What a beautiful tree! That’s it. That’s all that needs to be said really. open.substack.com/pub/botanica... #trees #nature #naturewriting (Photos show American Elm, Silver Maple, Oak, and Hornbeam trees in Canada and the UK - all © Lorna I. Harris)

Lake Louise? Very nice indeed. Stunning mountains. But have you turned around to peer into the alpine forest? Even the very edge of the forest is full of botanical treasures, such as this lovely pink flowering mountain cranberry and juicy red bunchberry. open.substack.com/pub/botanica...

Sphagnum mosses are bog-builders, #lichens are 'bog-killers'. Thick lichen mats cover large areas of northern #peatlands. Apart from being food for caribou, what is their role in peatlands? For more on my research into lichens as 'bog-killers', see Peatpedia: open.substack.com/pub/peatpedi...

Lichens - bog-killers?

Investigating the role of lichens on peat growth and decay

open.substack.com

One from the Peatpedia archives for Canada Day! 🇨🇦 Highlighting key facts about the beautiful #peatlands or #muskeg of Canada: open.substack.com/pub/peatpedi... peatpedia.substack.com 1/11

Tropical #peatlands are ancient and diverse ecosystems. Vast watery peat #swamps dominated by tall palms and hardwood trees, coastal peat-forming #mangroves and marshes, and mountain Sphagnum bogs. 📢My new post on Peatpedia introduces these tropical wetlands. open.substack.com/pub/peatpedi...

I'm looking for a post-doc to work on the interaction between past hydrological changes and vegetation in a disturbed peatland, using paleoecological and modelling approaches. The post-doc duration is 18 months and start date is any time before Jan 2027. DM if you are interested / have questions! 🌿🧪

Patterned #peatlands are the cathedrals and pyramids of the natural world. Ancient architectural gems that have formed and thrived in vast watery landscapes for many thousands of years without human intervention. See Peatpedia for more: open.substack.com/pub/peatpedi...

Happy World Peatlands Day! On June 2 we shine a spotlight on the world’s bogs, fens, and swamps. This is really wonderful, but I think #peatlands deserve more attention! So, I started Peatpedia! Where the spotlight is always on these ancient ecosystems. peatpedia.substack.com #WorldPeatlandsDay

📢New on Peatpedia! A new series of brief intros to the biodiversity of #peatlands around the world, focusing on the botanical. Starting with two shrubs found in northern peatlands - Bog rosemary and Bog laurel. open.substack.com/pub/peatpedi... #BiodiversityDay #biodiversity #botany #bogs

Day 1 of Canadian Geophysical Union meeting in Halifax, NS complete! I presented initial results of a new study with several co-authors and contributors, showing that ~80% of planned major industry projects across Canada have #peatlands within a 2km buffer. More to come! @cgu-ugc.bsky.social

Where are the world's bogs, fens, and swamps? Are there peatlands still waiting to be mapped within the dense tropical forests of the Amazon and Congo? 🌎 Mapping #peatlands is a global challenge. For more, see my new post on Peatpedia: open.substack.com/pub/peatpedi...

Peatland Mapping

The quest to identify and map the world’s bogs, fens, and swamps

open.substack.com

On 8th May, our coffee morning is in collaboration with @bes-peatlandsgroup.bsky.social group! Get excited about learning how peatlands and wetlands are affected and how they can help fight climate change! When and where: 10-11 am GMT 8th May on Zoom Register here: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Water brings #peatlands to life. Water is needed for peat soils to form and build up over time, and to sustain the resulting carbon-rich ecosystems. These large peaty water stores are important for water security and climate resilience, but they are undervalued. open.substack.com/pub/peatpedi...

As part of the #YukonBiodiversityForum, the Yukon Science Institute is presenting a special lecture by Isla Myers-Smith, 6:30 PM March 27 at the Gold Rush Inn, Town Hall Rm. The Forum itself is all day March 28 at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Ctr. Register (free) at: www.eventbrite.ca/e/2026-yukon...

While there is room for industrial carbon removal (CDR) and CCS as part of our actions to reduce GHG emissions, we must not forget the importance of maintaining existing land carbon stores and sinks, including #peatlands. #CdnPoli #CarbonCapture #ClimatePolicy open.substack.com/pub/peatpedi...

New paper alert! 🚨 Our new study shows that massive lakes in the Congo Basin are outgassing millennial-aged carbon. This challenges the idea that lake CO₂ only comes from modern vegetation. www.nature.com/articles/s41... Thread below! 🧵👇

Millennial-aged peat carbon outgassed by large humic lakes in the Congo Basin - Nature Geoscience

Two major humic lakes in the Congo Basin emit ancient carbon from nearby peatlands into the atmosphere, as shown by the isotopic signatures of their carbon pools.

nature.com

📢Feb 2 is #WorldWetlandsDay! A day to celebrate the world's wetlands, including bogs, fens, and swamps. Many Ramsar sites are #peatlands but there are large gaps in global cover. For more on this issue, and on peatlands and @ramsar.org, see my new Peatpedia post: open.substack.com/pub/peatpedi...

