Sheep versus sea-lions? Quantifying human impacts on the carbon and greenhouse gas balance of peatlands in the Falkland Islands.

绵羊与海狮？

• 批准号: 2609787
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Leicester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2609787
• 关键词: Sheep; versus; sea; lions; Quantifying

The Falkland Islands are the largest of the UK's Overseas Territories, and hold some of the most carbon-rich soils on Earth. Peatlands cover almost half of the land area, and account for ~10% of the total peat area under UK jurisdiction. These peatlands developed over millenia in the absence of humans or herbivorous mammals. Since human settlement began 250 years ago, large-scale grazing and other land-use pressures have caused profound ecological changes. Around 80% of the Islands' distinctive 'tussac', a tall peat-forming grass which provides habitat and shelter for wildlife including penguins and sea-lions, has been lost to grazing, and peat erosion is widespread (Figure 1). However, we do not know whether Falkland peatlands continue to sequester carbon (thus contributing to climate change mitigation) or whether human activities have converted these vast carbon stores into GHG emission sources. Working with the Falkland-based South Atlantic Environment Research Institute (SAERI, CASE Partner, who are offering significant direct commercial support to the project; see Letter of Support) and the Natural History Museum (NHM) as a CENTA2 Level 1 partner, the studentship will offer a unique opportunity to advance scientific understanding of this exceptional, ecologically rich but poorly understood ecosystem. It will break new ground by making the first comprehensive measurements of greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes from natural and degraded Falkland peatlands. Cutting-edge geochemical and microbiological analyses, and habitat characterisation and upscaling using Earth Observation data, will provide new mechanistic, landscape-scale understanding of the drivers of these fluxes. The results will enhance fundamental understanding of this important ecosystem, which is close to the edge of the 'climate envelope' for peat formation, and may therefore help to understand the wider vulnerability of global peatlands to land-use and climate change. The project will generate policy and public interest by quantifying the GHG emissions of the Falklands, support the UK and Falkland governments in meeting their climate change targets, and have direct practical application in the development of a Falkland carbon offsetting scheme. The involvement of members of the supervisory team in peatland research throughout the world will ensure that the project has global relevance and impact.

福克兰群岛是英国海外地区最大的群岛，并拥有地球上最丰富的土壤。泥炭地覆盖了土地面积的几乎一半，占英国管辖范围内泥炭总面积的约10％。在没有人类或草食性哺乳动物的情况下，这些泥炭地在千年中发展起来。自250年前人类定居开始以来，大规模放牧和其他土地使用压力引起了深刻的生态变化。大约80％的岛屿“独特的“ Tussac”）是一种高大的泥炭草，为包括企鹅和海狮在内的野生动植物提供了栖息地和庇护所，因此丧失了放牧，并且泥炭侵蚀广泛（图1）。但是，我们不知道Falkland Peatland是否继续隔离碳（从而导致缓解气候变化），或者人类活动是否已将这些庞大的碳存储转化为GHG排放源。与总部位于福克兰的南大西洋环境研究所（Saeri，案例合作伙伴）合作，他们为该项目提供了大量的直接商业支持；请参阅支持信）和自然历史博物馆（NHM）作为Centa2级别1级合作伙伴，学生资格将提供一个独特的机会，以促进对这个非凡，生态丰富但知之甚少的生态系统的科学理解。它将通过对自然和退化的福克兰泥炭地进行首次综合测量温室气（GHG）通量来打破新的地面。尖端的地球化学和微生物分析，以及使用地球观测数据进行栖息地表征和尺寸化，将提供对这些通量驱动因素的新机械，景观规模的理解。结果将增强对这个重要生态系统的基本理解，该生态系统接近泥炭形成的“气候信封”的边缘，因此可能有助于了解全球泥炭地对土地用途和气候变化的更广泛脆弱性。该项目将通过量化福克兰群岛的温室气体排放，支持英国和福克兰政府实现其气候变化目标，并在制定福克兰碳抵消计划的制定中直接应用。监督团队成员参与世界各地的泥炭地研究，将确保该项目具有全球相关性和影响力。