Peatland protection

We are investigating the condition of Germany's forested peatlands, the greenhouse gas dynamics that unfold from them and the resulting protection potential. The Peatland Soil Monitoring surveys the changes in carbon storage, both in the soil and in the above-ground biomass. The Peatland Forest project improves the knowledge about the spatial distribution of forested peatlands and examines their hydrological conditions. The project Measuring GHG Emissions from Forested Peatlands provides actual and reliable data on CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions from the soils of selected sites in the process of rewetting.

Projects

Moor forest: you can see an approximately 82 year old spruce stand taken near Arnsberg 2019

National Forest Soil Inventory

The BZE characterises the condition of forest soils, identifies changes in forest condition since the first inventory and answers any new research questions, e.g., about carbon inventory.

Two people examine the top 50 cm of the soil of a moor using a peat core probe. Moor near Hermsdorf in Thuringia.

Monitoring of peatland soils

How much carbon do organic soils store? How much does the forest stand store compared to that? What thickness do the peat layers of drained peatlands still have? How do the emissions of organic soils develop? Peatland soil monitoring clarifies these ...

Automatic chamber system for measuring GHG emissions in forested peatlands in Ore Mountains

Analysis of ghg emissions from forested peatlands

Together with the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) ghg emissions are measured on two rewetted forested peatlands using automatic chamber systems.

Moor forests, left: drained lady fern-alder forest, right: wet duckweed-alder forest

Forested peatlands: contribution to biodiversity and climate protection

About 15 percent of Germany's peatlands are forested. What specific contribution do these ecosystems make in terms of biodiversity and climate protection? How can they be used and preserved sustainably?