Enhancing peatland resilience to wildfire through ecological and hydrological reclamation; building the evidence base.

最近的Saddleworth Moor大火烧毁了超过1000公顷的英国高地，引发了一场重大的全国性事件，导致100户家庭疏散，并给英国紧急服务机构带来了相当大的压力，就连军队也动员起来支持灭火。随着气候变化导致极端气象事件的加剧，这种大规模、高度严重的野火预计将在英国各地变得更加频繁。萨德尔沃斯大火烧毁了全球重要的富含碳的泥炭地，这些泥炭地占据了英国大片高地景观。尽管这类火灾的强度很大，但全球各地的泥炭地对野火都很有弹性。这是因为它们的高水分保护了泥炭免受极端温度的影响。生态和水文过程也有助于火灾后生态系统的恢复。然而，在英国，泥炭地生态系统几个世纪以来一直暴露在一系列额外的干扰之下：大气沉积、排水、放牧、有管理的燃烧和历史上的野火。这些骚乱可能会加剧野火的影响，使泥炭地容易受到强烈火灾的影响。因此，重新需要恢复退化的泥炭地，以提高它们对未来极端事件的适应能力。尽管如此，支持实施这种恢复做法以增强泥炭地对野火的适应能力的证据基础很差。萨德沃斯大火提供了一个特殊的机会来加强这一证据基础。博士论文的目的是，i)确定不同退化程度下强烈野火对泥炭地的影响，ii)评估恢复方法在多大程度上保护泥炭地免受强烈火灾的影响，并增强生态系统的稳定性。博士项目将通过与参与英国泥炭地管理和恢复的关键非学术合作伙伴密切合作来实现这一目标，描述萨德尔沃斯火灾中退化和恢复的泥炭地地区的恢复轨迹。要了解野火对英国泥炭地影响的性质，需要一个多学科的方法，需要了解生态、水文、生物地球化学和微气象过程。我们正在寻找一位积极进取的地理学、环境科学或生态学毕业生来承担这一具有挑战性的项目，与政府、非政府组织和私营部门利益相关者合作，生产出高质量的科学，这些科学将产生真正的、超出学术界的应用影响。

The recent Saddleworth Moor fire burned over 1000 hectares of UK upland, instigated a major national incident, led to the evacuation of 100 homes and placed considerable strain on UK emergency services, with even the army activated to support fire suppression. Such large-scale high-severity wildfires are projected to become more frequent across the UK as climate change results in enhanced meteorological extremes. The Saddleworth fire burned areas of globally significant carbon-rich peatlands that dominate large areas of UK upland landscapes. Despite the intensity of such fires, peatlands across the globe are resilient to wildfire. This is because their high moisture content protects the peat from extreme temperatures. Ecological and hydrological processes also support the recovery of the ecosystem post-fire. However, within the UK, peatland ecosystems have been exposed to a range of additional disturbances for centuries: atmospheric deposition, drainage, grazing, managed burns and historical wildfires. These disturbances can compound the impact of wildfire and leave peatlands vulnerable to intense fires. As such, there is a renewed need to restore degraded peatlands to increase their resilience to future extreme events. Despite this, the evidence-base to support the implementation of such restoration practises to enhance peatland resilience to wildfire is poor.The Saddleworth fire offers an exceptional opportunity to enhance this evidence-base. The PhD aims, i) to determine the impact of the intense wildfire on peatlands under different levels of degradation and ii) assess the extent to which restoration approaches protect peatlands from intense fires and enhance ecosystem stability. The PhD project will achieve this goal through close collaboration with key non-academic partners involved in the management and restoration of UK peatlands, characterising the recovery trajectories of degraded and restored peatland regions within the Saddleworth fire. Understanding the nature of wildfire impacts on UK peatlands needs a multidisciplinary approach requiring understanding of ecological, hydrological, biogeochemical and micrometeorological processes. We are looking for a motivated geography, environmental science or ecology graduate to take on this challenging project, working with government, NGO and private sector stakeholders to produce high quality science that will have real, applied impact beyond academia.