This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Data availability
The link to the data that support the findings of this study is presented in ref. 1.
Change history
20 November 2019
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
References
Marrs, R. H. et al. Experimental evidence for sustained carbon sequestration in fire-managed, peat moorlands. Nat. Geosci. 12, 108–112 (2018).
Baird, A. J. et al. Validity of managing peatlands with fire. Nat. Geosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0477-5 (2019).
Allen, K. A., Denelle, P., Sánchez Ruiz, F. M., Santana, V. M. & Marrs, R. H. Prescribed moorland burning meets good practice guidelines: a monitoring case study using aerial photography in the Peak District, UK. Ecol. Ind. 62, 76–85 (2016).
Milligan, G., Rose, R. J., O’Reilly, J. & Marrs, R. H. Effects of rotational prescribed burning and sheep grazing on moorland plant communities: results from a 60‐year intervention experiment. Land Deg. Dev. 29, 1397–1412 (2018).
Rodwell, J. (ed.) British Plant Communities Vol. 2 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1991).
Clay, G. D., Worrall, F., Clark, E. & Fraser, E. D. G. Hydrological responses to managed burning and grazing in an upland blanket bog. J. Hydrol. 376, 486–495 (2009).
25003—Trout Beck at Moor House (National River Flow Archive, accessed 15 June 2019); https://nrfa.ceh.ac.uk/data/station/info/25003
Evans, M. G., Burt, T. P., Holden, J. & Adamson, J. K. Runoff generation and water table fluctuations in blanket peat: evidence from UK data spanning the dry summer of 1995. J. Hydrol. 221, 141–160 (1999).
Labadz, J. C., Hart, R. G. & Butcher, D. P. Peatland Hydrology Research Project: Bolton Fell Moss (NGR NY489690) and Walton Moss (NGR NY489690): Progress Report to Natural England (Nottingham Trent University, 2007).
Labadz, J. et al. IUCN UK Commission of Inquiry on Peatlands: Hydrology (IUCN UK Peatland Programme, 2011); https://go.nature.com/2VW4pH3
Walker, X. J. et al. Increasing wildfires threaten historic carbon sink of boreal forest soils. Nature 572, 520–623 (2019).
Rumpel, C. Soils linked to climate change. Nature 572, 442–443 (2019).
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the Heather Trust and NERC/DEFRA (FIREMAN BioDiversa project (NE/G002096/1). S. Yee provided graphical support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
R.H.M. and R.C.C. planned and carried out the field sampling with R.J.R., E.-L.M., R.L. and K.H. R.C.C. led the geochemistry and stratigraphy with E.-L.M. and R.L.; P.G.A. and G.T.P. were responsible for the radiometric dating; the vegetation survey and analyses were planned and performed by J.G.A., K.A.A., H.L., G.M., R.J.R., J.O’R. and V.S. R.H.M. and R.C.C. produced the manuscript and all authors contributed to the final version. This paper was primarily authored by R.H.M., R.C.C. and J.G.A.; all other authors have seen and commented on the paper.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
Financial competing interests: The work reported in this paper was 95% funded by a Biodiversa grant (ERA-net project within the European Union’s 6th Framework Programme for Research — 2008 Joint call), which in the UK was funded jointly by DEFRA/NERC (NE/G002096/1). DEFRA is a government ministry whose policy is not to burn on peat. R.H.M. was a co- Investigator. The other 5% (about £2,000) was provided by the Heather Trust, which is a charity that’s dedicated to moorland and upland environment management. Non-financial competing interests: R.H.M. is a member of the Heather Trust and currently their honorary President; in this role he is specifically barred from interfering in any aspect of their work and does not have voting rights. The Trust aims to provide good moorland management and foster peat conservation in a range of different ways, of which burning is one approach. The Heather Trust does not seek to influence the author’s views when work they support is published. R.H.M. was an expert panel member for DEFRA in 2004 and 2005, when the regulations for burning on peatland were re-written. R.H.M. was an expert witness in a public inquiry on Heather Burning in 2012, supporting a private client. R.H.M. was an author of two of the reports by the IUCN UK Peatland Programme’s Commission of Inquiry on Peatlands. R.H.M. is a member of the Game Conservancy & Wildlife Trust’s Uplands Research Committee; this is advisory only and is unpaid. R.H.M. is not a member of the GWCT, is not involved with game shooting in any way, has never shot game of any description and has never attended any game-shooting event.
Additional information
Peer review information Primary Handling Editor(s): Xujia Jiang.
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Marrs, R.H., Marsland, EL., Lingard, R. et al. Reply to: Validity of managing peatlands with fire. Nat. Geosci. 12, 886–888 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0478-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0478-4