Raised peat bog development and possible responses to environmental changes during the mid- to late-Holocene. Can the palaeoecological record be used to predict the nature and response of raised peat bogs to future climate change?

Abstract

Palaeoecological analyses of raised peat bog deposits in northwest Europe show the naturalness, antiquity and robust response of these ecosystems to environmental changes from c. 7800 years ago to the present. A review of the techniques used to identify these long-term features is presented and the role of climate change, autogenic change processes and human disturbance is discussed. Millennial records of vegetation changes recorded in peat deposits demonstrate the response (often rapid) of raised peat bog vegetation to climatic changes during the mid-Holocene, Bronze Age/Iron Age transition and the Little Ice Age. Greenhouse warming scenarios exceed the reconstructed Holocene record of climatic changes (c. the last 11, 500 years), and bog-water tables may fall considerably. A combination of centennial palaeoecological analyses of bogs aVected by human disturbance and experimental manipulations have been used as analogues for the potential response of raised peat bog vegetation to these changes. These show that possible greenhouse gas climate forcing scenarios may exceed the ability of Sphagnum-dominated raised peat bogs to respond to projected increases in summer temperature and decreases in summer precipitation. In combination with increasing N deposition, a loss of their Sphagnum-rich vegetation and increases in the abundance of vascular plants could occur on decadal timescales.

Ecology of Testate Amoebae from Mires in the Central Rhodope Mountains, Greece and Development of a Transfer Function for Palaeohydrological Reconstruction

“…For pH a weighted average model performs best by both RMSEP jack and RMSEP boot . Model performance is consistent across the hydrological gradient without the under-prediction of water table depths for the driest sites seen in previous studies (Mitchell et al 1999;Payne et al 2006;Fig. 6).…”

“…Testate amoebae species have closely defined preferences for a variety of environmental variables including hydrology, pH and nutrient status and are valuable as bioindicators (Booth 2001;Charman and Warner 1992;Mitchell et al 1999;Tolonen et al 1994;Warner 1987). Testate amoebae are characterised by a decay-resistant shell (the test), which may remain preserved for millennia and allow species-level identification long after death.…”

“…Transfer function models for hydrology have now been developed from regions around the world with the greatest concentration in North America and northern and central Europe (Bobrov et al 1999;Booth 2001Booth , 2002Warner 1992, 1997;Lamentowicz and Mitchell 2005;Mitchell et al 1999;Payne et al 2006;Tolonen et al 1994;Warner and Charman 1994;Wilmshurst et al 2003;Woodland et al 1998). However, there have been no quantitative studies of testate amoebae in peatlands in southern Europe or more arid regions in general.…”

Pedological and isotopic relations of a highland tropical peatland, Mountain Range of the Espinhaço Meridional (Brazil)

“…Histosols have been used in studies on the evolution of landscapes due to climate change, since they contain natural preserved paleoenvironmental records within the Quaternary organic deposits (Mauquoy & Yelloff, 2008). Evidences of past conditions are represented by charcoal fragments (Pessenda et al, 2004), plant fragments (Spielhagen & Tripati, 2009), sand deposition (Jianli et al, 1999), fossil plants and animals (Salgado-Labouriau, 2007), besides revealing the quantity, size and thickness of plant fibers , color and soil consistency (Fitzpatrick et al, 2009).…”

Assessing abundance patterns of specialized bog butterflies over 12 years in northern Wisconsin USA

“…Thus, climate did not appear directly limiting on the ranges of these animal populations. They have experienced warmer climate since the last glaciation (e.g., the hypsithermal) (Pielou 1991;Ashworth 2001;Mauquoy and Yeloff 2008) as well as extreme variation in climate, as evidenced in the variation among years in first observed date. However, there may be a lag in butterfly population responses to climate change (Menéndez et al 2006).…”