[PDF] Peatlands eBook

Author : Ian D. Rotherham
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 22,92 MB
Release : 2020-04-28
Category : Nature
ISBN : 0429799527

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This book provides an introduction to peatlands for the non-specialist student reader and for all those concerned about environmental protection, and is an essential guide to peatland history and heritage for scientists and enthusiasts. Peat is formed when vegetation partially decays in a waterlogged environment and occurs extensively throughout both temperate and tropical regions. Interest in peatlands is currently high due to the degradation of global peatlands which is disrupting hydrology and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. This book opens by explaining how peat is formed, its properties and worldwide distribution, and defines related terms such as mires, wetlands, bogs and marshes. There is discussion of the ecology and wildlife of peatlands as well as their ability to preserve pollen and organic remains as environmental archives. It also addresses the history, heritage and cultural exploitation of peat, extending back to pre-Roman times, and the degradation of peatlands over the centuries, particularly as a source of fuel but more recently for commercial horticulture. Other chapters discuss the ecosystem services delivered by peatlands, and how their destruction is contributing to biodiversity loss, flooding or drought, and climate change. Finally, the many current peatland restoration projects around the world are highlighted. Overall the book provides a wide-ranging but concise overview of peatlands from both a natural and social science perspective, and will be invaluable for students of ecology, geography, environmental studies and history.

Author : Aletta Bonn
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 517 pages
File Size : 21,49 MB
Release : 2016-06-23
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1107025184

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An interdisciplinary book tackling the challenges of managing peatlands and their ecosystem services in the face of climate change.

Author : I.P. Martini
Publisher : Elsevier
Page : 606 pages
File Size : 40,69 MB
Release : 2007-03-28
Category : Law
ISBN : 0080468055

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In the past two decades there has been considerable work on global climatic change and its effect on the ecosphere, as well as on local and global environmental changes triggered by human activities. From the tropics to the Arctic, peatlands have developed under various geological conditions, and they provide good records of global and local changes since the Late Pleistocene.The objectives of the book are to analyze topics such as geological evolution of major peatlands basins; peatlands as self sustaining ecosystems; chemical environment of peatlands: water and peat chemistry; peatlands as archives of environmental changes; influence of peatlands on atmosphere: circular complex interactions; remote sensing studies of peatlands; peatlands as a resource; peatlands degradation, restoration, plus more. * Presents an interdisciplinary approach, with an emphasis on Earth Science, and addresses the need for intergration between subdisciplines and the developing of new approaches* Synthesizes the evolutionary, ecological, and chemical characteristics of major peatlands, as well as focuses on the environmental changes, from climate changes to surface ares changes due to human activities* Covers topical studies of worldwide interest and provides examples from many different countries

Author : R.K. Wieder
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 448 pages
File Size : 42,45 MB
Release : 2006-10-16
Category : Science
ISBN : 3540319131

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This is the first truly ecosystem-oriented book on peatlands. It adopts an ecosystems approach to understanding the world's boreal peatlands. The focus is on biogeochemical patterns and processes, production, decomposition, and peat accumulation, and it provides additional information on animal and fungal diversity. A recurring theme is the legacy of boreal peatlands as impressive accumulators of carbon as peat over millennia.

Author : Guy L. Denny
Publisher : Kent State University Press
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 50,94 MB
Release : 2021-12-14
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781606354377

