Beginning in 2013, we have participated in a global study of productivity in Sphagnum using two widespread, important peat forming species, S. fuscum and S. magellanicum. Organized by Gustaf Granath and Häkin Rydin from Uppsala Univ. and working on our study sites in New York and Maine with Sean Robinson (SUNY Oneonta), we are partnering with investigators from North America, Europe and Asia to better understand relationships among climate, nitrogen deposition and productivity in Sphagnum. We are also working with Dave Gillikin and Anouk Verheyden-Gillikin of the Stable Isotope Lab at Union College to resolve the the underlying relationships between carbon and oxygen stable isotopes in Sphagnum and climate. This study will help determine how useful stable isotopes are for paleoclimate and paleoecology studies of the Holocene. The coastal peatland on Great Waas Island, a Nature Conservancy Site in eastern Maine, represents our most northeastern study site.
