Welcome to the Peak District National Park

1
Welcome to the Peak District National Park
2
Moorlands as Indicators of Climate Change
Initiative
Welcome to MICCI
This is a project designed for schools to
investigate the interrelationship between the
moorland landscape and climate change Chris
Robinson Learning and Discovery Officer PDNPA
3
So What is Moorland?
High Open Countryside
No normal farming
Created by humans
4
Moorland Ecology
Characteristics and Types
HEIGHT gt250m above sea level SOIL Peat up to 4m
thick
WINDY WET gt1000mm/year
Vegetation Peat Gritstone bedrock
All types have impoverished flora Harsh physical
conditions Poor soil structure and nutrient status
1. Heather moorland - most common, on gentler,
relatively dry slopes 2. Grass moorland - coarse
grasses such as mat grass, wet areas, peat lt20cm
allowing grass roots to penetrate 3. Cotton grass
moorland - rare, wet areas, peat gt70cm 4.
Sphagnum bog - formerly 18 species, but pollution
has reduced these to 3, of which only 1 is
common. Very wet and acid. An absorbent, spongy
mass. Note that 13 of worlds blanket bog is in
UK
5
What is global warming?
6
Climate Change its definitely happening!
The warming of the climate is unequivocal IPCC
report 2007(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change)
7
Where do moorlands fit into the climate change
debate?
1. Peatlands are the single largest carbon
reserve in the UK (3 billion tonnes of
carbon) More carbon is stored in UK peat than
in the forests of the UK and France combined. 2.
A good peat bog actively sequesters carbon
(locks it away) . Is a CARBON SINK
3. A damaged peat bog actively loses carbon to
the atmosphere.(through erosion and
oxidation). Is a CARBON SOURCE 4. The warmer
and drier the climate is the more erosion and
fires there are. The more carbon turns into CO2.
8
The Moorland Carbon Cycle
Photosynthesis
Rain
Decomposition
Fluvial Flux (removed by water)
Dissolved Organic Carbon DOC
Peat
Particulate Organic Carbon POC
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon DIC
Weathering of bedrock
CO2 INPUTS
CO2 OUTPUTS
9
A healthy moor
Carbon flux prediction models (Dark Peak area)
10
Source Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor
(SeaWiFS) Project, NASA-GSFC, and ORBIMAGE, 18
April 2003
Satellite view of Northern Britain
Fire on Bleaklow
11
Fire can turn a healthy moor into an unhealthy
one!
Aerial view of fire damage and subsequent erosion
on Bleaklow
12
Its not all bad though!
Large area of bare peat
The Moors for the Future partnership have
managed to reseed this area of erosion on Sykes
Moor and many others
13
GPS position - Garmin Altitude - Garmin Aspect -
Compass
Elevation
Grid reference
14
Gradient Clinometer tape measure 2 metre
rules
15
Total length of soil spike
Soil depth soil spike Soil temperature -
thermometer
length of soil spike above ground
16
Dip well for gauging water table
Kitchen waste pipe
Surface of Peat
Measure this!
Measure this!
Holes to let water in
Holes to let water in
Metre rule
1 metre
5 cm
17
(No Transcript)
18
Nitrate level nitrate kit DOC water bottle
1
2
3
19
Temperature pH meter pH pH meter
On/off switch
Protective cover
20
Soil pH auger and pH kit
21
Vegetation record - quadrats
22
Quadrats Heather Bilberry Crowberry
1 lll lllll ll
2 ll l
3 l
4 l l
5 l
1 plant, 1 tally mark
2 different plants, 2 tally marks
23
How do we record and share the results?
24
Who else is involved?
Carlton High Honley High Longley Park King
Ecgberts St John Houghton Heanorgate Long
Eaton
West Hill Glossopdale Chapel High Painsley
Catholic College
25
What sort of conservation work will our
experiments inform?
Discoveries you make about the state of the peat
will help scientists from Moors for the Future
decide on the most appropriate conservation
methods for the moorland.
Youth Rangers using Geojute fabric to stabilise
planting