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Britain’s highest bog: can we unlock its secrets?

Britain’s highest bog: can we unlock its secrets?
Britain’s highest bog: can we unlock its secrets?
The Glenfeshie Mòine Mhór (Great Moss) is Britain’s highest bog, the largest bog in the Cairngorm Mountains (Scotland) and a water source area for the River Spey. The area was managed primarily for sport hunting for about two centuries, but deer numbers have been heavily reduced in the last decade to allow regeneration of natural woodland and the return to more natural condition of all ecosystems including peatland. However, it may not be realistic to expect spontaneous improvement in peatland condition and ecosystem services provision in the harsh environment of the Mòine Mhór, which retains snow cover for more than half the year and differs floristically from lower-altitude bogs. To understand whether and where management intervention may be required, we need first to understand how the system works at scales ranging from microform to macrotope, and from sub-catchment to whole-system level. Multi-disciplinary condition and process studies (involving various collaborators) are in progress, with a current emphasis on streamflow generation and fluvial carbon loads. This presentation develops two sub-themes. First, ground survey and GIS analysis are used to address the questions: what are the special features of this bog; what is the nature and extent of degradation; and what are the implications for water delivered to the outflow streams? Secondly, a striking feature is the bare peat patches which were favourite resting places for deer on warm, dry summer days. The occurrence of seasonally extreme surface conditions seems a likely factor in preventing their recolonisation by bog plants now. Information about these conditions that cannot readily be accessed through direct observation, originating from temperature sensors and delivered at 60-minute intervals via a low power internet link, is explored in this context. Finally, we discuss aspects of the suitability of our investigation methods for remote and intermittently accessible field sites such as the Mòine Mhór.
Bragg, Olivia M.
e937699d-cfa4-4cb7-98ce-634aebd39fec
Basford, Philip
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Black, Andrew R.
598803e0-9768-4d3e-8bd2-de3ddc583632
Bragg, Graeme
b5fd19b9-1a51-470b-a226-2d4dd5ff447a
Hart, Jane
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Martinez, Kirk
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Bragg, Olivia M.
e937699d-cfa4-4cb7-98ce-634aebd39fec
Basford, Philip
efd8fbec-4a5f-4914-bf29-885b7f4677a7
Black, Andrew R.
598803e0-9768-4d3e-8bd2-de3ddc583632
Bragg, Graeme
b5fd19b9-1a51-470b-a226-2d4dd5ff447a
Hart, Jane
e949a885-7b26-4544-9e15-32ba6f87e49a
Martinez, Kirk
5f711898-20fc-410e-a007-837d8c57cb18

Bragg, Olivia M., Basford, Philip, Black, Andrew R., Bragg, Graeme, Hart, Jane and Martinez, Kirk (2016) Britain’s highest bog: can we unlock its secrets? 15th International Peat Congress 2016, Kuching, Malaysia. 15 - 19 Aug 2016. 5 pp .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

The Glenfeshie Mòine Mhór (Great Moss) is Britain’s highest bog, the largest bog in the Cairngorm Mountains (Scotland) and a water source area for the River Spey. The area was managed primarily for sport hunting for about two centuries, but deer numbers have been heavily reduced in the last decade to allow regeneration of natural woodland and the return to more natural condition of all ecosystems including peatland. However, it may not be realistic to expect spontaneous improvement in peatland condition and ecosystem services provision in the harsh environment of the Mòine Mhór, which retains snow cover for more than half the year and differs floristically from lower-altitude bogs. To understand whether and where management intervention may be required, we need first to understand how the system works at scales ranging from microform to macrotope, and from sub-catchment to whole-system level. Multi-disciplinary condition and process studies (involving various collaborators) are in progress, with a current emphasis on streamflow generation and fluvial carbon loads. This presentation develops two sub-themes. First, ground survey and GIS analysis are used to address the questions: what are the special features of this bog; what is the nature and extent of degradation; and what are the implications for water delivered to the outflow streams? Secondly, a striking feature is the bare peat patches which were favourite resting places for deer on warm, dry summer days. The occurrence of seasonally extreme surface conditions seems a likely factor in preventing their recolonisation by bog plants now. Information about these conditions that cannot readily be accessed through direct observation, originating from temperature sensors and delivered at 60-minute intervals via a low power internet link, is explored in this context. Finally, we discuss aspects of the suitability of our investigation methods for remote and intermittently accessible field sites such as the Mòine Mhór.

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Bragg_IPC2016_Extended_abstract_corrected.pdf - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 17 May 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: August 2016
Venue - Dates: 15th International Peat Congress 2016, Kuching, Malaysia, 2016-08-15 - 2016-08-19
Organisations: Web & Internet Science, Earth Surface Dynamics

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 397018
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/397018
PURE UUID: f02926fc-6de3-44b9-abfa-29817c7d3e81
ORCID for Philip Basford: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6058-8270
ORCID for Graeme Bragg: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5201-7977
ORCID for Jane Hart: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2348-3944
ORCID for Kirk Martinez: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3859-5700

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 27 Jun 2016 09:24
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:58

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Contributors

Author: Olivia M. Bragg
Author: Philip Basford ORCID iD
Author: Andrew R. Black
Author: Graeme Bragg ORCID iD
Author: Jane Hart ORCID iD
Author: Kirk Martinez ORCID iD

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