A team of scientists announced on May 1 that they have identified the most urgent research questions facing peatland science, following a global survey and collaborative effort. The work, led by Julie Loisel, associate professor in the Department of Geography, and Alice Milner, associate professor at Royal Holloway University of London, was published this week in Nature Communications Earth & Environment.
The study matters because peatlands are significant carbon sinks that help mitigate climate change when undisturbed but can release large amounts of carbon if disrupted. In the Sierra Nevada mountain range alone, researchers found peat deposits reaching up to 33 feet deep, making it one of the deepest sites in the United States. “Indeed, this peatland is one of the most carbon-dense ecosystems reported in the scientific literature, with over 10 times the amount of carbon contained in tropical rainforests,” Loisel said.
Loisel co-leads an international working group for peatland scientists called C-PEAT. The paper resulted from a meeting where C-PEAT members discussed how to build common research goals and develop resources for funders and policymakers. To identify priority questions without biasing results toward their own interests, Milner found examples from other fields where researchers crowdsourced top questions. The team distributed a survey translated into 20 languages to scientists and stakeholders worldwide.
The survey received over 750 questions from 467 respondents across 54 countries. After translating submissions into English and removing duplicates or unanswerable queries, coauthors narrowed them down to 212 before sending them for ranking by external experts identified by the United Nations’ Global Peatland Initiative. “That was a process that took months,” Loisel said.
Loisel explained that every question is important due to diverse regional priorities: “A fisher in Indonesia concerned with survival of endemic species as habitats are degraded may not be interested in peatland protection in Poland and vice versa.” She added about what is needed next: “Time, money and passion,” along with more data on global peatland extents.
The final list includes fifty priority research questions grouped into five themes such as carbon dynamics and climate regulation or management and restoration—topics Loisel’s group continues to explore through fieldwork mapping tropical peatlands’ extent and capacity for carbon sequestration. Looking ahead, she hopes these findings will guide future funding decisions: “We need better maps and a lot of field work to confirm the presence of peatlands and get to know them better.”