Cutting Peat: The Historical Ecology and Dissection of the Chat Moss Ecosystem скачать в хорошем качестве

Cutting Peat: The Historical Ecology and Dissection of the Chat Moss Ecosystem

Andrew Osbourne, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom Peatland is a biotope of international importance, because of its unique flora and fauna and, when in good condition, the potential for globally significant carbon sequestration and storage. Chat Moss is situated between major urban areas in the northwest of England at the epicentre of the Industrial Revolution and was completely destroyed through a combination of drainage, peat cutting, conversion to agriculture, urban development and pollution. The area is currently the site of a landscape scale ecosystem restoration programme. Chat Moss was originally an impenetrable wilderness over 36 square kilometres in area, a lowland raised bog rising 10-12 m above the surrounding land. Using historical maps, books, illustrations, old place-names and biological recordings it is possible to chart the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the peatland over the past 200 years and trace the origins of the ecosystem back to the late Holocene, providing insight into magnitude, timeframe and mechanisms of the destruction. During the nineteenth century Merseyside and south Lancashire were one of the UK’s largest generators of sulphur pollution due to unregulated chemical works employing the Leblanc alkali process. The resulting acid rain contributed to the habitat degradation and loss of Sphagnum moss on the neighbouring lowland peatlands. The impact of the air pollution precipitated early health and environmental legislation and the formation of the Alkali Inspectorate. Gaining a clear picture of this landscape’s baseline condition, as well as the factors responsible for habitat degradation, is essential for informing habitat restoration efforts and species reintroduction programmes. Speaker biography I am a long-term volunteer with Lancashire Wildlife Trust and a PhD student at Manchester Metropolitan University. I have been involved with peatland restoration on Chat Moss for the past eight years, working mainly on landscape restoration and plant species reintroductions on Little Woolden Moss, a previous peat extraction site which is now a thriving nature reserve. My research project is based around the reintroduction of the large heath butterfly and is mainly concerned with defining the insect’s habitat resource requirements to optimise the chances of long-term success of the species reintroduction.