At Cors Fochno, scientists are looking at how climate change affects peatbogs. Over the summer, a drought experiment took place at this LTE which was made possible by a small grant in partnership with the Ramble Worldwide Outdoor Trust.
This summer a drought experiment was conducted at Cors Fochno, Wales to study the impacts of a summer drought on the carbon cycle of peatlands. The experiment involved lowering the water table using pumping equipment for 26 days. This year’s experiment marks the fifth drought experiment at Cors Fochno which began in 2010. Simon Caporn (Manchester Metropolitan University), Sylvia Toet (University of York) and Katja Mirzai joined at the start of August for the annual vegetation survey. Nina Overtoom (University of York) led the drought experiment in August and September where she monitored the bog’s response to the treatment.
Over 7 weeks, greenhouse gas emissions were measured frequently. To better understand the plant-soil interactions behind the greenhouse gas fluxes, soil samples were collected which will be analysed for nutrients, enzyme activity and microbes. By combining these datasets, the research team hopes to get a better understanding of the processes driving carbon flux responses to summer droughts. Nina Overtoom and the research team would like to extend their gratitude to the ECT and the Ramble Worldwide Outdoor Trust for contributing to the cost of replacing the monitoring and drought experiment equipment at Cors Fochno.
