Resilience of peaty systems to low-severity wildfires in the Cairngorms
type: CreativeWork
description: Wildfires are a major disturbance affecting a variety of Earth’s ecosystems, including ecosystems containing peat. Fires test the resilience of peaty systems through their impacts on interconnected ecosystem components, many of which are understudied. Understanding the role of fire in peaty systems is critical, because peatlands are the most carbon-dense terrestrial environment, they face an increased fire risk due to shifting fire regimes, and there is a need to understand the current resilience of our landscapes to fire. Peaty systems exist in a broad range of environments with diverse ecologies, land-use histories, and climates, all of which are combined with a wide range of associated fire regimes, which we introduce in Chapter 1. Existing research typically examines fire effects on specific peaty environments in isolation and only at one point in time. These as well as other factors result in substantial variability across the literature in how peaty systems respond to fire. This thesis investigates how fire modifies ecosystem functioning (peatland ecology and biogeochemistry) and subsequent ecosystem resilience across different types of peaty systems, and over time. We conducted field studies in the Cairngorms National Park in northern Scotland (undertaken 2022-2023) across three peaty systems affected by wildfire (peatland, forested peatland, and forest), measured one growing season post-fire, plus a Pinus sylvestris forest chronosequence (3 weeks to 22 years post-fire). We used these sites to investigate vegetation community resilience to fire using detailed surveys (Chapter 2) and to investigate post-fire soil organic matter (SOM) persistence using soil sampling and laboratory analyses (Chapter 3). In Chapter 4, we present a global meta-analysis of fire effects on peatland carbon (C) stocks and fluxes, contextualising our primary data analyses. Lastly, in Chapter 5, we synthesise our findings, evaluate ecosystem resilience, assess broader applicability, con…
abstract: Wildfires are a major disturbance affecting a variety of Earth’s ecosystems, including ecosystems containing peat. Fires test the resilience of peaty systems through their impacts on interconnected ecosystem components, many of which are understudied. Understanding the role of fire in peaty systems is critical, because peatlands are the most carbon-dense terrestrial environment, they face an increased fire risk due to shifting fire regimes, and there is a need to understand the current resilience of our landscapes to fire. Peaty systems exist in a broad range of environments with diverse ecologies, land-use histories, and climates, all of which are combined with a wide range of associated fire regimes, which we introduce in Chapter 1. Existing research typically examines fire effects on specific peaty environments in isolation and only at one point in time. These as well as other factors result in substantial variability across the literature in how peaty systems respond to fire. This thesis investigates how fire modifies ecosystem functioning (peatland ecology and biogeochemistry) and subsequent ecosystem resilience across different types of peaty systems, and over time. We conducted field studies in the Cairngorms National Park in northern Scotland (undertaken 2022-2023) across three peaty systems affected by wildfire (peatland, forested peatland, and forest), measured one growing season post-fire, plus a Pinus sylvestris forest chronosequence (3 weeks to 22 years post-fire). We used these sites to investigate vegetation community resilience to fire using detailed surveys (Chapter 2) and to investigate post-fire soil organic matter (SOM) persistence using soil sampling and laboratory analyses (Chapter 3). In Chapter 4, we present a global meta-analysis of fire effects on peatland carbon (C) stocks and fluxes, contextualising our primary data analyses. Lastly, in Chapter 5, we synthesise our findings, evaluate ecosystem resilience, assess broader applicability, con…
author: Kohli, Juliana Maria
language: eng
keywords: Cairngorms National Park, Carbon, Disturbance regimes, Ecology, Fire, Peaty systems, Resilience, Scotland, Soil organic matter, Vegetation recovery
license: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/a3f15b6a-a09e-488c-b6aa-3b719f857cbd/download
license: http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved
date published: 2025-07
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:13Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.126749