From from to functions: drone-based mapping of peatland vegetation patterns as ecological indicators

Summary

Peatlands provide important ecosystem services to humans by sequestering disproportionally large amounts of carbon and providing habitat for specialized species, among others. Recent recognition of the importance of healthy peatlands has resulted in large projects aimed at protecting and restoring peatlands in the European Union. However, monitoring approaches to assess restoration “success” and account for investments are lacking, hampering evaluation and comparison both between and across the many peatlands in Europe. Peatland vegetation patterns are a recognized indicator of peatland carbon fluxes and habitat diversity, and mapping these patterns can be used as an indicator of changes in these functions and thus services. Remote sensing with drones holds great potential to do this, but it is a novel scientific field. As a result, comprehensive methods are lacking that can facilitate accurate, efficient and standardized monitoring. This highlights the need and responsibility for comparative testing. To this end, we developed an accessible drone-based mapping approach that can both accurately and efficiently map vegetation patterns in Irish peatlands at spatial scales of up to 1000ha. We provide comprehensive and novel insights into the many requirements for large-scale peatland vegetation mapping on which future drone studies can build to further advance monitoring of peatland functions and services in a wide variety of peatlands.