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Freshwater wetlands and water bodies

Malcolm Ausden

in Habitat Management for Conservation: A Handbook of Techniques

This chapter discusses the management of open bodies of water and wetlands on seasonally or permanently waterlogged soil. It concentrates on freshwater habitats, but briefly discusses management of ... More

This chapter discusses the management of open bodies of water and wetlands on seasonally or permanently waterlogged soil. It concentrates on freshwater habitats, but briefly discusses management of brackish habitats, such as coastal grazing marshes, where they form a continuum with freshwater ones. Topics covered include principles of manipulating water levels, water quality, methods of improving the value of deep water bodies (>1 m) and large, shallow (less than about 1 m) for wildlife; temporary pools, permanent ponds and water-filled ditches, rivers, swamps and fens, bogs, wet scrub, wet woodland, wet grasslands.Less

Bogs and People in Scotland since 1600*

T. C. Smout

in Exploring Environmental History: Selected Essays

Peatland is abundant with as much as 1.6 million hectares of the resource in the United Kingdom. Some of this, like the fens of Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire, have over the centuries been largely ... More

Peatland is abundant with as much as 1.6 million hectares of the resource in the United Kingdom. Some of this, like the fens of Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire, have over the centuries been largely drained and turned into good agricultural land. Much, however, remains wetland. Blanket mire (also known as blanket bog) covers about a million hectares of Scotland. Raised bog, those remarkable domed structures of peat and sphagnum moss that receive all their moisture directly from the air rather than from streams running into them, cover a much smaller area, cover only about 27,000 hectares in Scotland. Of all this, little is unmodified by man, though much can still be classified as semi-natural. Only 9 per cent of the Scottish raised bogs and 11 per cent of the total UK mires even approach a pristine state. Cut, drained, planted, bulldozed away, mires, fens and bogs have attracted the attention of people from time immemorial.Less

Peatland habitats

Håkan Rydin and John K. Jeglum

in The Biology of Peatlands

This chapter provides the reader with an understanding of the main terms and concepts used in peatland science, and a general appreciation of the main peatland habitats. This provides a basic ... More

This chapter provides the reader with an understanding of the main terms and concepts used in peatland science, and a general appreciation of the main peatland habitats. This provides a basic language of peatlands which, even if not universally agreed upon, will define the usage for this book. The distinction between wetland, peatland and mire is clarified, and the main peatland classes — marsh, swamp, fen, bog — are described. The main environmental gradients — wetness, aeration, pH and nutrient availability — are introduced. The roles of microtopographic variation and the bog-poor fen-rich fen gradient are presented as a basis for vegetation differentiation and classification. A basic distinction is made between ombrotrophic and minerotrophic peatlands.Less

Hydrology of peatlands

Håkan Rydin and John K. Jeglum

in The Biology of Peatlands

Understanding the hydrology is fundamental for understanding peatland habitats, and this chapter considers both the quantitative and qualitative (chemical) aspects of water in peatlands. It describes ... More

Understanding the hydrology is fundamental for understanding peatland habitats, and this chapter considers both the quantitative and qualitative (chemical) aspects of water in peatlands. It describes how depth to the water table (DWT) governs vegetational physiognomy, plant occurrence, and growth. Hydraulic conductivity is an important concept affecting the water flow in the peat; and how the conductivity is related to degree of decomposition (humification) of the peat, is discussed. Variation in hydraulic conductivity is a basis for the separation in bogs between an upper, aerated ‘active layer’ (acrotelm) and the lower, constantly anoxic ‘inactive layer’ (catotelm). The water balance of a peatland is an accounting of the inputs, outputs and storage of water. The variation in water chemistry (with a focus on pH, calcium content, and electric conductivity) in peatlands is discussed, and methods for measurement introduced.Less

Peatlands around the world

Håkan Rydin and John K. Jeglum

in The Biology of Peatlands

This chapter presents the latest estimates of areas of peatland in the world. Global peatlands estimates have been increasing as more and better inventory results become available. The estimate of ... More

