Digital Commons Network^™

The Importance Of Experience: Supporting Pupils’ Creative Writing About The Natural World, Christopher Hanley, David Cooper, Jennifer Rowntree

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

The first part of this article considers the challenge of supporting pupils to write creatively about the natural world. It examines a text by a gifted young writer: Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty. It asks what the challenges might be for pupils who maybe motivated to model their writing on McAnulty’s, but have limited experience of the natural world. Drawing on the scholarly work of John Dixon, Robert Eaglestone and others, the article highlights the importance of pupil experience in the formation of their writerly voice, thereby emphasising the need for writing pedagogies that deepen and enrich …

Variability Of Fallout Radionuclides (Frns) In River Channels: Implications For Sediment Tracing, Enrique Muñoz-Arcos, Geoffrey E. Millward, Caroline C. Clason, Richard Hartley, Claudio Bravo-Linares, William H. Blake

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Purpose: The aims of this research were to assess the sources of variability of particulate FRNs ( ⁷Be, ²¹⁰Pb _ex and ¹³⁷Cs) in river channels, the influence of sediment properties such as particle size distribution (PSD) and organic matter (OM) on FRN distributions, and to discuss the implications for sediment tracing in rivers. Methods: Suspended and channel bed sediment samples were collected in the River Avon (Devon, UK) during five strategic surveys involving a wide variation of river flows, including flood conditions. Particulate matter was analysed for ⁷Be, ²¹⁰Pb _ex and ¹³⁷Cs by gamma …

Accumulation Of Environmental Radioactivity On The Surface Of A High Arctic Ice Cap (Flade Isblink, Ne Greenland), Dylan B. Beard, Giovanni Baccolo, Caroline C. Clason, Geoffrey E. Millward, Edyta Łokas, Elena Di Stefano, Sally Rangecroft, Dariusz Sala, Przemysław Wachniew, William H. Blake

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Under climatic warming, glaciers are becoming a secondary source of atmospheric contaminants originally released into the environment decades ago. This phenomenon has been well-documented for glaciers near emission sources. However, less is known about polar ice sheets and ice caps. Radionuclides are one of the contaminants that can be remobilised through ice melting and accumulate in cryoconite material on the surface of glaciers. To understand the cycling of radionuclides in polar glacial contexts, we evaluate the radioactivity of cryoconite samples from Flade Isblink, a High Arctic ice cap in northeast Greenland. The measured radioactivity is among the highest reported across …

Why There Is No Evidence That Pyridine Killed The English Crabs, Alex T. Ford, Mark F. Fitzsimons, Crispin Halsall

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The North East coast of England experienced a mass mortality event in late 2021 affecting millions of crabs and lobsters. The die-off coincided with the redevelopment of one of the UK's flagship ports, prompting local scientists to suggest the remobilization of dredged industrial contaminants as a cause. A multi-agency investigation found no definitive causal factor; however, re-evaluation of data by consultants drew a different conclusion, linking the industrial compound pyridine to the crustacean deaths. Authors of an unpublished study subsequently claimed that their data demonstrated pyridine to be exceptionally toxic and that their modeling explained the coastal distribution of washups. …

Global Constraints On Exhumation Rates During Porphyry Copper Formation And Supergene Enrichment: Applications To Exploration As Illustrated From The Central Andes, Laura Evenstar, Simon Dahlström, Adrian Hartley, T. Campbell Mccuaig, Anne Mather, Joe Shaw

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Currently, 60% of the world’s copper production comes from porphyry copper deposits, often significantly enriched by surface weathering. This paper uses new global datasets and previous work to review the critical processes required for porphyry copper formation and supergene enrichment. Porphyry copper formation requires a subducting arc to create a source magma which traverses a thickened crust subject to high exhumation rates during formation, ranging from 100’s to 1,000’s m/m.y. High exhumation rates potentially trigger magma decompression, causing fluid release, opening fluid pathways along faults and lineaments and/or facilitating telescoping, whereby early porphyry-style mineralization is overprinted and enriched by high-sulfidation …

Post-Neoliberalism? The Strange Case Of The New English Freeports, Patrick Holden, Nichola Harmer

