Multidisciplinary methods to monitor and manage blanket bogs

Globally peatlands cover an area of around 4 million km2 however this figure is rapidly declining as a result of agricultural intensification over the last 200 years. We now recognise peatlands as significant global carbon stores that also provide important ecosystem services, such as atmospheric pollutant interception and water storage as well flood prevention. Degraded peatlands produce low quality water, which is not only expensive to treat but also produces potentially toxic by-products during treatment. Protecting and restoring the blanket bog catchments that store the water before it reaches the reservoir can significantly reduce water treatment costs. One such highly protected location of international importance where restoration efforts are being put into place is the Garron Plateau blanket bog. It is the largest (4,650ha ~5.9x106 tons of carbon), most intact area of blanket bog in Northern Ireland.

We have applied a multidisciplinary approach to assess the rates of decomposition, water movement and vegetation change across active, degraded and restored blanket bog locations. These include analysing the organic composition and stable isotopic signature (C,N,O,H) of the peat and surrounding porewater, as well as performing a series of geophysical (resistivity, induced polarisation) and geochemical techniques to determine substrate quality and peatland health.

The RSPB with Northern Ireland Water and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency want to develop a Conservation Action Plan for 2017/2018 to restore the quality of the habitat at the Garron blanket bog catchment and across several similar sites. Much of the work to date focuses solely on ecological indicators of peatland quality. I intend to work with the RSPB and their partners to help develop a holistic, novel multidisciplinary approach to monitor the effectiveness of peatland restoration, based on the scientific knowledge I have gained on the site throughout my PhD. As part of this plan, RSPB are required to show the effects of their restoration over a 5 year period. The scientific knowledge from myself would help create a temporal sampling and analysis plan to quantify these changes for RSPB.

The scientific evidence of the effects of the restoration can then effectively be reported and published to industrial, government and NGO bodies to inform policy and promote the use of peatlands to produce high quality drinking water, reducing treatment costs and the associated potentially toxic by-products created during treatment. This policy will not only be communicated to the public and interested parties but also to the Utility Regulator who ultimately determines the Price Control process and determines the financial framework that can be put into developing and implementing sustainable catchment practices.

I will work primarily at the main RSPB office in Belvoir Park, Belfast and when necessary, the offices at Portmore Lough and will regularly travel to site at the Garron Plateau. I have already built a good relationship with other SCAMP NI partners e.g. Roy Taylor Catchment Manager of Northern Ireland Water (who owns the land at the Garron Site) and Dr James Warnock Senior Scientific Officer of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (who has previously undertaken ecological sampling).

Throughout the project I will work within a team of RSPB conservationists, scientists, managers and policy makers. These include Seamus Burns - Lough Neagh Area Manager, Darren Houston - Garron project manager, John Martin - Land use Policy Officer, Kendrew Colhoun - Conservation Scientists. This Area Delivery Group are focused on the Garron SCAMP project and formally meet every six weeks. They will provide project management oversight and mentoring for myself throughout the placement and I will receive training in policy development and public and industry communication that I would not get through academic experience alone.