# Deep study on Peat



## zanguli-ya-zamba (31 Oct 2013)

Hi members,
As I am going to do a lowtech tank with one of my tanks, I was doing search on peat and I found a very interesting scientific study of peat. I went through it and it was very interesting. Everything is cover in this study (nitrogen, carbon, phophorus,trace ....), so I wanted to share this with you, as you all like food for brain lol.

1. INTRODUCTION. INTRODUCTION

Hope some of you will like it, maybe Darrel 

cheers


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## plantbrain (31 Oct 2013)

In general, there is scant research done for Tropical wetlands, rivers and lakes. Less for soils. Some, but not that much compared to the US or Europe.
We have the everglades in the USA, which is a subtropical fen. A lot of research is done in the state of Florida for this reason, but also with aquatic plants and weeds control.

Evergaldes issues:
http://www.iu.edu/~spea/pubs/faculty/Richardson_Ch03.pdf

Pretty pictures of the Everglades(Clyde Butcher is the Ansel Adams of Wetlands):
clyde butcher biography - Google Search
Check some of the pics out, he's awesome. Been to his studio which is in the middle of the Everglades. I am rarely impressed with photography, I was floored. 

If you google scholar search "Humic substances Ecology Freshwaters"
This is the text for a good but $$$ book, I got one real cheap slightly used a long time ago also, but the journal listing is good also:
Humic substances Ecology Freshwater - Google Scholar

Overall, I think peat and humics are a positive role for virtually all aquariums. 
Other than color.


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## oldbloke (1 Nov 2013)

Whoa, some amazing pics there!


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## dw1305 (1 Nov 2013)

Hi all,
Interesting posts, I'm a fan of humic substances as well.

As Tom says many of the sites in the FAO link are really fens, where they might have quite a high base status. Having said that there are huge deposits of acidic organic matter in many places with a wet climate and impeded drainage. Unfortunately huge areas of tropical peat forest are being drained, cut and burnt, particularly in Sumatra, Borneo etc for oil palm plantations, wood pulp and disposable chop sticks.

Some of the fires are so large they can be seen from space, and the smoke has covered 1000's of square miles<Envisat focuses on carbon-rich peat swamp forest fires / Observing the Earth / Our Activities / ESA>, <http://www.envirosecurity.org/espa/PDF/IES_ESA_CS_Kalimantan_Case_Study.pdf> & <Dams - The Orangutan Tropical Peatland ProjectOuTrop>.

cheers Darrel


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## Tim Harrison (1 Nov 2013)

Many wetlands have traditionally been thought of as just wastelands crawling with insects and disease and are consequently the first casualties of industrial development. Now we're a bit more enlightened and they're often referred to as the kidneys of the planet.
It's a very tragic state of affairs but the bottom line is...too many people, increasing lifestyle aspirations and dwindling finite resources. I'm an optimist by nature and always kept the faith with technology's ability to keep up with population growth, but the raison d'etre for the existence of many conservation organisations and UN groups like the FAO is because we're increasingly fighting a loosing battle.


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## RichardJW (1 Nov 2013)

Has anyone ever tried growing Sarracenia and similar as part of a display ?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## plantbrain (2 Nov 2013)

oldbloke said:


> Whoa, some amazing pics there!


 

I was ready to give the guy my wallet. I felt like I was actually there in the photos, which are massive 2-3 meter prints! 
I know how the wetlands feel, since you are right there in them at his studio. It's like beign at Ansel's studio right there in Valley of Yosemite National Park. You can tell it moves you the same way at an emotional level. And.......I'm a tad callous about such stuff generally.


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## plantbrain (2 Nov 2013)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> Interesting posts, I'm a fan of humic substances as well.
> 
> As Tom says many of the sites in the FAO link are really fens, where they might have quite a high base status. Having said that there are huge deposits of acidic organic matter in many places with a wet climate and impeded drainage. Unfortunately huge areas of tropical peat forest are being drained, cut and burnt, particularly in Sumatra, Borneo etc for oil palm plantations, wood pulp and disposable chop sticks.
> ...


