The Canadian horticultural peat moss industry has for many yr partnered with the nation ’s most respected peatland researcher . Their objectives are to get a better understanding of the peat resourcefulness , the peatland ecosystem and its role , to understand how sure activities might influence these functions and to find innovative result to mitigate them .
The industry has been investigating several linked but different enquiry programs over the years . Although slowed down by the pandemic impact , two of these programs have been underway this summer .
coevals of Modern peatland management informationThe first program is guarantee by the Peatland Ecology Research Group ( PERG ) point by Dr. Line Rochefort from Université Laval ( Québec , Quebec ) . Its chief goal is the generation of raw entropy related to peatland direction , mostly in terms of peatland regaining . The researchers are look into four different themes : managing for biodiversity , managing for water , managing for carbon sequestration and deal for Sphagnum biomass . From the diligence linear perspective , the entire program will end up with the exploitation of criteria to evaluate the success of best restoration practices . It will also provide new knowledge for improving the restoration methods , evaluate the event of landscape painting - ordered series peat descent and regaining on the quality of runoff water system , and create plant - ground indicators to evaluate the carbon segregation capacity of peatlands while testing different management options for enhancing this capacity . Last , but not least , the program also aims to improve and surmount up refinement of Sphagnum mosses for the renewable production of non - decomposed Sphagnum fibre biomass .
One of the specific projects going on this summer aims in developing a method for curt - term suppression of peat vector decomposition through fortify the ‘ enzymic latch ’ mechanism . It address both property of carbon requisition and Sphagnum biomass , and involves researcher from various universities , include a coaction with Bangor University ( UK ) .
accumulate information regarding peat utilisation in terms of GHG emissionsThe 2nd political platform is guide by Dr. Nigel Roulet from McGill University ( Montréal , Quebec ) . We already know that rude and restored peatlands ( > 12 - 15 year ) act as carbon sink while peatlands under extraction are greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emitters . However , the actual rate of these GHG emission during descent and the habit of peat in the horticultural context is not known with accuracy . The undertaking aim to collect sure data regarding how peat being draw out and how peat being used ( in quite a little for deterrent example ) is really behaving in term of GHG emissions . The data will allow updating the emission factor used by the industriousness for their accounting operation and by the Canadian government for their annual National GHG armoury report .
Those are just a few benefit that scientific research continues to take to our diligence . Having a better knowledge regarding our imagination helps the whole industriousness to improve its direction practice . Scientific research enable our connexion to better inform Provincial and Union regime government agency with accurate and reliable information related to the responsible peatland direction . This noesis has in the past and will bear on to service into the future as a footing in explicate new laws and regularization regarding peatland direction . It is also a innovation for continuous melioration of our practices .
For all those reasons , the Canadian peat industry and its pardner will keep investigating through peer - reviewed research and in - depth science - based noesis .
Source : Peat and Peatlands .