This chapter presents the latest estimates of areas of peatland in the world. Global peatlands estimates have been increasing as more and better inventory results become available. The estimate of peatland is currently about 3% of the globe’s total land area. The leading countries in total peatland area are Russia, Canada, and the USA. Very high percentages of peatland coverage are seen in the Falkland Islands, Finland, and Estonia. Large areas of peatland have been drained or altered for agriculture, forestry, and peat harvesting. The major state factors controlling distribution are climate, relief, parent material, biota, and time. A brief global survey of the peatlands of the world is given. Three detailed treatments of quite dissimilar peatlands from the southern Hemisphere are described: peatlands in Tierra del Fuego, restiad bogs in New Zealand, and tropical peat swamps of southeast Asia.Less

Land and people, c. 1300

R. E. Glasscock

in A New History of Ireland: Volume II, Medieval Ireland 1169–1534

This chapter discusses the following: medieval climate; landforms; woodlands; peat bogs; field systems; population; rural settlements; the medieval house; towns; trade; and size of towns.

Prehistory to Present

David R. Foster

in Hemlock: A Forest Giant on the Edge

For more than a century, scientists have analyzed bog and pond sediments to reconstruct past environmental changes and ecosystems. This chapter discusses the process of coring lake muds and using the ... More

For more than a century, scientists have analyzed bog and pond sediments to reconstruct past environmental changes and ecosystems. This chapter discusses the process of coring lake muds and using the records that emerge from these to reconstruct the historical dynamics of the forest environment and vegetation. It also discusses how data from land surveys and field studies of old-growth forests and tree rings yield insights into the composition and structure of forest vegetation from the time of European arrival forward.Less

Błogosławiony Bóg Izraela

Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel

in Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 16: Focusing on Jewish Popular Culture and Its Afterlife

This chapter focuses on Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel's book Błogosławiony Bóg Izraela (The Blessed God of Israel). This book is a collection of texts published from 1992, the year ... More

This chapter focuses on Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel's book Błogosławiony Bóg Izraela (The Blessed God of Israel). This book is a collection of texts published from 1992, the year Weksler-Waszkinel achieved ‘full integration’ of his past with his new-found Jewish heritage. The volume is divided by subject into three parts, outlined in the author's introduction. The first contains more specialized, although easily accessible, writings on Catholic theology regarding Judaism. The second part of the book is written, according to the author, to demonstrate the closely rooted relationship of Christianity to the Bible and Judaism. The most moving part, though, is the third part, which reveals the personal lot of the author.Less

Stuck in the Muck: Bogs and Fens

Catherine Owen Koning, Sharon M. Ashworth, and Catherine Owen Koning

in Wading Right In: Discovering the Nature of Wetlands

Bogs and fens are peatlands, which have different water sources and ecological development. Researchers use cues from the vegetation zonation and species to understand the hydrology, history and ... More

Bogs and fens are peatlands, which have different water sources and ecological development. Researchers use cues from the vegetation zonation and species to understand the hydrology, history and ecology of peatlands. Bogs require cool, damp climates and low-nutrient, acidic water, which slow decomposition thus preserving the remains of plants, wildlife and humans. Bog plants get most of their water from precipitation, which is acidic and low in nutrients. The ecosystem engineers of the bog are species of Sphagnum moss, which alter the hydrology and chemistry. Sphagnum mosses have structural adaptations and mutualistic microbial relationships to assist in their dominance of the bog. Other bog plants have adaptations to deal with low nutrients and high acid, such as carnivory and evergreen leaves. A fen is a peatland fed by groundwater, precipitation and often surface water. A fen may develop into a bog over time. The type of fen depends on the water sources, but most have less acid and more minerals than bogs. Fens may harbor rare plant species, but are vulnerable to nutrient pollution, climate change and groundwater diversion. Some of the most diverse fens are isolated from surface water and thus may receive less legal protection.Less

