Peatlands and Environmental Change

Dan Charman is the author of Peatlands and Environmental Change, published by Wiley.

"...an ideal introduction to peatlands..." (Journal of Soils &Sediments, Vol.2, No.3, 2002) "...a welcome and timely addition..." (Land Degradation andDevelopment, November/December 2002) "...a comprehensive summary of peatland science...it willbroaden specialists' and students' knowledge..." (InternationalJournal of Environment Studies, Vol.60, No.2, 2003) "...certainly a book that should be on the shelves of allpeatland researchers..." (Environmental Conservation, Vol.30,No.1, 2003) ...."Overall, this is an outstanding book. Peatlands and Environmental Change is very highlyrecommended both for personal and library use, and should be on arange of reading lists...." (The Holocene,July 2003) ..."All in all this is a very good and well produced book.... and will become a widely cited reference text ..." (EarthSurface Processes & Landforms, Spetember 2003)

• Preface and acknowledgements ixPart 1 Introduction 1Chapter 1 Peat and Peatlands 31.1 Introduction: wetlands and peatlands 31.2 Peat and peatland definitions and terminology 31.3 Scientific classification systems 51.4 Fens and bogs: a key concept 61.5 Hydromorphological peatland classification 71.6 Mire distribution 151.7 Summary 23Chapter 2 Peat Landforms and Structure 242.1 Introduction: peat landforms 242.2 Landform development: form, process and time 242.3 Description of peat landforms 262.4 Landform survey techniques 282.5 Peat landform survey: an example from Scotland 322.6 Hydrology and peat landforms: the groundwater mound hypothesis 352.7 Summary 38Part 2 Peat land Processes 39Chapter 3 Peatland Hydrology and Ecology 413.1 Introduction 413.2 Hydrology and water balance 413.3 Water movement within peatlands 433.4 Outflows 443.5 Hydrochemistry 513.6 Chemical processes within peatlands 533.7 Ecology and ecohydrology 573.8 Limiting factors for plants and animals 573.9 Environmental gradients 603.10 Summary 72Chapter 4 Origins and PeatInitiation 734.1 Introduction: time and peat growth 734.2 Frameworks for peat growth 734.3 Pathways to peal growth: terrestrialisation and paludification 744.4 Evidence for the origins of peatlands 744.5 Examples of peat initiation 804.6 Blanket mire initiation in the British Isles 804.7 Causes of paludification in other mires 844.8 Human impact as a cause of peat growth in other peatlands 864.9 Tropical peat initiation 874.10 Beavers and peat initiation 904.11 Summary 91Chapter 5 Peat Accumulation 925.1 Introduction 925.2 Peatland cycles one peat accumulation 925.3 Productivity 945.4 Decay 1005.5 Models of peat accumulation 1045.6 Variability in long-term accumulation rates 1105.7 Summary 113Part 3 Changes in Peat lands 115Chapter 6 The Peatland Archive Palaeoenvironmental Evidence 1176.1 Introduction 1176.2 The range of evidence and some general principles 1176.3 Reasons for Palaeoenvironmental studies on peatlands 1206.4 Measuring time peatland chronologies 1216.5 Survey and stratigraphy 1296.6 Biological evidence of past changes 1306.7 Physical and chemical characteristics 1376.8 Multi-proxy approaches 1416.9 Summary 141Chapter 7 Autogenic Change 1437.1 Introduction: long-term change 1437.2 Autogenic anti allogenic causes of change 1437.3 Hydroseral succession 1457.4 Reversals and other successions 1497.5 Processes of terrestrialisation and the transition to bog peat 1507.6 Lateral expansion and the development of peal land landscapes 1537.7 ‘Mature’ peatlands and erosion 1557.8 Cyclic regeneration 1567.9 Pattern development 1567.10 Plant-mediated changes 1617.11 Physical processes in cold climate peatlands 1647.12 Summary 165Chapter 8 Allogenic Change 1668.1 Introduction 1668.2 Climate 1668.3 Fire 1698.4 Hydrological factors 1738.5 Volcanic influences 1758.6 Climate reconstruction from peat 1768.7 Summary 133Chapter 9 Peatland-Environment Feedbacks 1849.1 Introduction 1849.2 Catchment hydrology 1849.3 Water quality 1869.4 Peatlands and global climate 1929.5 Carbon budgets and gas exchange 1949.6 Impacts of management and climate change on carbon cycling 1989.7 Summary 203Part 4 Resource Management 205Chapter 10 Values Exploitation and Human Impacts 20710.1 Introduction: peatland values 20710.2 Economic values mid exploitation 20710.3 Wildlife conservation values 20910.4 Functional values 21010.5 Value to society 21010.6 Conservation and ‘wise use’ of peatlands 21010.7 Impacts of recent human disturbance: drainage as a key process 21210.8 Peat extraction 21410.9 Forestry 21910.10 Agricultural reclamation 22510.11 Effects of fragmentation 22510.12 Pollution 22710.13 Recreation and other disturbance 22910.14 Long-term anthropogenic disturbance 22910.15 Summary 230Chapter 11 Conservation Management and Restoration 23111.1 Introduction 23111.2 Naturalness disturbance and conservation 23111.3 Management options for disturbed peatlands 23311.4 Semi-natural peatlands habitat management 23411.5 Restoration and rehabilitation 24211.6 Restoration of cutover ombrotrophic mires 24411.7 Restoring other damaged systems 25311.8 The future for peatlands in the twenty-first century 255References 258Index 289