Abstract
The project integrates research and monitoring by investigating how predictions from experimental research can be tested in a monitoring programme, and how monitoring can be used to create hypotheses for experimental testing. We use monitoring data collected by NILS (National Inventory of Landscapes in Sweden) to answer questions that are important for national management of peatlands. First, we will test how one can extract the effects from small-scale experiments (e.g. the effect of nitrogen deposition on ecosystem processes) and use areal distribution of peatland types from NILS to scale up the results to national level. Next, we extract predictions on ecosystem changes from short-term ecological experiments that can be tested by NILS monitoring. Conversely, we use ecosystem changes observed in NILS as basis for experiments to test causes and mechanisms behind the changes. Several specific questions concerning peatland ecosystems will be dealt with: we will improve national estimates of peat depth (the main uncertainty in current carbon store calculations), and analyse large scale consequences on peatlands of nitrogen deposition (e.g. increased tree cover and altered vegetation composition that in turn affect carbon sequestration). Scientifically, the project will fill gaps in our knowledge about boreal and alpine peatlands. The results will be used to modify protocols for more efficient monitoring and for strategies for management and conservation of peatlands.
Sweden