Beauty, Ethics, and Inspiration

Catherine Owen Koning, Sharon M. Ashworth, and Catherine Owen Koning

in Wading Right In: Discovering the Nature of Wetlands

A wetland biologist comes across a rare orchid in an area destined to host a driveway rather than wetland habitat and dreads speaking to the impatient home builders. Those who study and work in ... More

A wetland biologist comes across a rare orchid in an area destined to host a driveway rather than wetland habitat and dreads speaking to the impatient home builders. Those who study and work in wetlands often adopt one close to their hearts and build a sustainable community around its protection. This chapter compiles a number of such stories. Friends of Volo Bog has worked with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources since 1984 to provide extensive opportunities for members of the public to explore and appreciate the bog all year round. In Wisconsin, the Friends of Pheasant Branch familiarized themselves with the mundane and byzantine language of permitting, sewer installation, and the law in order to protect a spring-laced wetland. Every summer the Wetlands Institute of Stone Harbor, New Jersey hosts groups of volunteers that help release baby diamondback terrapins to the ocean. Humans are ethically bound and evolutionarily inclined to care for all pieces of this planet, and we have faith that our hearts are big enough and our minds are sharp enough to rise to the tasks before us.Less

Bogs, Marshes, and Swamps of Costa Rica

Jorge A. Jiménez

in Costa Rican Ecosystems

Costa Rica has a high diversity of freshwater wetlands, ranging from the highland peat bogs in the mountainous Talamanca’s and the marshes of the Pacific lowlands to the often seasonal swamps ... More

Costa Rica has a high diversity of freshwater wetlands, ranging from the highland peat bogs in the mountainous Talamanca’s and the marshes of the Pacific lowlands to the often seasonal swamps dominated by palms and other forest trees thriving along the coasts. However, most of the available information on these wetlands is restricted to descriptive studies in which plant-species lists and forest structure information dominate, with studies on their ecological or functional aspects mostly absent. When faunistic elements are listed, most fauna cited is not restricted to marsh or swamp ecosystems, and even knowledge on the total extent of these ecosystem is highly fragmentary and controversial. In this chapter, the author provides a review of our best understanding of Costa Rica’s marshes, highland bogs, palm swamps and forest swamps. He provides general descriptions, including geographical information and size estimations, as well as an overview of the various ecosystems, with an emphasis on the species of flora and fauna that are unique to each one. The chapter ends with a discussion of wetland conservation and the threats that these ecosystems face, using the history of the Palo Verde marshes as a case study to demonstrate the challenges of wetland restoration.Less

Ada: The Bog and the Garden: Or, Straw, Fluff, and Peat: Sources and Places in Ada

Brain Boyd

in Stalking Nabokov

This chapter examines the precision of Vladimir Nabokov's allusions and patterns in Ada, along with their ethical, psychological, and epistemological implications. It discusses three unlikely pieces ... More

This chapter examines the precision of Vladimir Nabokov's allusions and patterns in Ada, along with their ethical, psychological, and epistemological implications. It discusses three unlikely pieces of fluff and straw, whose appeal lay partly in their unlikeliness and whose dates belong to the years immediately before Nabokov began writing Ada. In particular, it considers Nabokov's discovery of the Dutch meaning of “veen” and rediscovery of the Dutch surnames Veen and Van Veen in Double-Barrel, a 1964 detective novel by Nicolas Freeling, as well as his establishment of Van and Ada Veen as “children of Venus.” It also looks at the motif of peat, bog, marsh in the name of Villa Venus and especially in the Dutch name of the Veens. Finally, the chapter analyzes the doubling and imitation that pervade Ada and the way this complicates the novel's myths of love.Less

Peatlands, Past and Present

Eduard Koster and Tim Favier

in The Physical Geography of Western Europe

Peatlands are fascinating wetland ecosystems. They provide a habitat for a wide range of highly adapted plant and animal species. In addition to the floristic and ornithological richness, peatlands ... More

