Using Palaeoecology to underpin Falkland Island Peatland Conservation: establishing the record of Holocene peatland development and erosion

Project Rationale

Within the UK overseas territories, the largest body of peatlands (286,000 ha) exists on the Falkland Islands. These dense (carbon-rich) tussock/bog communities have been impacted by the arrival of humans and livestock as well as climate change. Nevertheless, they (1) represent an important carbon store, (2) support the dominant ecosystem of the Falkland islands and (3) hold a valuable archive of past biodiversity and environmental change extending back 16,000+ years1,2. Although of great conservation value the Falkland Island peatlands are eroding3 and considerable effort is now going into management of this degradation. However, there is currently little understanding of the natural development pathways of Falkland peatlands and many questions remain unanswered concerning the timing, rate and causes of peat erosion and the consequences for biodiversity and carbon storage.

This project will use a multi-proxy approach to examine the pattern of Holocene peatland erosion and development before during and after the human colonization of the Falklands. The project will test multiple hypotheses concerning the links between anthropogenic and natural forcings of environmental change and peat development/erosion.

We will work in partnership with ‘Falklands Islands Conservation’. Results will be used to refine future plans for sustainable management of the Falkland peatland inventory.


Methodology
This study will use multi-proxy analyses of fen records from the Falkland Islands, together with upland peat profiles from the same catchments to track the pattern of peatland development and erosion.

From the palaeoecological records the project will build a picture of peatland erosion and vegetation succession. Careful dating of the records using AMS radiocarbon dating and far-travelled volcanic ash layers (tephras) will be used to establish breaks/changes in peat accumulation. These will be compared with other equivalent records from adjacent but fully separated catchments to establish whether there is a regional pattern of standstill phases in peat development.

From the fen records in each catchment the student will establish if there are regional long-term patterns of peat erosion and re-deposition in the fens. In the accreting environment the project will be able to examine co-registered proxies for human impact (pollen, biomarkers, geochemistry, charcoal) and for climate variability (watertable proxies, wind blown dust) and compare these records with the pattern of peatland erosion before and after the human colonization of the Falkland Islands, through to the modern day management of the landscape.

Training
The INSPIRE DTP programme provides comprehensive personal and professional development training alongside extensive opportunities for students to expand their multi-disciplinary outlook through interactions with a wide network of academic, research and industrial/policy partners. The student will be registered at the University of Southampton and hosted at School of Geography and Environmental Science. Specific training will
include:
1) Identification of plant macrofossils in upland peat and fen cores;
2) Pollen analysis of upland peat and fen samples;
3) Sample preparation and processing for metal geochemcistry;
4) Biomarker analysis of lake samples;
5) Tephrochronology;
6) AMS radiocarbon dating;
7) Charcoal analysis
8) Fieldwork training in peat coring and sample retrieval.