World Wetlands Day 2026

A call for greater protection and stewardship of the world’s peatlands

open.substack.com

📢 New on Peatpedia - permafrost #peatlands and climate change. Also, check out the great video in this CBC piece on a new permafrost carbon project led by University of Alberta researchers: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... open.substack.com/pub/peatpedi...

Good eg of GenAI policy here. I agree! "...expertise lies within people, and that we cannot remove people from the equation without removing the expertise as well. Assuming that we can replace our colleagues with a statistical model trained on their knowledge can never lead to meaningful work."

ÉPICBiodiversity@epic-biodiversity.org · 7mo ago

Last week, during the lab meeting, we adopted a position statement (and lab rules) on the use of generative AI. epic-biodiversity.org/generative-ai/ In a nutshell: "The use of GenAI is disallowed-by-default", but we also go to great length to justify why.

Disheartening to learn that after 18 years, founder Ken-ichi Ueda has left iNaturalist, citing irreconcilable differences in the direction of the company. kueda.net/blog/2026/01... He has a Patreon while he figures out his next move: www.patreon.com/cw/kueda

Always use the mic at a conference even if you’re loud. People who can’t hear you *can’t hear you * when you ask if you can hear them in the back. Some of us went to one too many hardcore shows in our youth without ear plugs and our hearing ain’t what it used to be 🥺 #SICB2026

You have probably heard that our mossy northern #peatlands are carbon-rich, but did you know they are also berry-rich? I'm exploring the truly scrumptious berry bounty provided by northern peatlands on Peatpedia, including taste tests! First up, #cranberries! open.substack.com/pub/peatpedi...

Stuart Brooks helped move peatlands from the policy margins to a climate and biodiversity priority. A geographer by training, he built restoration standards, aligned practice with policy at major trusts, and as founder of the IUCN UK Peatland Program shaped protections still guiding work today.

Stuart Brooks, peat protector, has died

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For much of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, peatlands sat…

news.mongabay.com

As a case led by nine First Nations challenging Ontario’s Bill 5 winds its way through the courts, two grassroots organizers from Attawapiskat want to bring in their perspectives on the Breathing Lands — beyond the Ring of Fire: thenarwhal.ca/bill-5-lawsu...

Attawapiskat organizers ask to intervene in Bill 5 court challenge | The Narwhal

Founders of Okiniwak Indigenous Youth Movement and Friends of the Attawapiskat River want a say in Ontario court case affecting the Ring of Fire

thenarwhal.ca

Constructive reviews are so important for improving a paper. Rushed reviews that skip over potential issues often result in poorer quality publications, despite the peer review process. Ive been in this situation as author, coauthor & reviewer, wondering whether reviewer 3 even read the paper!

Jeff Clements 🦪@biolumijeffence.bsky.social · 8mo ago

In my first Editorial as Associate Editor for @conphysjournal.bsky.social, we help combat this lack of training by providing some "tips and tricks" for writing constructive peer reviews, based on our collective experiences as editors for multiple scientific journals.

Google suggests the Congo is the world's largest #peatland. This is wrong! For details of the world’s largest peatland complexes, & as a ref for anyone wanting to avoid error-ridden AI search tools, I have manually searched the available literature. See Peatpedia for the results: lnkd.in/gTi32rGX

Are you looking for a peaty Christmas gift🎁? Or do you simply appreciate the beauty of peatlands? #PeatSky Order our 2026 #PEATcalendar, featuring 12 stunning photos of peatland wildlife submitted by the peatland community: tiny.cc/z4tv001 Your purchase will support early career researchers #PeatECR

Peatland ECR Action Team@peatlandecr.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Voilá! 🎉 #PeatECR (peatecr.com) is excited to announce that the #2026PeatECRCalendar is officially ready! This year’s calendar showcases 12 stunning peatland wild life photographs contributed by peatland researchers.

📢New on Peatpedia - introducing the wondrous wildlife of🌎bogs, fens, & swamps! Moose, caribou, bears, frogs, dragonflies, rattlensnakes (yes, rattlesnakes!), and further south, more snakes, & skinks. The biodiversity of global #peatlands is truly astounding. open.substack.com/pub/peatpedi...

This took me back! 📚 I remember photocopying the most relevant journal pages (reduced size, so it cost less! My poor eyes...) so I could go back to my college room to study. Because I didn't want to live in the library. And so I could have a decent cup of tea while reading ☕️ 📚📚📚 Research was slow...

Markus Eichhorn@markuseichhorn.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Then to the stacks. Journal web pages didn't exist. Everything was in hard copy. So you went to the library shelves to find the volume you needed and looked at it on paper. Sometimes this meant going to a different library.

Excited to share the first publication from my PhD work on swamps! We conducted a synoptic study of 12 swamps across southern Ontario looking at carbon pools and fluxes. doi.org/10.19189/001...