WALES
ECT MEDIA
Podcast with James Rowson
Blog
Read our blog on Cors Fochno by its former Principal Investigator, the late Richard Payne.
LINKS
Contact:
second replicate plot group, with battery-operated pump providing drought treatment simulation
drought and passive warming chamber treatment plot in replicate 1
one of the new plot data-loggers, funded via an ect small grant
Cors Fochno, located north of Aberystwyth, is one of the most intact lowland raised bogs in England and Wales. Northern raised bogs are important stores of carbon, but the combined effects of climate change could turn these bogs into carbon sources.
Established in 2010, the Cors Fochno experiment investigates peatland response to climate change, focusing on the combined impacts of drought and warming. Cors Fochno is the only experiment globally to include both long-term warming and active simulation of realistic summer drought by pumping water from the plots.
Experimental Design
The experiment consists of crossed treatments of warming using open top chambers and periodic groundwater pumping. Passive warming chambers warm the peat surface whilst a month-long summer drought treatment is imposed in August every 4 to 5 years.
There are twelve climate change plots measuring 2 x 2m. The four treatments are replicated three times. Treatments are: 3 control plots, 3 summer drought plots, 3 passively-warmed plots, and 3 warmed and droughted plots.
Results to Date
Using this unique long-term climate change experiment, the effects of warming and drought on peatland functioning have now been measured for over 14 years. Andrews et al (2021) found a significant increase in shrub abundance under the warming treatments. A change in greenhouse gas emissions was demonstrated with a shift in net ecosystem exchange of CO₂ from an average net sink to a net source under combined warming and drought (Andrews, 2021). This raises questions about the source of these emissions and the underlying processes driving this shift.
Since 2023, the research has moved from observing changes in peatland functioning to unravelling the underlying soil processes. By measuring soil microbial community functioning and environmental variables in combination with greenhouse gas emissions, the experiment aims to unravel the drivers of emitted CO₂. The focus lies on changes in plant-microbe interactions under long-term climate change and surrounding a summer drought.
Further Information
The experiment is a collaboration between Dr Sylvia Toet (University of York), Prof James Moir (University of York), Dr Peter Levy (UKCEH), Dr Justin Lyons (Natural Resources Wales), Prof Simon Caporn (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Prof Nancy Dise (UKCEH), and is currently run by PhD student Nina Overtoom (University of York) under the NERC ACCE* DTP.
*Adapting to the Challenges of a Changing Environment
Research Updates
panorama of the rare raised bog habitat at cors fochno in mid-wales
