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Moorlands as Indicators of Climate Change Initiative

Moorlands as Indicators of Climate Change Initiative. Welcome to MICCI. This is a project designed for schools to investigate the interrelationship between the moorland landscape, people and climate change Chris Robinson Learning and Discovery Officer PDNPA. The Moorland Landscape.

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Moorlands as Indicators of Climate Change Initiative

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  1. Moorlands as Indicators of Climate Change Initiative Welcome to MICCI This is a project designed for schools to investigate the interrelationship between the moorland landscape, people and climate change Chris Robinson Learning and Discovery Officer PDNPA

  2. The Moorland Landscape

  3. So What is ‘Moorland’? High Open Countryside No normal farming Created by humans

  4. Moorland Ecology Q1 Characteristics and Types WINDY & WET: >1000mm/year HEIGHT: >250m above sea level SOIL: Peat up to 10 m thick Vegetation Peat Gritstone bedrock All types have impoverished flora Harsh physical conditions Poor soil structure and nutrient status 1. Heather moorland - most common, on gentler, relatively dry slopes 2. Grass moorland - coarse grasses such as mat grass, wet areas, peat <20cm allowing grass roots to penetrate 3. Cotton grass moorland - rare, wet areas, peat >70cm 4. Sphagnum bog - formerly 18 species, but pollution has reduced these to 3, of which only 1 is common. Very wet and acid. An absorbent, spongy mass. Note that 13% of world’s blanket bog is in UK

  5. Climate Change “The warming of the climate is unequivocal” The United Nations IPCC report 2007 (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)

  6. The Moorland Carbon Cycle Photosynthesis Rain Decomposition Fluvial Flux (removed by water) Dissolved Organic Carbon DOC Peat Particulate Organic Carbon POC Dissolved Inorganic Carbon DIC Weathering of bedrock CO2 INPUTS CO2 OUTPUTS

  7. Best case scenario = Carbon loss Worst case scenario = Carbon sink A healthy moor Carbon flux prediction models (Dark Peak area) Q2

  8. Satellite view of Northern Britain Source: Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project, NASA-GSFC, and ORBIMAGE, 18 April 2003 Fire on Bleaklow

  9. Fire, erosion and pollution can turn a healthy moor into an unhealthy one! Aerial view of fire damage and subsequent erosion on Bleaklow

  10. Some schools involved in MICCI so far! Royston High Honley High Oakwood TC Brinsworth Comp Silverdale Hope Valley College Lady Manners Heanorgate St John Houghton West Hill Littlemoss High Bramhall Glossopdale New Mills Chapel High Painsley Catholic College

  11. People YoungPeople Measuring the depth of peat Q3

  12. Assessing the“health” of the Moorland Westhill school from Stalybridge (Tameside) on Black Hill

  13. Glossopdale Community College at Snake Summit

  14. Chapel-en-le-Frith High school

  15. What is being measured? • Physical Parameters • Peat Depth • Water table height • % DOC • pH • Biodiversity including % bare ground • Nothing extraordinary but at a very large number of sites at the same time and open to suggestions.

  16. Brinsworth School (Rotherham) at Ringinglow Oakwood Technology College (Rotherham) Strines Moor

  17. MICCI School‘s Results (eg. plant distribution and altitude) Black Hill Staffordshire Moorlands Chatsworth 341m 507m 207m Altitude Up to date results can be found on our website: www.peakdistrict.gov.uk

  18. BBC Breakfast time arrive on the scene Brinsworth school from Rotherham rise to the challenge?

  19. Did someone say the Telly? Q4

  20. The Partners • The National Parks • North Pennines AONB • Moors for the Future • The Scientists • Manchester University • ANPA • ENPAA • The Welsh Assembly • IUCN Peatland programme • Yorkshire Peat Partnership • Exmoor Mires Project • OPAL • ESRC • NSEW 2011 2012 New to 2013

  21. It’s not all bad though! Large area of bare peat The Moors for the Future partnership have managed to reseed this area of erosion on Sykes Moor and many others

  22. What sort of conservation work will our experiments inform? Discoveries you make about the state of the peat will help scientists from Moors for the Future decide on the most appropriate conservation methods for the moorland. Youth Rangers using Geojute fabric to stabilise planting

  23. What is on the website to help? • MICCI project • Talking the MICCI - film

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