Human Impacts on Amazon Peatlands

我们的研究小组已经帮助表明，大型泥炭地出现在亚马逊河流域西部，储存了全球大量的碳。与东南亚大部分地区的泥炭沼泽森林相比，亚马逊泥炭地被认为是水文上完整的。然而，它们远非原始的荒野，因为当地社区开发泥炭地资源，例如棕榈果，药用植物，建筑材料和游戏。这些泥炭地活动的具体性质，强度和分布尚未得到很好的理解，其对泥炭地生态系统功能的影响在很大程度上是未知的。现有的研究，主要是在该地区的非泥炭基质，表明，广泛的做法，如砍伐棕榈收获水果，有可能对生物多样性和泥炭地的碳储存功能产生不利影响，本项目旨在调查人类利用亚马逊热带泥炭地，并确定其对泥炭地生态系统特性的影响，重点是植被组成和碳储存。该项目将重点关注亚马逊地区已知最大的泥炭地复合体，即秘鲁的帕斯塔萨-马拉尼翁前陆盆地。该项目将为我们了解人类对泥炭地功能的影响做出重大贡献，提高我们将这些系统作为全球碳循环一部分进行建模的能力，同时也提供社会-成功的保护和可持续发展计划所必需的文化知识。了解人类活动对泥炭地生态系统服务的影响与一系列政策有关嵄 彸诺丅项目影响计划将侧重于秘鲁根据《联合国气候变化框架公约》对减缓气候变化的国家自主贡献，以及通过其国家生物多样性战略和行动计划对实现《生物多样性公约》爱知生物多样性目标的贡献。该项目将为在这些国家承诺范围内实现多个目标的证据基础做出重大贡献，包括通过土地利用和土地利用变化减少排放、减少毁林、提高公众对生物多样性在国家发展中的作用的认识，以及增进对生态系统可持续利用的了解。目标和方法1）通过参与性研究设计、参与性制图和两个社区的焦点小组，对PMFB泥炭地的人类活动和价值进行编目和制图。2）量化泥炭地生态系统属性（例如，使用地下水位高度和变化性[浸水井、伐木机];凋落物/根投入[凋落物收集器、根内生长芯];植被组成和结构[以地块为基础的植被普查]）沿着人类影响的空间梯度。3）向下-对泥炭成分（生物标志物、植物宏体化石）、碳浓度、植被变化的模式/时间和碳积累率（花粉分析、14 C和210 Pb测年）进行核心测量。4）使用这些数据来确定人类活动与泥炭地功能之间的关系;实施影响计划。

Our research group has helped to show that large peatlands occur in western Amazonia, storing globally significant quantities of carbon. By contrast with peat swamp forests in much of SE Asia, the Amazonian peatlands are considered to be hydrologically intact. However, they are far from pristine wilderness, as local communities exploit peatland resources, e.g. palm fruit, medicinal plants, building materials and game. The specific nature, intensity and distribution of these peatland activities is not yet well understood and their impact on peatland ecosystem function is largely unknown. Existing studies, mainly on non-peat substrates in the region, suggest that widespread practices, such as felling palms to harvest fruit, have the potential to affect the biodiversity and carbon storage function of peatlands adversely.This project aims to investigate the human uses of Amazonian tropical peatlands and identify their consequences for peatland ecosystem properties, focusing on vegetation composition and carbon storage. The project will focus on the largest known peatland complex in Amazonia, the Pastaza-Marañón Foreland Basin in Peru.The project will make a significant contribution to our understanding of human impacts on peatland function, improving our ability to model these systems as part of the global carbon cycle, while also providing the socio-cultural knowledge essential to successful conservation and sustainable development schemes.Understanding the effect of human activity on peatland ecosystem services is relevant to a range of policy commitments. The project impact plan will focus on Peru's Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to climate change mitigation under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and its contribution through its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan to meeting the Aichi Biodiversity Targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity. The project will provide substantial contributions to the evidence base for implementation of multiple goals within these national commitments including, reduction of emissions through land use and land use change, reducing deforestation, increasing public understanding of the role of biodiversity in national development, and improving knowledge on sustainable use of ecosystems. There is further scope for applying our findings through the Global Peatlands Initiative, of which CASE partner WCMC is a member.Objectives and methods1) Catalogue and map human activities in, and value of, peatlands of the PMFB via participatory research design, participatory mapping, and focus groups with two communities.2) Quantify peatland ecosystem properties (for example using, water table height and variability [dipwells, loggers]; litter/root inputs [litter traps, root in-growth cores]; vegetation composition and structure [plot-based vegetation census]) along spatial gradients of human impact.3) Make down-core measurements of peat composition (biomarkers, plant macrofossils), carbon concentration, pattern/timing of changes in vegetation and carbon accumulation rate (pollen analysis, 14C and 210Pb dating).4) Use these data to identify relationships between human activities and peatland function; implement the impact plan.