Peat survey in England, Scotland and Wales carried out during 2014 [LTLS]
Toberman, H., Tipping, E., NERC RadioCarbon Facility, Somerville, C., Helliwell, R., Carter, H., Keenan, P., Pereira, M.G., Patel, M., Tanna, B., Thompson, N., Bryant, C., Elliott, F., Gulliver, P. (2016). Peat survey in England, Scotland and Wales carried out during 2014 [LTLS]. NERC Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/9305b068-f417-4659-9966-d9456f22c331
Data comprise bulk density, loss on ignition, carbon content of peat, nitrogen content of peat, total phosphorus content of peat, soil 13 carbon content and soil 14 carbon content from samples collected during a peat survey in England, Scotland and Wales during 2014. The study was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council under the Macronutrient Cycling Research Programme, as part of the Long-Term, Large-Scale (LTLS) project (Grant no. NE/J011533/1).
Triplicate adjacent cores were extracted in 2013 using both a box corer (to recover the surface vegetation and uppermost 1 m of peat) and a Russian-type corer (for peat deeper than 1 m). All cores extended down to the underlying mineral substrate, ranging in length from 95 cm (Glensaugh) to 417 cm (Forsinard). The cores were carefully extruded, sliced at 10 cm intervals, air-dried for one week, manually sieved to 2 mm to remove large particles and roots, oven-dried at 60°C to remove residual moisture and ball-milled to a fine, homogenous powder. Bulk densities of all samples were calculated prior to milling by dividing the dry matter mass by the original volume of wet material. Phosphorus content was measured colorimetrically using a Seal Analytical AQ2 discrete analyser after digestion in H2SO4/H2O2. After drying at 105°C, carbon and nitrogen were determined on an Elementar Vario-EL analyser using an ISO17025 accredited method. Loss-on-ignition (LOI) was determined by combustion in a muffle furnace at 550°C for two hours.
Macronutrient Cycling Research Programme
Schillereff, D. N., Boyle, J. F., Toberman, H., Adams, J. L., Bryant, C. L., Chiverrell, R. C., Helliwell, R. C., Keenan, P., Lilly, A., & Tipping, E. (2016). Long-term macronutrient stoichiometry of UK ombrotrophic peatlands. Science of The Total Environment, 572, 1561-1572
copyright UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
LTLS: Analysis and simulation of the Long-Term / Large-Scale interactions of C, N and P in UK land, freshwater and atmosphere