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

Neoliberalism has lost its hegemonic status in the global system but neoliberal ideas and practices persist. Post-Brexit UK offers a useful case study of how these operate in a post-hegemonic context. The UK government's vision of free trading ‘Global Britain' crashed against the reality of an increasingly geoeconomic world. Freeports were an initiative designed to boost trade and to develop poorer regions. This paper adapts Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse how the different Freeport discourses interact with material power as the policy develops. It divides this into three levels: national political discourse, national policy discourse and local political and …

“It’S The Closest I Can Get To Meditation Sometimes”: Volunteering As A Surf Therapy Mentor., Karl Potts, Jon May

School of Psychology

Surf therapy is a novel form of small-group, nature-based mental health intervention that has proliferated globally in recent years. Self-reported outcomes indicate that surf therapy can be effective for enhancing mental health and wellbeing, but there is little theoretical understanding into the causal mechanisms of effect and limited strength behind the existing evidence base. This study employed a qualitative approach to explore the personal experiences and observations of volunteer surf mentors’ working with UK-based surf therapy charity the Wave Project. Five surf mentors (3 males and 2 females; mean age = 34.4 years, SD = 7.4, range = 19) were …

Transient Aseismic Vertical Deformation Across The Steeply-Dipping Pisia-Skinos Normal Fault (Gulf Of Corinth, Greece), Zoe Mildon, Manuel-Lukas Diercks, Gerald Roberts, Joanna Faure Walker, Athanassios Ganas, Ioannis Papanikolaou, Vassilis Sakas, Jenni Robertson, Claudia Sgambato, Sam Mitchell

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Geodetically-derived deformation rates are sometimes used to infer seismic hazard, implicitly assuming that short-term (annual-decadal) deformation is representative of longer-term deformation. This is despite geological observations indicating that deformation/slip rates are variable over a range of timescales. Using geodetic data from 2016-2021, we observe an up to 7-fold increase in vertical deformation rate in mid-2019 across the Pisia-Skinos normal fault in Greece. We hypothesise that this deformation is aseismic as there is no temporally correlated increase in the earthquake activity (M>1). We explore four possible physical mechanisms, and our preferred hypothesis is that the transient deformation is caused by …

Pathways And Timescales Of Southern Ocean Hydrothermal Iron And Manganese Transport, Antony J. Birchill, Chelsea Baker, Neil Wyatt, Katsiaryna Pabortsava, Hugh Venables, Mark Moore, Isobel Turnbull, Angela Milne, Simon Ussher, Sophy Oliver, Adrian Martin

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Scarcity of iron and manganese limits the efficiency of the biological carbon pump over large areas of the Southern Ocean. The importance of hydrothermal vents as a source of these micronutrients to the euphotic zone of the Southern Ocean is debated. Here we present full depth profiles of dissolved and total dissolvable trace metals in the remote eastern Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean (55–60° S, 89.1° W), providing evidence of enrichment of iron and manganese at depths of 2000–4000 m. These enhanced micronutrient concentrations were co-located with ³He enrichment, an indicator of hydrothermal fluid originating from ocean ridges. …

Complementary Classifications Of Aeolian Dunes Based On Morphology, Dynamics, And Fluid Mechanics, Sylvain Courrech Du Pont, David M. Rubin, Clément Narteau, Mathieu G.A. Lapôtre, Mackenzie Day, Philippe Claudin, Ian Livingstone, Matt W. Telfer, Jani Radebaugh, Cyril Gadal, Andrew Gunn, Patrick A. Hesp, Sabrina Carpy, Charles S. Bristow, Andreas C.W. Baas, Ryan C. Ewing, Giles F.S. Wiggs

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Dunes form where winds blow over a bed of mobile sediment grains — conditions that are common in our solar system. On Earth, dunes abound in arid continental interiors and along sandy coastlines. Dune fields have also been recognized on Venus, Mars, Saturn’s moon Titan, and Pluto. In response to the different boundary conditions and other environmental forcings, dunes adopt a rich diversity of shapes, sizes, and behaviors. Thus, people around the globe and over centuries have developed a rich vocabulary to describe dunes and their complexity. As a result, existing dune nomenclature often includes redundant terms with differing definitions …

