What is the aim of the review?

To date, most measurements of Carbon (C) and greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes from UK peatlands have been made within upland blanket bogs, and it is doubtful whether the data obtained from these studies can be extrapolated to lowland systems. The difficulty of quantifying C and GHG emissions for lowland peats is increased by their greater heterogeneity in terms of both typology and management, as well as their fragmented nature across England and Wales. Because of their importance for a wide range of ecosystem services (notably provisioning services, but also cultural services such as access to natural landscapes in otherwise often highly developed regions, and regulating services such as flood control in some areas; Bonn et al., 2009), the role of lowland peats in climate regulation must be weighed against these other ecosystem services to enable appropriate management decisions.

The systematic review will provide a meta-analysis of the magnitude of each component of the C and GHG budget (i.e. CO2 exchange, CH4 emission, N2O emission, dissolved and particulate C loss) as a function of peat type and management, to the extent that existing literature allows an assessment to be made. The analysis will also provide an indication of uncertainty ranges and current weaknesses in the evidence base. This review will utilise and make reference to the recent meta-analysis (including upland and lowland peats) undertaken by Worrall et al. (2011).

Who's in the review team?

• Sarah Dalrymple, Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation, Bangor University, UK
• Annette Burden
• Chris Evans
• John Healey
• Davey Jones
• Andrew Pullin

At what stage is the review?
This review is currently at the draft protocol stage. Please visit our "draft protocols" page to find out more about providing feedback on this document.

Comments?
If you would like to comment on any aspect of this review, please email us. Your feedback is appreciated.