 

Yep, agreed, both in the EU, Asia and NA, as well as the tropical regions. I refuse to support any food made with Palm oil, this is what happens to most illegal logging land afterwards. If not that, then small scale gold mining, or open air iron ore mining etc. This is well documented, but ignored by the consumers. 
This is true for a good deal of Borneo and Sumatra. New Guinea has many issues coming it's way also. Borneo is getting sliced up really fast.


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## plantbrain (2 Nov 2013)

RichardJW said:


> Has anyone ever tried growing Sarracenia and similar as part of a display ?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


 

I could do this for my 70 Gallon Buce tank for the emergent parts, they do well here outdoors. But I'm more aquatics and then Bonsai or natives type of Green thumb.
We have an excellent carnivorous plant shop about an hour's drive from here. I've kept and had several species and done well, but they need  a greenhouse or a nice planter bed outside.
The species native to the USA are wonderful. 

I've been to many peat type bogs and fens.
Florida has many.
North Carolina.
The California delta is all peat fens, but has been turned(96% of it) into farmland and dikes. It is a freshwater tidal delta with about 2 meter tides pulling in/out 2x a day.  
We also have alpine fens up in the sierra mountains. Very rare endemics.  Grass lake is a special place: 
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsm9_046241.pdf

These are all about 1-2 hour drive away for me. So I have wetland systems that have more in common with Greenland, Scotland and northern EU, as well as subtropical and even tropical conditions in the south of California.
Borneo also have a a very wide range of habitats. NG, even more. 

CA's native carnivorous plant is nice and I have found it near sea level to about 2300 meters. 
Darlingtonia californica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nice plant.


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## Tim Harrison (2 Nov 2013)

plantbrain said:


> Yep, agreed, both in the EU, Asia and NA, as well as the tropical regions. I refuse to support any food made with Palm oil, this is what happens to most illegal logging land afterwards. If not that, then small scale gold mining, or open air iron ore mining etc. This is well documented, but ignored by the consumers.
> This is true for a good deal of Borneo and Sumatra. New Guinea has many issues coming it's way also. Borneo is getting sliced up really fast.


 
I suppose we all choose the causes that are closest to our hearts and contribute in anyway we can...thing is though where do we draw the line on what is ethically acceptable? When I think about it, It's all pretty arbitrary really, and if we took it to its limits we'd all end up living like Arne Naess, in a Deep Ecology wilderness...I'm not ready to give up my 50" plasma and 5.1 surround sound just yet.

I started out as a bleeding heart - tree hugging - liberal...well OK, perhaps that's a bit strong...but I've become increasingly pragmatic over the years. And now I tend to take a more humanistic view of environmental problems, and for that matter the quasi-myth of anthropogenically accelerated global warming. I'm a firm believer that the solution lies somewhere in education and promoting social equality and justice - especially for women in developing nations.

Devolved nations continue to have more than their share of environmental problems...though perhaps not on the same scale as Borneo...but then most of the damage was done centuries ago. And so therein lies the age old "pot calling the kettle black" conservation conundrum.

Way back in the 1990s I spent a few years researching the ecological principles behind the conservation management of some of the few remaining semi-natural wetlands in Nottinghamshire. At the time the study sites were suffering the impact of groundwater mining - drawdown due to unsustainable extraction for potable water supply - from one of the UK's major aquifers, the Permo-Triassic sandstones. 

TBO it was a pretty grim picture. Most of the wetlands I studied had only survived by virtue of perched water tables and were very much reduced in size and diversity. The upshot was that consequently they required intensive management to stop them succeeding to climax vegetation - were as before all they'd required was minimal intervention. Since no one could afford the labour they were doomed to disappear.

Not exactly a global crisis, I know...but nevertheless another example of the unsustainable demands placed on the natural environment by a burgeoning population with an unquenchable thirst for a higher standard of living...only this time in a developed nation.


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## plantbrain (3 Nov 2013)

Calling out the policies of countries, the products and particularly shaming the products and companies that sell and market such products is a wise approach.   
The USA? We are great at one export: Weapons. Pretty shameful. 

Hopefully the nations can can learn from the past rather than using as an excuse to make the same mistakes, that's not a conservation conundrum, that's bull manure.
Small minded short term gains for short term profits. Islands are particularly at risk. And then Agriculture. Urban and drinking water use will pay top dollar for water, so this harms agriculture the most as this process moves towards the climax condition.  
Ironically, Agrobusiness is hardly fighting for the water resources it will need to survive. They are trying some things, but it will not be enough to stem the tide of the Urban people.

