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| The peatlands in the Far North of Ontario are part of one of the world's most important carbon sinks. |
Peatlands in the Far North of Ontario make up nearly 50 per cent of the landscape and are part of one of the world’s most important carbon sinks, holding an estimated 36 gigatons (that’s 36 billion tons!) of carbon. The Hudson Bay Lowlands contains about 75 per cent of that carbon.
Ontario’s Far North Act says that land use planners must consider ecosystems’ vulnerability to climate change as well as their potential to store/sequester carbon. To help planners do so, researchers Jim McLaughlin of OFRI and Kara Webster of the Canadian Forestry Service-Great Lakes Forestry Centre reviewed the scientific literature related to peatlands, as well as approaches to mapping, monitoring, and modelling various aspects of permafrost peatlands. More specifically, they:
- Identified the key drivers of peatland carbon budgets as peatland succession, permafrost thaw, hydrology, and fire.
- Identified research and monitoring needs related to Far North land use planning under a changing climate.
- Proposed two hypotheses for how climate change could affect peatland carbon in the Hudson Bay Lowlands:
- Accelerated permafrost thawing and wetter peat may increase methane emissions in northern ecoregions.
- Increased evapotranspiration and drier peat may accelerate carbon dioxide losses through peat decomposition (and possibly fire) in southern ecoregions.
- Outlined a climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessment framework that could be used with Hudson Bay Lowland peatlands and challenges to using this framework in land use planning.
McLaughlin and Webster documented their review in a new report and are now collecting data needed to develop a computer model to estimate the current and projected future states of the Hudson Bay Lowlands and the amount of carbon it stores.
Want to read more? Download the report Effects of a Changing Climate on Peatlands in Permafrost Zones: A Literature Review and Application to Ontario’s Far North.
Did you know...? Facts about peat and peatlands
- Peat forms slowly over hundreds of years when decaying plant matter (especially sphagnum mosses) accumulates in permanently waterlogged conditions.
- Peatlands are areas of land that consist mostly of peat, such as peat bogs.
- Ontario has about 24 million hectares of non-forested peatland, covering 20 per cent of the province.
- 47 per cent of the Far North of Ontario is non-forested peatland.
- Canada has the second largest area of peatlands in the world (Russia is first; the United States is third).
- The peatlands in the Far North of Ontario are part of one of the most important carbon sinks in the world. The Hudson Bay Lowlands is the largest peatland in North America and second largest in the world.
- When left alone, peatlands can store carbon for thousands of years.
- Peat accumulates very slowly, only about a half a millimetre per year. It can take 2,000 years or more for a metre deep of peat to form.
- Peatlands also act as groundwater purifiers, help prevent floods, and provide habitat for many types of land and water animals and plants.
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| OFRI researchers hope to develop a model to estimate the amount of carbon stored in peatlands in the Far North of Ontario. |
How have people used sphagnum mosses, peat, and peatlands?
- Today dried sphagnum mosses are used mostly for crafts and to line wire planters.
- Most peat is used to improve farm and garden soil as it retains many times its weight in water and is acidic (has a low pH, which benefits plants such as pine trees, rhododendrons, azaleas, hydrangeas, and blueberries). It's also used to make peat pots for starting garden plants. Peat is not used for mulch because when dry it tends to fly away.
- In some countries such as Ireland, peat is used to produce electricity as well as peat bricks for fireplace and woodstove fuel. Use of peat as fuel dates back at least 2,000 years.
- Peat is used as pet/livestock bedding and a medium for cultivating mushrooms. Blueberries, cranberries, and wild rice are all examples of crops grown in peatlands.
- Industrial uses of peat include absorbing spilled chemicals. Fire departments use peat to soak up fuel at vehicle accident sites. Distilleries use peat to flavour whiskey.
- Historically, sphagnum mosses and peat have been used in diapers (some people still use sphagnum moss as "camper's pampers") and feminine hygiene products, antiseptic wound dressings for soldiers, mattresses, home insulation, packing material, construction materials, and water and septic filtering. Vikings used peat moss to preserve fish during their months at sea.
- European peatlands are a treasure trove of Bronze and Iron Age artefacts—including books. The anaerobic (low oxygen), acidic conditions in peatlands mean the rate of decomposition is very slow. In Ireland, 3,000-year-old butter was found in a peat bog.
- Hundreds of well-preserved human remains known as bog bodies have been found in peatlands in Europe and Florida. Some of them date as far back at 400 B.C.
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| Over the centuries, people have had many uses for peat and peat moss! |
