Research

Image of sphagnum plot © YPP

Sphagnum plot © YPP

Ecosystem services and sphagnum moss re-introduction

This is a four year PhD research project being delivered through Yorkshire Peat Partnership, funded by Yorkshire Water and supported by the University of Manchester. This project has three main aims: 1) to broaden our understanding on the role of peatland restoration in reducing atmospheric greenhouse gases; 2) to better understand the effect peat has on water quality; and 3) to identify the best methods of establishing sphagnum moss.

Image of River Swale in speight © John Skeffington

River Swale © John Skeffington

iCASE studentship project

Yorkshire Peat Partnership is a non-academic partner on a project investigating how bog management, habitat condition and climate link to water quality, carbon storage and peat chemistry. This four year project is supervised by the University of York.

Image of pool formed behind sediment trap © Ceri Katz

Sediment trap pool © Ceri Katz

iCASP

Integrated Catchment Solutions Programme (iCASP) is a Yorkshire based project aiming to deliver over £50 million worth of benefits to Yorkshire’s economy. Yorkshire Peat Partnership is a springboard partner to this project led by a group of academics from the University of Leeds. The project has two goals: 1) to make resource use more efficient by testing the DigiBog model; and 2) to produce tools to measure the socio-economic value of peatlands.

A peat core being measured after extraction from the bog.

Peat core © Dominic Hinchley

Peat cores

Peatlands are fantastic records of past climates and environments. Predictions of past vegetation communities can be made based on the chemical signatures of plants that have formed the peat. Yorkshire Peat Partnership collaborated with University of Gloucester to investigate contents of peat in our project area as supporting evidence for future restoration techniques.