I fully agree, women's right's in developing nations is the key to all of this. => population control=> educated population=> less consumption=> 7 Billion "Miracles" is enough.
The sea is yet another sad chapter.  Thing is, the natural part will recover over time, we... will not.

Okay, back to peat:
 Role of wetland plants in the diurnal control of CH4 and CO2 fluxes in peat 

http://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/43101/1/OG41-5_491-497.pdf


Biomass and nutrient stock of submersed and floating macrophytes in shallow lakes formed by rewetting of degraded fens - Springer

Many of these papers show how aquatic plants enhance sequestering of N and P and how they lock up CO2 for long time frames. 
Same is true for papers on the tropical peat systems like the Everglades. But...you need to the area to do it to account for the input loading.
If the land is used wisely, you can rotate the land back and forth with agriculture. Providing them with excellent rich soils and also a long term fallow catchment for flood control and wastewater as well as wildlife habitat.
This was suggested by myself to the lead folks in the Everglades. They liked the idea. By rotating large areas with farming and with sequestering, they could easily accomplish management goals.
Will the farmers agree to do such land swaps? Generally they are against it, but the other options are worse and harder to swallow. So..they might come around.
I think this same approach can work with riparian wetlands along the rivers in the USA. The 1993 flood highlighted the problem. We could reduce the pollution by 40-60% with little land and increase property values and reduce insurance cost on a massive scale.
 Cost a lot? Sure, but..........the cost of the flood control network, the cost of flood damages, insurance and payouts for that, lost of life, over time far exceed the cost of providing larger buffer zones for the flood plains. 


While we are losing a lot of habitat, we also have the same opportunity to gain and restore the habitats that were destroyed or altered.
In CA, USA, we have lost 96% of the wetlands. So while we only have 4% left, we have a lot of wetlands that can be modified and restored.
Redneck duck hunters, small farmers, urbanites, conservationist, strange bed fellows all come together for many of these issues. 
Times are changing for the better as the world gets smaller. 

Attitudes can change very fast, even if the world cannot.


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## Tim Harrison (4 Nov 2013)

There are many parallels here in the UK too, disparate groups with different agendas but with similar aims...strange bedfellows indeed.

We have the Environment Agency...a quango tasked with protecting the environment from threats such as floods and pollution through integrated catchment management. With regards water many farmers here have the upper hand with abstraction "Licenses of Right" which the Agency are powerless to control, hence aquifer mining. Further, in matters of floodplain development the Agency is just a statutary consultee and can only advise...as land is at a premium they are often ignored so we have a similar scenario with regards potential hazards and disasters. 100 year flood events like your Great Flood of 1993 are becoming more common place here as well although obviously not on the scale of the Mississippi and Missouri basins...

Nevertheless, some good work is being done by the Agency in partnership with conservation organisations, farmers, and landowners restoring canalised river channels, water meadows, fens, and tidal wetlands mostly as a cheaper and environmentally friendly alternative to hard engineered de-synchronising flood defence. But I still can't help thinking it's all a bit Cnut-esk...then again maybe I'm just a grumpy old dude...But I hope you're right, and times are changing for the better...


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## plantbrain (4 Nov 2013)

Sounds like the same precedents with water right laws here in the USA as well. Lawyers make out great on those issues. 
I try hard to conjure up win-wins for all the groups, otherwise forget it. Land value increases, they always like that, more and better use of the water and quality, they all love that. 

Asking farmers to fallow a lot of nice bottom flood plain lands? Tough sell, but.the flood control folks can offer tax credits, and in CA, the lack of water often means they have to fallow anyhow. 
They buy land based on any water rights and they will buy it in less than 24 hours of being posted if there are any water rights associated with it, _land unseen. _They do not even care to see the land they are buying. Urban encroachment is a huge issue for Agro corporations. A battle I think they will lose. Both economically and politically. 

Just 70 years ago, swamps and fens were viewed as in Dante's the the level of hell. Re read it. _"The Styx, a toxic marsh. Those awash with anger drown again and again, choking on their own venom."_
Sort of intense negative view eh?

See? People, can change.


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