A model of gross primary productivity based on satellite data suggests formerly afforested peatlands undergoing restoration regain full photosynthesis capacity after five to ten years

Lees, K. J. and Quaife, T. and Artz, R. R.E. and Khomik, M. and Sottocornola, M. and Kiely, G. and Hambley, G. and Hill, T. and Saunders, M. and Cowie, N. R. and Ritson, J. and Clark, J. M. (2019) A model of gross primary productivity based on satellite data suggests formerly afforested peatlands undergoing restoration regain full photosynthesis capacity after five to ten years. Journal of Environmental Management, 246. pp. 594-604. ISSN 0301-4797

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Abstract

Peatlands are an important terrestrial carbon store, but disturbance has resulted in the degradation of many peatland ecosystems and caused them to act as a net carbon source. Restoration work is being undertaken but monitoring the success of these schemes can be difficult and costly using traditional field-based methods. A landscape-scale alternative is to use satellite data to assess the condition of peatlands and to estimate gaseous carbon fluxes. In this study we used Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products to model Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) over peatland sites at various stages of restoration. We found that the MOD17A2H GPP product overestimates GPP modelled from data collected by eddy covariance towers situated at two ex-forestry sites undergoing restoration towards blanket bog at the Forsinard Flows RSPB reserve, Scotland, UK (one full year of data), and a near-natural Atlantic blanket bog site in Glencar, Ireland (ten-year data series). We calibrated a Temperature and Greenness (TG) model for the Forsinard sites and found it to be more accurate than the MODIS GPP product at local scale. We also found that inclusion of a wetness factor using the Normalised Difference Water Index (NDWI) improved inter-annual accuracy of the model. This TGWa (annual Temperature, Greenness and Wetness) model was then applied to six control sites comprising near-natural bog across the reserve, and to six sites on which restoration began between 1998 and 2006. GPP from 2005 to 2016 was estimated for each site using the model. The resulting modelled trends are positive at all six restored sites, increasing by approximately 5.5 g C/m2/yr every year since restoration began in the Forsinard Flows reserve. The results suggest that peatland sites undergoing restoration at Forsinard Flows reach the carbon assimilation potential of near-natural bog sites between 5 and 10 years after restoration was begun.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Funding Information: Kirsten Lees was part funded by a studentship from the James Hutton Institute , and part funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) SCENARIO DTP (Grant number: NE/L002566/1 ). Tristan Quaife was funded by the NERC National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO). Myroslava Khomik and Rebekka Artz were funded by the Scottish Government Strategic Research Programme 2016–2021 . Graham Hambley was funded by ScotGo v, the RSPB and the University of St Andrews . Ritson is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Twenty-65 project [Grant number EP/N010124/1 ]. Much of the restoration work reported in this study was funded by EU LIFE , Peatland Action , HLF , and the RSPB . Funding Information: Kirsten Lees was part funded by a studentship from the James Hutton Institute, and part funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) SCENARIO DTP (Grant number: NE/L002566/1). Tristan Quaife was funded by the NERC National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO). Myroslava Khomik and Rebekka Artz were funded by the Scottish Government Strategic Research Programme 2016–2021. Graham Hambley was funded by ScotGov, the RSPB and the University of St Andrews. Ritson is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Twenty-65 project [Grant number EP/N010124/1]. Much of the restoration work reported in this study was funded by EU LIFE, Peatland Action, HLF, and the RSPB. Thanks are due to the RSPB for their work on this project, and for site access and access to facilities. Thanks also to the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) for their role in restoration monitoring at the Forsinard Flows RSPB reserve. Thanks to Danni Klein for facilitating this work, Roxane Andersen for site set up and work coordination, and Rebecca McKenzie and Peter Gilbert for site maintenance. Thanks to Mark Hancock and Alessandro Gimona, and the three anonymous reviewers, for very helpful comments on this manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Elsevier Ltd
Uncontrolled Keywords:	/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2305
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Depositing User:	Admin SSL
Date Deposited:	19 Oct 2022 23:05
Last Modified:	15 Jun 2023 01:35
URI:	http://repository-testing.wit.ie/id/eprint/4025

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