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

我们最近发现了世界上最大的热带泥炭地复合体，其面积比英格兰还大，位于非洲的中心。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建立的，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道路。我们将利用这些结果为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3%的陆地表面，储存了三分之一的土壤碳。最近，由CongoPeat PI教授刘易斯领导的NERC资助的博士学位首次表明，非洲最大的湿地位于刚果盆地中部，含有大量的泥炭沉积物。这项研究于2017年发表在《自然》杂志上，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碳储量增加了36%，但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，泥炭的积累开始于大约10,600年前，当时中非的气候变得更加湿润。积累缓慢-在此期间平均只有2米积累-但不知道这是由于泥炭和C的持续缓慢积累，还是由于干燥时期的快速损失。我们的证据表明，泥炭地是由降雨滋养的，但这种泥炭地通常形成圆顶（“凸起的沼泽”），但卫星数据没有显示出这一特征。因此，我们不知道泥炭地系统是如何发展的，今天它是如何运作的，或者它对未来气候和土地利用变化的脆弱性。东南亚的热带泥炭地已经被工业农业，特别是油棕的排水广泛破坏，严重的生物多样性，气候和人类健康的影响。目前，棕榈油正在非洲迅速发展。刚果的泥炭地如果被抽干，可能会成为全球大气二氧化碳的重要来源，导致它们的腐烂。走上不同的发展道路的先决条件是对该地区有科学的了解。因此，CongoPeat提案汇集了来自六所英国大学的顶尖专家，一位科学政策传播专家和五个刚果合作伙伴组织，以获得：1.对过去10，000年来刚果中部泥炭地复合体的起源和发展的综合了解。我们将分析整个地区的泥炭存款序列，提取保存的花粉粒，木炭和化学标记，以重建随着时间的推移不断变化的环境。我们将使用无人驾驶飞行器绘制泥炭地表面地形图，并建立泥炭地发育的数学模型。更好地估计储存在泥炭中的C的数量，它的分布，以及与大气交换的重要温室气体，CO2，甲烷和一氧化二氮的数量。这将通过广泛的实地调查来绘制泥炭分布图，并通过安装密集的测量站来确定C流入和流出生态系统。了解刚果泥炭地未来可能的情况。一系列模型将用于模拟未来气候和土地使用变化对泥炭地的可能影响，从地方到全球。最后，我们将通过简报和积极的媒体参与，将这些结果有效地传达给非洲和国际上的决策者。CongoPeat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，使英国能够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地球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.