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Exploring and appreciating the fascinating ecosystems of bogs and fens Peatlands--and specifically "bogs"--have long been a source of fascination for humans, and these amazing places are truly living relics of the Ice Age. More recently, bogs have come to be regarded as complex and fascinating wetland ecosystems. Peatlands of Ohio and the Southern Great Lakes Region focuses on the sphagnum peat bogs and rich fens of the lower Great Lakes states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, southern Michigan, and the glaciated northern corners of Pennsylvania. The peatlands of today are products of the Wisconsinan Glaciation, when peatland plants originating in northern latitudes migrated southward in a wide band preceding the glacial wall of ice. After thousands of years, the glacier's retreat severely diminished the sites with the very special environmental conditions needed to sustain these ecosystems. However, in a few sites, kettlehole lakes and cold alkaline hillside seeps and springs enabled remnants of peatland vegetation to survive to this day. Guy L. Denny, with accompanying photographs by Gary Meszaros, closely examines this habitat and its special environmental constraints, the geological and climatological origins, and the flora and fauna unique to the bogs and rich fens of this region. As readers will discover as they learn about places like Cranberry Bog in Michigan or Triangle Lake in Ohio, kettlehole sphagnum peat bogs and rich fens are not only essential places to protect, but they are amazing sites to explore, discover new plants, and observe the beauty and splendor of the natural world.

Author : Mitsuru Osaki
Publisher : Springer
Page : 633 pages
File Size : 14,16 MB
Release : 2015-12-07
Category : Science
ISBN : 4431556818

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This book is an excellent resource for scientists, political decision makers, and students interested in the impact of peatlands on climate change and ecosystem function, containing a plethora of recent research results such as monitoring-sensing-modeling for carbon–water flux/storage, biodiversity and peatland management in tropical regions. It is estimated that more than 23 million hectares (62 %) of the total global tropical peatland area are located in Southeast Asia, in lowland or coastal areas of East Sumatra, Kalimantan, West Papua, Papua New Guinea, Brunei, Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak and Southeast Thailand. Tropical peatland has a vital carbon–water storage function and is host to a huge diversity of plant and animal species. Peatland ecosystems are extremely vulnerable to climate change and the impacts of human activities such as logging, drainage and conversion to agricultural land. In Southeast Asia, severe episodic droughts associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, in combination with over-drainage, forest degradation, and land-use changes, have caused widespread peatland fires and microbial peat oxidation. Indonesia's 20 Mha peatland area is estimated to include about 45–55 GtC of carbon stocks. As a result of land use and development, Indonesia is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases (2–3 Gtons carbon dioxide equivalent per year), 80 % of which is due to deforestation and peatland loss. Thus, tropical peatlands are key ecosystems in terms of the carbon–water cycle and climate change.

Author : Howard Crum
Publisher :
Page : 332 pages
File Size : 40,30 MB
Release : 1988
Category : History
ISBN :

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Examines the fens and bogs of the upper Midwest, with a taxonomic treatment of peat mosses

Author : Edward Struzik
Publisher : Island Press
Page : 314 pages
File Size : 48,44 MB
Release : 2021-10-12
Category : Nature
ISBN : 1642830801

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In a world filled with breathtaking beauty, we have often overlooked the elusive magic of certain landscapes. A cloudy river flows into an Arctic wetland where sandhill cranes and muskoxen dwell. Further south, cypress branches hang low over dismal swamps. Places like these-collectively known as swamplands or peatlands-often go unnoticed for their ecological splendor. They are as globally significant as rainforests, yet, because of their reputation as wastelands, they are being systematically drained and degraded. Swamplands celebrates these wild places, as journalist Edward Struzik highlights the unappreciated struggle to save peatlands by scientists, conservationists, and landowners around the world. An ode to peaty landscapes in all their offbeat glory, the book is also a demand for awareness of the myriad threats they face. It inspires us to see the beauty and importance in these least likely of places­. Our planet's survival might depend on it.

Author : Eero Paavilainen
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 47,31 MB
Release : 2013-03-09
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 3662031256

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The book provides a review and synthesis of boreal mire ecosystems including peat soil properties, mire hydrology, carbon and nutrient cycling, and classification of mire sites. The emphasis, however, is on peatland forests as a renewable natural resource. The approach originated in northern Europe, because there, especially in Finland, operational scale forest drainage has a long tradition based on research aiming to maintain and increase wood production on peatlands. Whenever relevant, a closer look is also given to other countries in Europe, Canada, and the USA. The results of recent studies on different environmental effects of peatland forestry are also discussed in detail.