Recovering Peat

As part of a wider partnership with Forestry and Land Scotland, we are using genetic metabarcoding to monitor how soil biodiversity is progressing at forest to bog restoration sites throughout Scotland. 

• Healthy peatlands are a vital carbon storage, offer a unique habitat for diverse plant and animal species, and contribute to waterflow regulation. Unfortunately, human activities have left the majority of peatlands in Britain in a degraded state, compromising the benefits that this habitat provides.  Scotland has the largest peatland area in Britain and Forestry Land Scotland (FLS) has restored 7,500 ha of peatland since 2014 in line with the Climate Change Plan and the Peatland Action Project of the Scottish Government that pledges the restoration of 250,000 ha by 2023. We have partnered with FLS to monitor the evolution of peat biodiversity as it is restored. Using cutting-edge DNA metabarcoding, this project will resolve diversity of three important biological communities, bacteria, invertebrates, and fungi, and monitor their change as restoration takes place, offering valuable insights into the restoration process. 

Researchers: Professor Bernd Hänfling, Dr Cristian Navarro Waggershauser.