MiDiPeat

Context

Peatlands are highly water-saturated ecosystems, where slow decomposition of organic matter makes them the most important terrestrial storage of carbon (C). Peatlands are also of societal importance since they are providing recreational values or even livelihood through natural products and tourism for local communities.

Large areas of peatlands in Europe have been drained for forestry, food and energy production, or simply for settlement. Land-use change enhances microbial decomposition and increase atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, resulting in C storage loss, thereby accelerating climate change. Still, monitoring of microbial diversity in peatland ecosystems after land-use change has received very little attention, even though microbes play a key role in major ecosystem services such as maintaining the balance between GHG emissions, C storage, nutrient cycling, and water quality.

MiDiPeat produces comprehensive and harmonised monitoring data on microbial taxonomic and functional diversity in peatlands and how it varies in relation to nutrient levels, land use, and management regime. Restoration of peatlands aims to reverse biodiversity loss and restore ecosystem functions. MiDiPeat assesses taxonomical and functional microbial diversity along geographical and environmental gradients of peatlands through a harmonised monitoring approach. It will use previously hidden data on microbial diversity to establish proxies for the success of peatland restoration through establishing links with plant traits and methane cycling.

This will provide valuable input for decision-making linked to land use and management of degraded peatlands. The overarching aim is to develop monitoring of peatland microbial diversity across land-use categories by establishing links between key microbiome functions, plant community characteristics, peat biochemistry and GHG fluxes.

Main objectives

1. To assess microbial diversity and plant traits in peatlands to understand how changes in land-use are reflected in GHG fluxes.
2. To identify the key peat properties, plant diversity parameters and functional traits that are linked with microbial diversity.
3. To develop cost-effective plant diversity-based tools to monitor impacts of land-use changes in peatlands in terms of microbial diversity and GHG fluxes.

Main activities

1. Novel scientific publications about functional diversity of soil microorganisms, their linkage to GHG fluxes and to plants and peat chemistry across European pristine, drained and restored peatlands.
2. Workshops and seminars with regional and national stakeholders to plan monitoring tools, increase awareness and knowledge on soil biodiversity across peatland types in Europe and how to use the novel information in land- use management (the long-term impacts on restoration practices).
3. Dissemination materials and guidebook about microbial-based indicators for planning and monitoring peatland restoration projects for stakeholders and for policy-making concerning land-use, maintenance of soil biodiversity and legislation.
4. Research-based knowledge to be used in education and science projects aimed at students at different educational institutes (elementary schools, forestry schools, graduate schools, universities, and applied sciences).