TY - JOUR
T1 - Towards a microbial process-based understanding of the resilience of peatland ecosystem service provisioning – a research agenda
AU - Ritson, Jonathan P.
AU - Alderson, Danielle M.
AU - Robinson, Clare H.
AU - Burkitt, Alexandra E.
AU - Heinemeyer, Andreas
AU - Stimson, Andrew G.
AU - Gallego-Sala, Angela
AU - Harris, Angela
AU - Quillet, Anne
AU - Malik, Ashish A.
AU - Cole, Beth
AU - Robroek, Bjorn J. M.
AU - Heppell, Catherine M.
AU - Rivett, Damian W.
AU - Chandler, Dave M.
AU - Elliott, David R.
AU - Shuttleworth, Emma L.
AU - Lilleskov, Erik
AU - Cox, Filipa
AU - Clay, Gareth D.
AU - Diack, Iain
AU - Rowson, James
AU - Pratscher, Jennifer
AU - Lloyd, Jonathan R.
AU - Walker, Jonathan S.
AU - Belyea, Lisa R.
AU - Dumont, Marc G.
AU - Longden, Mike
AU - Bell, Nicholle G. A.
AU - Artz, Rebekka R. E.
AU - Bardgett, Richard D.
AU - Griffiths, Robert L.
AU - Andersen, Roxane
AU - Chadburn, Sarah E.
AU - Hutchinson, Simon M.
AU - Page, Susan E.
AU - Thom, Tim
AU - Burn, William
AU - Evans, Martin G.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge funding through the UK Natural Environment Research Council as part of the UK Climate Resilience Programme (grant number NE/5016724/1 ). The authors would also like to thank all the attendees of the workshops for their valuable contributions.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/3/10
Y1 - 2021/3/10
N2 - Peatlands are wetland ecosystems with great significance as natural habitats and as major global carbon stores. They have been subject to widespread exploitation and degradation with resulting losses in characteristic biota and ecosystem functions such as climate regulation. More recently, large-scale programmes have been established to restore peatland ecosystems and the various services they provide to society. Despite significant progress in peatland science and restoration practice, we lack a process-based understanding of how soil microbiota influence peatland functioning and mediate the resilience and recovery of ecosystem services, to perturbations associated with land use and climate change.We argue that there is a need to: in the short-term, characterise peatland microbial communities across a range of spatial and temporal scales and develop an improved understanding of the links between peatland habitat, ecological functions and microbial processes; in the medium term, define what a successfully restored ’target’ peatland microbiome looks like for key carbon cycle related ecosystem services and develop microbial-based monitoring tools for assessing restoration needs; and in the longer term, to use this knowledge to influence restoration practices and assess progress on the trajectory towards ‘intact’ peatland status.Rapid advances in genetic characterisation of the structure and functions of microbial communities offer the potential for transformative progress in these areas, but the scale and speed of methodological and conceptual advances in studying ecosystem functions is a challenge for peatland scientists. Advances in this area require multidisciplinary collaborations between peatland scientists, data scientists and microbiologists and ultimately, collaboration with the modelling community.Developing a process-based understanding of the resilience and recovery of peatlands to perturbations, such as climate extremes, fires, and drainage, will be key to meeting climate targets and delivering ecosystem services cost effectively.
AB - Peatlands are wetland ecosystems with great significance as natural habitats and as major global carbon stores. They have been subject to widespread exploitation and degradation with resulting losses in characteristic biota and ecosystem functions such as climate regulation. More recently, large-scale programmes have been established to restore peatland ecosystems and the various services they provide to society. Despite significant progress in peatland science and restoration practice, we lack a process-based understanding of how soil microbiota influence peatland functioning and mediate the resilience and recovery of ecosystem services, to perturbations associated with land use and climate change.We argue that there is a need to: in the short-term, characterise peatland microbial communities across a range of spatial and temporal scales and develop an improved understanding of the links between peatland habitat, ecological functions and microbial processes; in the medium term, define what a successfully restored ’target’ peatland microbiome looks like for key carbon cycle related ecosystem services and develop microbial-based monitoring tools for assessing restoration needs; and in the longer term, to use this knowledge to influence restoration practices and assess progress on the trajectory towards ‘intact’ peatland status.Rapid advances in genetic characterisation of the structure and functions of microbial communities offer the potential for transformative progress in these areas, but the scale and speed of methodological and conceptual advances in studying ecosystem functions is a challenge for peatland scientists. Advances in this area require multidisciplinary collaborations between peatland scientists, data scientists and microbiologists and ultimately, collaboration with the modelling community.Developing a process-based understanding of the resilience and recovery of peatlands to perturbations, such as climate extremes, fires, and drainage, will be key to meeting climate targets and delivering ecosystem services cost effectively.
KW - Carbon cycling
KW - Microbiology
KW - Peat
KW - Peatland restoration and management
KW - Resilience
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096127920&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143467
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143467
M3 - Article
C2 - 33199011
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 759
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 143467
ER -