wise use of mires and peatlands - Peatland Ecology Research Group

VALUES AND FUCTIONS OF MIRES AND PEATLANDS99springtime, birth, and good fortune. It wasbelieved that the souls of unborn children livedin wetlands. Since storks frequented such areas,they were thought to fetch the babies’ souls anddeliver them to their parents. Because they arerumoured to feed their elderly parents, storks area symbol of filial piety or gratitude. They areemblems of immortality and longevity.265As symbols of contemplation, vigilance, divineor occult wisdom, and inner quietness.266Exemplifying the sacrificial love of a parent forits offspring.267As symbol of freedom, ardour, joy, youth,happiness, and the desire to be happy.268E.g. in Minnesota and Canada (Cf. the Canadian$20 note).269The national flower of Québec.270Cf. the extensive review in Müller-Wille 1999.271Cf. Gorke 1999. In all cultures and majorreligions, there is a latent premise of the worthof life, indicating an underlying core of ethicalvalues common to all people (Skolimowski1990).272Cf. Joosten 1999a. A related concept to“wilderness” is that of “integrity”, which a.o.played a role in the resistance against large-scalepeatland forestry in the Scottish Flow Country(cf. Stroud et al. 1987, Lindsay et al. 1988).273Note the importance of the efforts of suchinternational NGOs as the Worldwide Fund forNature (WWF), the International Union for theConservation of Nature (IUCN), WetlandsInternational (WI), and the International MireConservation Group (IMCG). Note also theefforts of many states, including those made inthe framework of international conventions,especially the Wetland (Ramsar) Convention. Aninteresting example of frontier-crossingcommitment is the Dutch Foundation for theConservation of Irish Bogs.274Illustrating the neotenous character of humanbeings, in which infantile characteristics areprolonged into maturity. Other characteristicsof neoteny include the great size and longcontinuedgrowth of the brain, the tendency toplay (cf. Huizinga 1938), spontaneity, opennessto new impressions, and the capacity for widelyextended sympathy (Midgley 1983).275Kellert 1997.276Information is strongly related to the conceptsof difference and diversity (Joosten 1998). For areview on biodiversity values in peatlands, seeJoosten 1996, 1999b.277See §2.2 in Chapter 2. Mires share this characterwith lakes, oceans, and corals, i.e. they are theonly terrestrial accumulating ecosystems and,together with corals, the only long-termsedentarily accumulating ecosystems.278For an overview of the palaeo-ecological valuesof peatlands and the importance of long-termstudies: Overbeck 1975, Birks & Birks 1980,Godwin 1981, Frenzel 1983, Berglund 1986,Franklin 1989, Barber 1993, Joosten 1995.279The first palaeo-ecologic reconstructions ofvegetation and climate based on macro-remainsin peat date back to de Chamisso 1824, Dau 1829and Steenstrup 1842.280Systematic pollen and spore analysis (palynology)of peats started with Von Post (1916). For arecent overview cf. Moore et al. 1991.281The reconstruction of human and environmentalpast.282Brothwell 1986, Coles & Coles 1989, Fansa1993, Turner & Scaife 1995.283Pilcher et al. 1995, Dwyer & Mitchell 1997.284Cf. overview in Shotyk et al. 1997.285Cf. Malmer et al. 1997.286Wagner et al. 1996, 1999.287E.g. Mauquoy & Barber 1999, Barber et al. 2000.288By way of analysis of cosmogenic isotopes inpeat, cf. Van Geel & Renssen 1998, Van Geel etal. 1998.289By the development and application of newanalytic techniques and knowledge a.o. in palaeophysiology,organic and isotope geo-chemistry,palaeomorph-morphology (incl. phytoliths,fungal and moss spores, algal remains, spongegemmoscleres, chrysophyte cysts, soot particles,rare pollen types, macrofossils), research in littleknowngeographical areas, and by an increasedtemporal and spatial resolution.290Conditions not typical of the surrounding climatezone. Cf. §2.7.291Cf. Ivanov 1981, Joosten 1993.292Couwenberg et al. 2000.293Cf. various papers in Standen et al. 1999.294Couwenberg 1998, Couwenberg & Joosten 1999.295E.g. large mire patterns, large macrotopes, largepredators, and migratory birds. See also Joosten1999b.296After Couwenberg & Joosten 1999.297For lay readers it may be helpful to state by wayof illustration that 10 -2 = 0.01, 10 4 = 10,000, 10 6= 1.000.000.298As, for example, in “economic indicators”.299Joosten 1986, 1995, During & Joosten 1992.300Wandtner 1981.301Äikäs et al. 1994.302Norton 1984, 1987.303See §5.6.3 (8) below. Cf. Irish Junior Certificatesyllabus (see O’Cinnéide and MacNamara 1990,pp 195 – 199); and IPCC (Irish PeatlandConservation Council) programmes in Ireland.304E.g. Kirsamer 2000.305Joosten 1997, Couwenberg & Joosten 1999.306Cf. the “serendipity value” of De Groot 1992.Cf. the recent discovery of the role of mires inthe greenhouse effect, and the discovery of thefiltration capacity of peatlands.307Cf. Keddy 2000.308A good example is the current greenhouse effect.Although the effect of greenhouse gases on worldtemperature has been supposed since SvanteArrhenius 1896, see special issue Ambio 26/1(1997), continuous cultural records of CO 2concentrations in the atmosphere only exist since1953. For the reconstruction of greenhouse gasconcentrations before that date, natural recordsin natural archives, e.g. peatlands (cf. Wagner etal. 1996, 1999), are required.309Joosten 1986.