Peatlands are fascinating wetland ecosystems. They provide a habitat for a wide range of highly adapted plant and animal species. In addition to the floristic and ornithological richness, peatlands have been recognized for many other values. For instance, drained peatland soils often have good agricultural properties, and peat has been and still is in some places extensively used as fuel. In coastal wetlands peat has even been used for salt extraction. Furthermore, peat is an interesting material for science, as it contains information on the palaeoecological environment, climate change, carbon history, and archaeology. In north-western Europe, peatlands were once quite extensive, covering tens of thousands of square kilometres. However, most of them have been strongly exploited by humans during past centuries. Many peatlands have been cultivated for agriculture and forestry, or have been exploited by commercial or domestic peat extraction for fuel. As a result, only a very small part of north-western Europe’s peatlands remains today in a more or less natural state. This chapter focuses on the peat deposits and peatlands in north-western Europe that have formed since the Late Glacial (c.13 ka BP). First, the most common concepts in peatland terminology are explained, and the distribution of peatlands is described. Next, processes of peat formation and the relationship between peatforming processes and climate, hydrology, vegetation, and other factors are discussed. In the following section, frequently used classification methods are presented. A historical overview of the cultivation and exploitation of peatlands is given and the present land use and characteristics of peatland soils are discussed. The following section deals with methods of conservation and rehabilitation of the remaining mires. The importance of peatlands as palaeoecological archives is examplified. Finally, the role of peatlands as a source and/or sink of CO2 and the relations with climate change are briefly explained. Peat is the unconsolidated material that predominantly consists of slightly decomposed or undecomposed organic material in which the original cellular and tissue structures can often be identified. Peat forms in lakes and mires under waterlogged, anaerobic conditions. Less

Conclusion: Richardson's historical significance

Allan Blackstock

in Science, politics and society in early nineteenth-century Ireland: The Reverend William Richardson

This chapter draws together the various themes of the book. It examines why Richardson did not begin publishing until he was over sixty, then authored over fifty titles. It concludes that a desire to ... More

This chapter draws together the various themes of the book. It examines why Richardson did not begin publishing until he was over sixty, then authored over fifty titles. It concludes that a desire to rehabilitate his class and his country after the Union was crucial. His friendship with the English MP George Bellas Greeenough was also important providing an entree into the wider world of metropolitan publishing. The dynamics of this friendship between an older and a younger man reveal that it was mutually beneficial, with Greeenough receiving a, informed commentary on Irish matters from an Irishman. Richardson's opposition to the Irish Bog Commission and his pamphlets on inland navigation are found to derive from the same patriotic detestation of jobbery as informed his fiorin campaign. It is argued that the fiorin campaign's eventual failure and Richardson's subsequent denigration by Victorian agriculturalists obscure his real historical importance as a unique provincial voice from post-Union Ireland.Less

Distribution, deposition and dating

Caroline Earwood

in Domestic Wooden Artefacts: In Britain and Ireland from Neolithic to Viking Times

In Britain and, to a lesser extent, in Ireland, wetlands conducive to the preservation of organic remains have not been ideal human settlement, with the exception of the lake dwellings characteristic ... More

In Britain and, to a lesser extent, in Ireland, wetlands conducive to the preservation of organic remains have not been ideal human settlement, with the exception of the lake dwellings characteristic of early historic Ireland. Wood has been preserved in a variety of different environments, including true wetlands and locally waterlogged soils that are widely distributed throughout Britain and Ireland. The environment in which wooden artefacts were lost, discarded, or deposited reflects their use and the societies that used them and thus may hold clues about the age of the artefacts, particularly those excavated from bogs. The pattern of land use and exploitation of peat exerted the strongest influence on the distribution of wooden finds in Britain and Ireland. This chapter focuses on the distribution, deposition, preservation, and recovery of wooden artefacts in prehistoric Britain and Ireland.Less

