasise the importance of greater integration between disciplines. But there’s no textbook to read before diving into interdisciplinary work. This guide is for researchers embarking on their first interdisciplinary project. It covers practical steps to take when conceiving, planning, or participating in an interdisciplinary project
Interdisciplinary research
No full textMany messages emerging from scientific panels on the state of biodiversity, climate change and the planet emphasise the importance of greater integration between disciplines. But there’s no textbook to read before diving into interdisciplinary work. This guide is for researchers embarking on their first interdisciplinary project. It covers practical steps to take when conceiving, planning, or participating in an interdisciplinary project
Tropical peatlands in the Anthropocene : the present and the future
No full textFunding: This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (Grant No. NE/R016860/1 and NE/R000751/1), the German Research Foundation (BE 2116/32-1) for funding KAH; the Newton-Paulet Institutional Links Grant (Grant ref. 220–2018) for part-funding KHR and LESC, and to the Leverhulme Trust for part-funding LESC (Research Grant RPG-2018-306).Tropical peatlands are a globally important carbon store. They host significant biodiversity and provide a range of other important ecosystem services, including food and medicines for local communities. Tropical peatlands are increasingly modified by humans in the rapid and transformative way typical of the “Anthropocene,” with the most significant human—driven changes to date occurring in Southeast Asia. This review synthesizes the dominant changes observed in human interactions with tropical peatlands in the last 200 years, focusing on the tropical lowland peatlands of Southeast Asia. We identify the beginning of transformative anthropogenic processes in these carbon-rich ecosystems, chart the intensification of these processes in the 20th and early 21st centuries, and assess their impacts on key ecosystem services in the present. Where data exist, we compare the tropical peatlands of Central Africa and Amazonia, which have experienced very different scales of disturbance in the recent past. We explore their global importance and how environmental pressures may affect them in the future. Finally, looking to the future, we identify ongoing efforts in peatland conservation, management, restoration, and socio-economic development, as well as areas of fruitful research toward sustainability of tropical peatlands.Peer reviewe
Net zero and the peatland carbon frontier:contesting incentives for ecosystem restoration in Scotland's Western Isles
No full textPeatlands have gained global political attention in recent years thanks to their capacity to store large quantities of carbon when in a healthy condition. To reach its ambitious target, Net Zero by 2045, the Scottish Government pledged to restore 250,000 hectares of its peatlands by 2030. Mobilising private finance is considered key to achieving this target. This paper critically assesses the need for ‘green’ finance in peatland restoration, asking how the progression of the ‘carbon frontier’ – the commodification of nature’s services – into the Highlands and Islands is influencing the perception and management of, and relations with, peatlands, particularly on crofting land. Evidence was gathered during seven weeks of fieldwork in the Isle of Lewis, participation in a variety of stakeholder events, semi-structured interviews with representatives of key stakeholder groups, and through an extensive policy review. Conceptualising the carbon frontier along three interrelated dimensions, (i) carbon obsession, (ii) carbon rush, and (iii) carbon stewardship, we contribute to the critical global scholarship on revealing the multiple faultlines of the natural capital paradigm central to net-zero strategies
Tropical peatlands in the anthropocene: lessons from the past
No full textThe status of tropical peatlands, one of Earth’s most efficient natural carbon stores, is of increasing international concern as they experience rising threat from deforestation and drainage. Peatlands form over thousands of years, where waterlogged conditions result in accumulation of organic matter. Vast areas of Southeast Asian peatlands have been impacted by land use change and fires, whilst lowland tropical peatlands of Central Africa and South America remain largely hydrologically intact. To predict accurately how these peatlands may respond to potential future disturbances, an understanding of their long-term history is necessary. This paper reviews the palaeoecological literature on tropical peatlands of Southeast Asia, Central Africa and South America. It addresses the following questions: (i) what were the past ecological dynamics of peatlands before human activity?; (ii) how did they respond to anthropogenic and natural disturbances through the palaeoanthropocene, the period from whence evidence for human presence first appeared?; and, (iii) given their past ecological resilience and current exposure to accelerating human impacts, how might the peatlands respond to drivers of change prevalent in the anthropocene? Throughy synthesising palaeoecological records, this review demonstrates how tropical peatland ecosystems have responded dynamically, persisting through fire (both natural and anthropogenic), climatic and human-induced disturbances in the palaeoanthropocene. Ecosystem resilience does, however, appear to be compromised in the past c. 200 years in Southeast Asian peatlands, faced with transformative anthropogenic impacts. In combination, this review’s findings present a pantropical perspective on peatland ecosystem dynamics, providing useful insights for informing conservation and more responsible management.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC): NE/R016860/1 and NE/R000751/1
The future of Southeast Asia's tropical peatlands: Local and global perspectives
No full textThe effective conservation and sustainable management of tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia is a major challenge. Pervasive deforestation, drainage and conversion to agricultural land, is disrupting the ecosystems’ ability to sequester atmospheric carbon. Conserving peatlands in an intact state has been described as a “low hanging fruit in tackling climate change” by the international conservation community. Yet, peatland drainage and land conversion continue unabated. Focusing on Malaysia’s coastal peatlands, this study interrogates local and global perspectives on peatland conversion. We combine diverse datasets obtained using palaeoecological and social science research methods to provide a comprehensive context to this conservation challenge. We also identify where the local and global perspectives are in conflict and where they align. To do this, we employ a literature review and qualitative analysis of the interview data, enabling us to draw out key themes of local versus global discourses on the current management and future prospects of these peatland ecosystems. Palaeoecological data, derived from cores collected from three peatlands in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, provide a quantitative assessment of long-term ecological changes in these environments; qualitative surveys of local stakeholders provide complementary detail on the history of and future perspectives on human-peatland interaction. Finally, a comparison of interview data with key themes in the international discourses on peatland conservation, illustrates conflicts between the two. The coastal peatlands of Sarawak serve as a case study to explore the fragile context of sustainable tropical peatland management, illustrating the diversity of datasets and knowledges that can be integrated. This approach enables a more effective dialogue amongst the multiple stakeholders involved in the management of these globally important ecosystems