New Geographies Of Crime? Cybercrime, Southern Criminology And Diversifying Research Agendas, Tim Hall, Richard Yarwood

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

This paper argues that reconsidering the disciplinary significance of the geographies of crime is timely. It has three aims. First, it identifies recent developments in the geographical study of crime, arguing that they both challenge and extend its intellectual traditions. Second, using the example of cybercrime, it identifies new forms of crime that deserve scrutiny by geographers. Third, it draws on ideas of Southern criminology to identify how research agendas can be diversified to advance how geographers study crime. In doing so it proposes that geographers’ renewed interest in crime over recent decades is appropriately labelled ‘new geographies of crime’.

Inequalities In Epilepsy In The Uk: Action Is Needed Now, Angela Hassiotis, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

No abstract provided.

Decoding Anotylus (Thomson 1859) Beetle Diversity: Dna And External Morphology Match In Área De Conservacion Guanacaste, Costa Rica, K. Dante Underwood, Robert Puschendorf, David T. Bilton, Daniel H. Janzen, Winnie Hallwachs, M. Alex Smith

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Taxonomy underpins biological research because names are needed for comparative analysis, conservation status, and public communication. Despite this, many species remain undescribed and are therefore vulnerable and unprotected, particularly in the tropics. Neotropical Staphylinidae beetles (Coleoptera) are among the insect groups most likely to contain significant unknown and/or cryptic diversity. Here we used an integrative taxonomic framework to conduct a preliminary review of one particularly diverse genus of Staphylinidae (Anotylus) in Área de Conservaciόn Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica. We began by DNA barcoding novel collections and using Barcode Index Numbers (BINs) as an estimate of taxonomic diversity; we found 18 …

Sublime And Extended Reality Experiences To Enhance Emotional Wellbeing For Autistic People: A State Of The Art Review And Narrative Synthesis, Chris Bennewith, Johara Bellali, Lance Watkins, Samuel Tromans, Kamaldeep Bhui, Rohit Shankar

More Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Research

Background: Sublime is a centuries old concept of emergent experience arising from immense and threatening awareness provoked by overwhelming fear and dread when faced with an incomprehensible situation as is common to autistic people. Extended Reality (XR) technologies have been used since the mid-1990s, in regulating emotions, behaviour and supporting social skill development for autistic people. Aims: To understand utility of XR technologies in creating immersive experiences for autistic people to alleviate anxiety and the relationship to the sublime. Method: A State of the Art literature review and narrative synthesis was conducted. PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of …

Initiation And Evolution Of An Epicontinental Shelf-Slope Margin In An Actively Contracting Deep-Water Basin: The Eocene Aínsa Basin, Southern Pyrenees (Spain), Ashley Ayckbourne, Rhodri Jerrett, Matthew Watkinson, Miquel Poyatos-More, Ian Kane, Stephen Covey-Crump, Kavin Taylor

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The shelf-slope margin is a geomorphic zone with a change in gradient between subaqueous shelves and slopes, which extends towards the submarine basin-floor. It is important because it partitions distinct sedimentary and biogenic processes between the shallow and deep-water realms. The initiation of a shelf-slope profile from pre-existing conditions, and the evolution of shelf margins in space and time has been the focus of numerous studies, particularly from seismic data sets on passive margins, although markedly less-so from active tectonic settings. This study documents the initiation and evolution of a shelf-slope margin in the well-studied Eocene Aínsa Basin (Spanish Pyrenees) …