Making an Exhibition of Ourselves: Using the Dead to Fight the Battles of the Living

Tiffany Jenkins

in Archaeologists and the Dead: Mortuary Archaeology in Contemporary Society

In October 2011, graphic images of a blood-stained and dead Muammar Gaddafi were sent around the internet. For some time after his death, his dead body was displayed at a house in Misrat, where ... More

In October 2011, graphic images of a blood-stained and dead Muammar Gaddafi were sent around the internet. For some time after his death, his dead body was displayed at a house in Misrat, where masses of people queued to see it. His corpse provided a focus for the Libyan people, as proof that he really was dead and could finally be dominated. When Osama bin Laden was killed by the American military in May that same year, unlike Gaddafi, the body was absent, but the absence was significant. Shortly after he was killed a decision was taken not to show pictures of the dead body and it was buried at sea. The American military appear to have been concerned it would become a physical site for his supporters to congregate, and the photographs used by different sides in a propaganda war. Both cases reflect an aim to control the dead body and associated meanings with the person; that is not unusual: after the Nuremberg trials, the Allied authorities cremated Hermann Göring—who committed suicide prior to his scheduled hanging—so that his grave would not become a place of worship for Nazi sympathizers. These examples should remind us that dead bodies have longer lives than is at first obvious. They are central to rituals of mourning, but beyond this, throughout history, they have also played a role in political battles and provided a—sometimes contested—focus for reconciliation and remembrance. They have political and social capital and are objects with symbolic potential. In The Political Lives of Dead Bodies the anthropologist Katherine Verdery explores the way the dead body has been used in this way and why it is particularly effective. Firstly, she observes, human remains are effective symbolic objects because their meaning is ambiguous; that is whilst their associated meanings are contingent on a number of factors, including the individual and the cultural context, they are not fixed and are open to interpretation and manipulation: ‘Remains are concrete, yet protean; they do not have a single meaning but are open to many different readings’ (Verdery 1999: 28). Less

Elements of Continuity

John Dennison

in Seamus Heaney and the Adequacy of Poetry

With the outbreak of widespread sectarian violence in 1969, Heaney’s inherited interest in the restorative function of poetry becomes an urgent, first-hand concern. Over the next five years, the ... More

With the outbreak of widespread sectarian violence in 1969, Heaney’s inherited interest in the restorative function of poetry becomes an urgent, first-hand concern. Over the next five years, the Romantic and modernist voices of his education come to inform an unstable amalgam of early poetics, dominated by the notion of poems as culturally restorative and trans-historical ‘elements of continuity’; here, the mythopoetic bog-people poems, with their supposed archetypal patterns, prove paradigmatic. But this emphasis stands in tension with a growing association of historical, public life with a state of unremitting violence; at points, it appears that Heaney’s adequate, restorative poem might in fact be a natural, authentic expression of history’s recurrent violence, an association which directly threatens the poet’s faith in poetry’s moral function. As a result, Heaney turns towards a revised conception of the poetry as an adequation of life, and a dualism of poetry and history.Less

Centers of Power, Weapons of Iron

T. Douglas Price

in Europe before Rome: A Site-by-Site Tour of the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages

The introduction of iron after 1000 BC brought new tools and weapons to Europe. Smelting technology and higher furnace temperatures were likely the key to iron production, which is generally ... More

