Peatlands store huge amounts of carbon, but what happens when they catch fire? In this episode of Peatpod, Dr Lorna Harris chats with Professor Sophie Wilkinson about peatland wildfires across Canada's boreal landscapes (with a small detour to Scotland), from how they start and why peat fires differ from forest fires, to 'zombie fires' that smoulder underground through winter. Climate and smoke impacts, and how roads, industry and peat extraction raise fire risk are also covered.

About Peatpod: Stories, insights, and musings about the world’s beautiful bogs, fens, and swamps. Join Dr Lorna Harris for chats about our favourite squishy and carbon-rich wetland ecosystems, with peatland scientists, practitioners, and knowledge-holders from around the world.

All episodes are presented, researched, edited, and produced by Dr Lorna Harris.

Music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds. Hosted on Spotify.

Subscribe for free to Peatpedia on Substack to receive news of new Peatpedia articles and Peatpod episodes - https://peatpedia.substack.com/.

Peatpedia and Peatpod are reader and listener supported initatives. Consider upgrading to a paid subscription to Peatpedia on Substack to support the research, writing, and production work behind every article and podcast episode.

Peatlands cover only a small part of the planet, but they store huge amounts of carbon and hold thousands of years of environmental and human history. In this episode of Peatpod, Dr Lorna Harris chats with Professor Julie Loisel about how scientists take peat cores and use them to reconstruct past climates, measure carbon, and track how ecosystems change over time. The conversation travels across the Americas, from Alaska and Canada to Costa Rica, Peru, and the Caribbean, and on to Antarctica.

Chapters:
00:06 Opening the world of peatlands and what peat cores reveal
02:10 How scientists core peatlands to reconstruct history and measure carbon
08:27 What can peat cores tell us about past climates?
11:27 Peatlands in Antarctica and what counts as a peatland
19:17 Can new peatlands form as glaciers retreat?
24:07 Into the tropics: coastal peatlands, swamp forests and mangroves
34:44 Why tropical peatlands remain under-mapped
39:29 Mountain bogs and Andean bofedales

About Peatpod: Stories, insights, and musings about the world’s beautiful bogs, fens, and swamps. Join Dr Lorna Harris for chats about our favourite squishy and carbon-rich wetland ecosystems, with peatland scientists, practitioners, and knowledge-holders from around the world.

All episodes are presented, researched, edited, and produced by Dr Lorna Harris.

Music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds. Hosted on Spotify - visit Peatpod show page.

Subscribe for free to receive news of new Peatpedia articles and Peatpod episodes - https://peatpedia.substack.com/.

Peatpedia and Peatpod are reader and listener supported initatives. Consider upgrading to a paid subscription to Peatpedia on Substack to support the research, writing, and production work behind every article and podcast episode.