Interlaboratory Comparison Of Branched Gdgt Temperature And Ph Proxies Using Soils And Lipid Extracts, Brgdgts Round Robin, Cindy De Jonge, Francien Peterse, Klaas G.J. Nierop, Thomas M. Blattmann, Marcelo Alexandre, Salome Ansanay-Alex, Thomas Austin, Mathieu Babin, Edouard Bard, Thorsten Bauersachs, Jerome Blewett, Brenna Boehman, Isla S. Castañeda, Junhui Chen, Martina L.G. Conti, Sergio Contreras, Julia Cordes, Nina Davtian, Bart Van Dongen, Bella Duncan, Felix J. Elling, Valier Galy, Shaopeng Gao, Jens Hefter, Kai Uwe Hinrichs, Mitchell R. Helling, Mariska Hoorweg, Ellen Hopmans, Arnaud Huguet, Guodong Jia, Cornelia Karger, Brendan J. Keely, Stephanie Kusch, Hui Li, Jie Liang, Julius S. Lipp, Weiguo Liu, Hongxuan Lu, Kai Mangelsdorf, Hayley Manners, Alfredo Martinez Garcia, Guillemette Menot, Gesine Mollenhauer, B. David A. Naafs, Sebastian Naeher, Lauren K. O'Connor, Ethan M. Pearce, Ann Pearson

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Ratios of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGT), which are membrane lipids of bacteria and archaea, are at the base of several paleoenvironmental proxies. They are frequently applied to soils as well as lake- and marine sediments to generate records of past temperature and soil pH. To derive meaningful environmental information from these reconstructions, high analytical reproducibility is required. Based on submitted results by 39 laboratories from across the world, which employ a diverse range of analytical and quantification methods, we explored the reproducibility of brGDGT-based proxies (MBT′_5ME, IR, and #rings_tetra) measured on four soil samples and …

Perceived Effects Of Climate Change On Aquaculture Production In Zambia: Status, Vulnerability Factors, And Adaptation Strategies, Sahya Maulu, Oliver J. Hasimuna, Moses Chibesa, Ian Bbole, Joseph Mphande, Mazuba Mwanachingwala, Kundananji Nawanzi, Doubt Chibeya, Sillah Siavwapa, Joyce Mbewe, Lucy Namukonda, Friday Balungu, Inyambo Mumbula, Mwangala Kabika, Shimbetu Mweemba, Mwaanda Sikanyenyene, Enock Siankwilimba, Imikendu Imbwae, Hansel M. Mweetwa

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Aquaculture plays a critical role in Zambia's food and nutrition security. However, aquaculture is highly vulnerable to the effects of a changing climate which can lead to economic losses, and food and nutrition insecurity. In this study, we investigated the perceived effects of climate change on aquaculture production in Zambia, vulnerability factors, and adaptation strategies. We used semi-structured and structured questionnaires to collect data from aquaculture producers in all provinces across the country. Results revealed high (over 80%) awareness of climate change, primarily attributed to literacy levels and access to media. Producers perceived occurrence of climate-related changes such as rising …

Changing Neighborhood Income Deprivation Over Time, Moving In Childhood, And Adult Risk Of Depression, Clive E Sabel, Carsten Bøcker Pedersen, Sussie Antonsen, Roger T Webb, Henriette Thisted Horsdal

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

IMPORTANCE: Complex biological, socioeconomic, and psychological variables combine to cause mental illnesses, with mounting evidence that early-life experiences are associated with adulthood mental health.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether changing neighborhood income deprivation and residential moves during childhood are associated with the risk of receiving a diagnosis of depression in adulthood.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study included the whole population of 1 096 916 people born in Denmark from January 1, 1982, to December 31, 2003, who resided in the country during their first 15 years of life. Individuals were followed up from 15 years of age until either …

Deterioration Of Bio-Based Polylactic Acid Plastic Teabags Under Environmental Conditions And Their Associated Effects On Earthworms, Winnie Courtene-Jones, Fannie Burgevin, Lily Munns, Maia B. T. Shillam, Francesca De Falco, Antoine Buchard, Richard Handy, Richard Thompson, Mick Hanley

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

In response to the plastic waste crisis, teabag producers have substituted the petrochemical-plastic content of their products with bio-based, biodegradable polymers such as polylactic acid (PLA). Despite widespread use, the degradation rate of PLA/PLA-blended materials in natural soil and their effects on soil biota are poorly understood. This study examined the percentage mass deterioration of teabags with differing cellulose:PLA compositions following burial (−10 cm depth) in an arable field margin for 7-months, using a suite of analytical techniques, such as size exclusion chromatography, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance, dynamic scanning calorimetry, and scanning electron microscopy. The effect of 28-d exposure to …

