Material and methods
We will study well-described peatland sites located in Finland, Estonia, Germany and the Czech Republic, including representative sites from a variety of pristine, drained and restored conditions. Most research sites have been under intensive monitoring under various EU Life projects or as part of national observatories so that previous observational data can be utilized. The samples are analyzed in the participating laboratories according to their work package tasks.
We will utilize previously obtained GHG flux data gathered from the sites, and sampling will be conducted for plant functional traits, biochemical properties of the peat and DNA for metagenomic analyses to investigate diversity of microbes.