CongoPeat: Past, Present and Future of the Peatlands of the Central Congo Basin

我们最近在非洲的中心发现了世界上最大的热带泥炭地，其面积比英格兰还大。这项提议汇集了一个跨学科的科学家团队来研究这个新发现的生态系统。我们的目标是了解泥炭地是如何形成的，它今天是如何运作的，以及它将如何应对人类引起的气候变化和不同的未来发展路径。我们将利用调查结果为有关该地区的关键政策决策提供信息。泥炭是部分分解的植物物质。泥炭地是地球上碳密度最高的生态系统之一。它们覆盖了地球陆地表面的3%，储存了三分之一的土壤碳。最近，由刚果和平学院刘易斯教授领导的一项由nerc资助的博士研究首次表明，位于刚果盆地中部的非洲最大湿地含有大量泥炭沉积物。2017年发表在《自然》杂志上的这项研究估计，泥炭地储存了300亿吨碳(C)。相比之下，2016年英国的碳排放量为1亿吨。我们的发现使全球热带泥炭地的碳储量增加了36%。我们对这个新的全球重要生态系统知之甚少。我们的数据显示，泥炭的积累始于大约10600年前，当时中非的气候变得更加湿润。积累缓慢——在这一时期平均只积累了2米——但不知道这是由于泥炭和碳的持续缓慢积累，还是由于快速积累而在干旱时期损失。我们的证据表明，泥炭地是由降雨滋养的，但这样的泥炭地通常形成圆顶（“凸起的沼泽”），然而卫星数据并没有显示出这一特征。因此，我们不知道这个泥炭地系统是如何发展的，它今天是如何运作的，也不知道它对未来气候和土地利用变化有多脆弱。东南亚的热带泥炭地因工业农业，特别是油棕的排水而遭到广泛破坏，对生物多样性、气候和人类健康造成严重影响。油棕正在非洲迅速扩张。如果刚果的泥炭地被排干，将成为全球重要的大气二氧化碳来源，导致其腐烂。走不同发展道路的先决条件是对该地区的科学认识。因此，刚果民主共和国的提案汇集了来自6所英国大学的主要专家、一名科学政策传播专家和5个刚果伙伴组织，以获得：在过去的一万年中，对刚果中部泥炭地复杂的起源和发展的综合理解。我们将分析整个地区的泥炭沉积序列，提取保存的花粉粒，木炭和化学标记物，以重建随时间变化的环境。利用无人机绘制泥炭地地表地形图，建立泥炭地发展的数学模型。更好地估计在泥炭中储存的碳的数量，它的分布，以及与大气交换的重要温室气体，二氧化碳，甲烷和一氧化二氮的数量。这将通过广泛的实地工作来绘制泥炭分布图，并通过安装密集的测量站来确定碳进出生态系统的流量来实现。了解刚果泥炭地未来可能出现的情景。将使用一系列模型来模拟未来气候和土地利用变化对泥炭地可能产生的影响，范围从地方到全球。最后，我们将通过简报和积极的媒体参与，将这些成果有效地传达给非洲和国际决策者。conopeat团队将对世界上最大的热带泥炭地的起源、发展和未来进行首次全面评估，使英国在了解地球作为一个综合系统如何运作以及人类如何改变它方面保持世界领先的专业知识。

We recently discovered the world's largest tropical peatland complex, spanning an area larger than England, in the heart of Africa. This proposal brings together an interdisciplinary team of scientists to study this newly discovered ecosystem. Our goal is to understand how the peatland became established, how it functions today, and how it will respond to human-induced climate change and differing future development pathways. We will use the results to inform critical policy decisions about the region.Peat is partially decomposed plant matter. Peatlands are some of the most carbon-dense ecosystems on Earth. Covering 3% of Earth's land surface, they store one-third of soil carbon. A recent NERC-funded PhD, led by CongoPeat PI Professor Lewis, showed for the first time that the largest wetland in Africa, in the central Congo Basin, contains extensive peat deposits. This research, published in 2017 in Nature, estimates that the peatland stores 30 billion tonnes of carbon (C). By comparison, in 2016, UK emissions were 0.1 billion tonnes of C. Our discovery increases global tropical peatland C stocks by 36%.We know very little about this new globally important ecosystem. Our data show peat accumulation began about 10,600 years ago, when central Africa's climate became wetter. Accumulation has been slow - on average just 2 m has accumulated over this period - but it is unknown whether this is due to a constant slow build-up of peat and C, or fast rates interspersed with losses in drier periods. Our evidence suggests that the peatlands are fed by rainfall, but such peatlands usually form domes ('raised bogs'), yet satellite data do not show this feature. Thus, we do not know how this peatland system developed, how it functions today, or how vulnerable it is to future climate and land use changes.Tropical peatlands in SE Asia have been extensively damaged by drainage for industrial agriculture, particularly oil palm, with serious biodiversity, climate and human health implications. Oil palm is now rapidly expanding across Africa. Congolese peatlands could become a globally significant source of atmospheric CO2 if they are drained, leading to their decay. A prerequisite of following a different development pathway is a scientific understanding of the region.The CongoPeat proposal therefore brings together leading experts from six UK universities, a science-policy communication specialist, and five Congolese partner organisations, to gain:1. An integrated understanding of the origin and development of the central Congo peatland complex over the last 10,000 years. We will analyse peat deposit sequences from across the region, extracting preserved pollen grains, charcoal, and chemical markers, to reconstruct the changing environment through time. We will use an unmanned aerial vehicle to map peatland surface topography, and develop a mathematical model of peatland development.2. A better estimate of the amount of C stored in the peat, its distribution, and the amounts of important greenhouse gases, CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide, being exchanged with the atmosphere. This will be achieved via extensive fieldwork to map peat distribution, and by installing intensive measurement stations to determine the flows of C into and out of the ecosystem.3. An understanding of the possible future scenarios for the Congo peatlands. A range of models will be used to simulate the possible impacts of future climate and land-use change on the peatland, at local to global scales. Finally, we will effectively communicate these results to policy-makers in Africa and internationally via briefings and active media engagement.The CongoPeat team will produce the first comprehensive assessment of the genesis, development, and future of the world's largest tropical peatland, enabling the UK to retain world-leading expertise in understanding how the Earth functions as an integrated system and how humans are changing it.