A New Approach To Counting Fossil And Modern Pollen Grains:: The Orderly Count, Tutku Tuncalı Yaman, Bikem Ekberzade, Hülya Caner, Ruya Y. Dagdeviren, Sena Inkaya, Nurgul K. Kılıc, Suzanne A.G. Leroy, Fabienne Marret, Cetin Senkul, Jessie Woodbridge, Meral Avci

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Palynology, the study of pollen and spores, plays a crucial role in various scientific disciplines, including earth sciences (paleovegetation and paleoclimatology), botany, allergy, archaeology, forensic sciencs and cosmetics. This study delves into the critical question in fossil pollen analysis studies: the minimum count of pollen grains required for accurate estimation of vegetation composition. Various statistical methods have been proposed over the years to address this question. Our research introduces an alternative technique, the orderly count, tailored to the nature of palynological analysis. We apply this method to diverse sediment catchments, including peat bogs, marine and lake sediments, from different geographical …

Reflections On The Past, Present, And Potential Futures Of Knowledge Hierarchies In Ocean Biodiversity Governance Research, Holly J. Niner, David Wilson, Kelly Hoareau, Mia Strand, Jennifer Whittingham, Dylan Mcgarry, Bolanle Erinosho, Sulley Ibrahim, Sirkka Tshiningayamwe, Senia Febrica, Alana Malinde S. N. Lancaster, Milica Prokic

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Governance of the ocean and its biodiversity is deeply entangled within social, political and cultural histories. The evolution of marine science has been subject to similar influences, and we (the authors) consider these factors to create, embed and reinforce knowledge hierarchies in ocean governance processes and associated research that set societal patterns of prioritisation and exclusion. Such knowledge hierarchies have constructed dominant Western-oriented knowledge systems as ‘rational’ and ‘objective’ approaches to environmental governance in contrast to non-Western knowledge systems and have led to a dominance of natural (normal) sciences over centralised biodiversity governance. The extraction and incorporation of traditional knowledge …

Signed, Sealed, But Not Delivered: The Credibility Of Nigeria’S Climate Change Act 2021 In Mitigating And Adapting To Climate Change In Nigeria, Goodtime Okara, Ruth Innocent

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

Under the Paris Agreement, parties are required to submit Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Many countries have enacted domestic climate legislation that promotes the implementation of these NDCs. This article investigates what climate legislation should include to enable countries to better achieve the Paris Agreement’s climate change adaptation and mitigation goals. It critically analyses Nigeria’s Climate Change Act (CCA) 2021 to determine the extent to which it can address climate change in Nigeria. Considering the peculiarities of Nigeria, the article compares the CCA with the UK Climate Change Act 2008. It also compares the Petroleum Industry Act as a piece of …

How Can Geomorphology Facilitate A Better Understanding Of Glacier And Ice Sheet Behaviour?, Matt Westoby, Richard Jones, Lauren Miller

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Glaciers and ice sheets are an integral part of Earth’s system, advancing and retreating in response to changes in climate. Clues about the past, present, and future behaviour of these ice masses are found throughout current and former glaciated landscapes. In this commentary, we outline recent scientific advances from a collection of articles in which geomorphological evidence is used to inform us about the behaviour of glaciers and ice sheets across a range of spatial (landform to continent) and temporal (seasons to millennia) scales. Through a diversity of approaches including field measurements, remote sensing and numerical modelling, these studies build …

Echo Rehabilitation Project: The Context For Developing System Partner Collaboration To Overcome Challenges In Rural Community Neurological Rehabilitation Provision, Angela Gibbon

South West Clinical School Journal

#400WORDS: RESEARCH + ACTION

The Electric Seaway, Keri Collins, Simon Ussher, Amir Bordbar, Marcin Roszkowski, Anthony Wilson

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Gc Insights: Lessons From Participatory Water Quality Research In The Upper Santa River Basin, Peru, Sally Rangecroft, Caroline Clason, Rosa Maria Dextre, Isabel Richter, Claire Kelly, Cecilia Turin, Claudia V. Grados-Bueno, Beatriz Fuentealba, Mirtha Camacho Hernandez, Sergio Morera Julca, John Martin, John Adam Guy

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Here we share four key lessons from an interdisciplinary project (Nuestro Rio) that gathered community perspectives on local water quality in the Santa River basin (Peru) utilising a digital technological approach where we collected data via a novel photo elicitation app, supported by a field work campaign. The lessons explored in this article provide insights into challenges and opportunities for researchers considering developing technological tools for encouraging participation and engagement in marginalised communities.