The introduction of iron after 1000 BC brought new tools and weapons to Europe. Smelting technology and higher furnace temperatures were likely the key to iron production, which is generally thought to have originated in Anatolia around 1400 BC among the Hittites, but there are a few earlier examples of iron artifacts as old as 2300 BC in Turkey. Iron produced sharper, more readily available implements and was in great demand. In contrast to copper and tin, whose sources were limited, iron was found in a variety of forms in many places across the continent. Veins of iron ore were exploited in Iberia, Britain, the Alps, the Carpathian Mountains, and elsewhere. Bog iron was exploited in northern Europe. Carbonate sources of iron in other areas enabled local groups to obtain the raw materials necessary for producing this important material. At the same time, the collapse of the dominant Bronze Age civilizations of the Aegean changed the flow of raw materials and finished products across Europe. Greece fell into a Dark Age following the demise of the Mycenaean city-states. The Etruscans were on the rise in Italy. Rome was a small town at the border of the Etruscan region. Soon, however, new centers of power in classic Greece and Rome emerged, bringing writing and, with it, history to Europe. Again, we can observe important and dramatic differences between the “classic” areas of the Mediterranean and the northern parts of “barbarian” Europe. The chronology for the Iron Age in much of Europe is portrayed in Figure 6.2. The Iron Age begins earlier in the Mediterranean area, ca. 900 BC, where the Classical civilizations of Greece, the Etruscans, and eventually Rome emerge in the first millennium BC. Rome and its empire expanded rapidly, conquering much of western Europe in a few decades before the beginning of the Common Era and Britain around ad 43, effectively ending the prehistoric Iron Age in these parts of the continent. The Iron Age begins somewhat later in Scandinavia, around 500 BC. Less

Peatlands around the world

Håkan Rydin and John K. Jeglum

in The Biology of Peatlands

This chapter focuses on the distribution of peatlands around the world, including the tropics and the southern hemisphere. It first presents estimates of peatland areas for thirty-six countries with ... More

This chapter focuses on the distribution of peatlands around the world, including the tropics and the southern hemisphere. It first presents estimates of peatland areas for thirty-six countries with at least 6,000 square kilometers of peatland before turning to peatland areas used for agriculture, forestry, and peat harvesting. It then provides a brief overview of peatlands of the world and describes peatlands in Tierra del Fuego as well as restiad bogs in New Zealand. It also considers tropical peatlands in south-east Asia.Less

Paleolimnology at the Regional to Global Scale: Records of Climate Change

Andrew S. Cohen

in Paleolimnology: The History and Evolution of Lake Systems

Reconstructing climatic change is perhaps the single most common application of paleolimnology. Paleoclimatology is a vast subject, and several entire books have been written on this subject alone ... More

Reconstructing climatic change is perhaps the single most common application of paleolimnology. Paleoclimatology is a vast subject, and several entire books have been written on this subject alone (e.g., Crowley and North, 1991; Parrish, 1998; Bradley, 1999). Here we can only touch on some of the more important, interesting, and controversial aspects of climate history that are potentially recorded in lake sediments. As with human impact histories, archives of paleoclimate from individual lakes record responses from both local and regional events (e.g., Giraudi, 1998); teasing the two apart from a single basin often poses a difficult problem. In order to differentiate regional from global-scale changes in climate from lake deposits, it is also necessary that local influences on hydrology, such as drainage diversions, or changes in groundwater flow fields unrelated to climate, be understood. The problem of identifying regionally significant events becomes even more acute when the goals are to assess the rate at which climate changed from lake records or to assess the synchroneity of events between locations. All of these issues accentuate the importance of excellent geochronometry for paleoclimatic interpretation. Also, biological or physical mixing of sediments in any individual core record may mislead us into thinking a change was gradual when in fact it was rapid, whereas unrecognized small-scale unconformities in a single core could mislead us in the opposite direction (Dominik et al., 1992). Conversely, some lakes act to amplify climatic signals, particularly when they cross a threshold of limnological response to some climate variable (for example the transition from closed to open-lake conditions that might accompany an increasing precipitation:evaporation ratio). In this case a ‘‘gradual’’ climatic process might appear rapid from its depositional record. As with human impact studies, a common solution to these problems is to use a comparative-lake and/or comparative-indicator approach, identifying coherent patterns of change in indicators of precipitation, temperature, windiness, or other climate variables of interest throughout a region. This can be done using many of the types of biotic, geochemical, geophysical, or geomorphic indicators we have discussed in chapters 7–11. Less