Vegetation change and greenhouse gas emission data from the Whim Peatbog nitrogen manipulation experiment in Southern Scotland

This data collection consists of measurements of vegetation change and nitrous oxide emissions from the experiment at Whim bog in the Scottish Borders (3◦ 16’ W, 55◦ 46’ N) between 2002 and 2017. The experiment investigates the effect of different forms of nitrogen when applied at realistic rates. Nitrogen treatment is applied near-continuously over the year, via automated sprayers mimicking realistic rain events for wet deposition, and as a gas plume for dry deposition. Because the nitrogen is applied as many (>100) small application events per year, the effect of this is to allow manipulation of the nitrogen deposition whilst maintaining realistic nitrogen concentrations in solution at the leaf and soil surface.

Nitrogen has been deposited in three different forms (as ammonia (NH3) gas, as ammonium (NH4+ ) solution or nitrate (NO3- ) solution) (Sheppard et al., 2004). Ambient nitrogen inputs at the site are relatively low (0.8 g N m−2 y−1), and the site had not received obvious damage prior to the experiment, so it is reasonably representative of similar sites across Europe.


Supplemental information

Sheppard, L.J., Crossley, A., Leith, I.D., Hargreaves, K.J., Carfrae, J.A., Dijk, N. van, Cape, J.N., Sleep, D., Fowler, D., Raven, J.A., 2004. An Automated Wet Deposition System to Compare the Effects of Reduced and Oxidised N on Ombrotrophic Bog Species: Practical Considerations. Water Air Soil Pollut: Focus 4, 197–205. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11267-004-3030-4