Centennial Records Of Microplastics In Lake Cores In Huguangyan Maar Lake, China, Qingsong Ji, Yanxia Zhang, Yubao Xia, Xinkai Wang, Maoyong He, Yi Yang, Clive E. Sabel, Bin Huang, Fengxiao Zhu, Min Shao, Enze Xie, Guojing Yan, Guonai Li, Aoyu Zhou, Huan He, Limin Zhang, Zhangdong Jin

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Microplastic records from lake cores can reconstruct the plastic pollution history. However, the associations between anthropogenic activities and microplastic accumulation are not well understood. Huguangyan Maar Lake (HML) is a deep-enclosed lake without inlets and outlets, where the sedimentary environment is ideal for preserving a stable and historical microplastic record. Microplastic (size: 10-500 μm) characteristics in the HML core were identified using the Laser Direct Infrared Imaging system. The earliest detectable microplastics appeared unit in 1955 (1.1 items g^-1). The microplastic abundance ranged from n.d. to 615.2 items g^-1 in 1955-2019 with an average of 134.9 items …

The Case(S) Of Environmental And Sustainability Education In The United Kingdom, Alun Morgan, Paul Warwick

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

The story of Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) in the United Kingdom (UK) is manifold in nature – with multiple initiatives interacting in the ebb and flow of its progress. The UK remains dis-united at an educational policy level, with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland leading the way in their recent emphasis on the importance of ESE in comparison to England.The exciting potential for ESE change has historically been more consistently harnessed across the UK through the Third Sector helping to catalyse change across the public Education Sector. Charities, voluntary and community organisations, social enterprises and cooperatives have partnered with …

Experimental Observation Of A New Attenuation Mechanism In Hcp-Metals That May Operate In The Earth's Inner Core, Simon A. Hunt, Andrew M. Walker, Oliver T. Lord, Stephen Stackhouse, Lewis Schardong, Lora S. Armstrong, Andrew J. Parsons, Geoffrey E. Lloyd, John Wheeler, Danielle M. Fenech, Stefan Michalik, Matthew L. Whitaker

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

AbstractSeismic observations show the Earth's inner core has significant and unexplained variation in seismic attenuation with position, depth and direction. Interpreting these observations is difficult without knowledge of the visco‐ or anelastic dissipation processes active in iron under inner core conditions. Here, a previously unconsidered attenuation mechanism is observed in zinc, a low pressure analog of hcp‐iron, during small strain sinusoidal deformation experiments. The experiments were performed in a deformation‐DIA combined with X‐radiography, at seismic frequencies (∼0.003–0.1 Hz), high pressure and temperatures up to ∼80% of melting temperature. Significant dissipation (0.077 ≤ Q−1(ω) ≤ 0.488) is observed along with frequency …

The Forgotten Forests: Incorporating Temperate Peat-Forming Wet Woodlands As Nature-Based Solutions Into Policy And Practice, Alice M. Milner, Andy J. Baird, Scott J. Davidson, Emily R. Lines, Dan Abrahams, Crystal A.E. Ahiable, Nadia Barsoum, Marion Bryant, Emma Dear, Iain Diack, Emma Duley, Adam Noach, Thomas P. Roland, David Smedley

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Peat-forming wet woodlands (forested wetlands) are naturally occurring carbon-dense ecosystems that have considerable potential to form an important part of net zero woodland establishment and peatland strategies, as well as provide crucial co-benefits to restore biodiversity and regulate hydrological systems. Despite their potential, temperate peat-forming wet woodlands have been widely lost, are critically understudied and are being overlooked in land-use strategies. Unlike temperate ‘dry’ woodlands, some wet woodlands are peat forming and can store large amounts of carbon below-ground in peat in addition to the carbon in the tree biomass. The complex structure of these peat-forming wet woodlands creates high …