Peatland must be wet - immediately. This is a summary of the results of the international conference that took place from September 10 to 13, 2019 at the University of Rostock. At the WETSCAPES conference, 160 scientists from 20 countries discussed the results of their research in dehydrated, rewetted and near-natural peatlands. Representatives from various disciplines talked about plant growth, greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient losses and microbial processes in the soil. Most of these scientists deal with individual phenomena in peatlands, and together they were able to establish clear relationships and connections between the results. This is particularly important for rewetted peatlands, as these systems represent completely new ecosystems and the details of their functioning are still poorly understood. Complete report (in German) here.

On August 29, 2019, about 30 agricultural and environmental attachés from 14 countries from Japan to Paraguay, together with Dr. Till Backhaus, Minister of Agriculture and Environment in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, visited the WETSCAPES research areas in the Karrendorfer Wiesen and the mesocosm facility at the University of Greifswald. The attachés were impressed by the successfully revitalized coastal flood mire, in which the importance of wet peatlands for biodiversity, climate protection and regional development is visible, and by the knowledge gained through extensive measurements thanks to the WETSCAPES project. Minister Backhaus particularly praised the good cooperation between the two universities and the high motivation of the professors and young scientists involved in the project. He regards a continuation of the joint research work on peatlands in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as very positive and worthy of support.

At the major construction site of the A20 motorway, which collapsed over the peatland near Triebsees in 2017, 23m deep boreholes are currently being dug underground. These holes shall later be filled with concrete and support the new bridge. Large quantities of peat come to light during drilling. Since our large mesocosm experiment is currently being set up at the University of Greifswald, the 108 vessels with a volume of 100 litres each can be filled with peat from the construction site. Thanks to the friendly support of the State Office for Road Construction and Traffic and the workers on the A20 construction site, the peat from Triebsees is now used in WETSCAPES and the use of commercially mined peat can be dispensed with.

WETSCAPES was chosen as project to be presented at the campaign "Europe in my region. Firstly, Prof. Nicole Wrage-Mönnig represented Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania at the launch event in Hanover, the "Pitch your Project-Award". Furthermore, WETSCAPES was introduced at the MV-Day at Pentecost in Rostock. Many interested people came to us at the "Neuen Markt". Children got magnifying cups for their own research. More pictures, the video of the presentation and information about this campaign here.

On March 23th, 2018, the Minister of Education, Science and Cultur of Mecklenburg-Wetsern Pomerania visited the WETSCAPES project. During a research trip to all five consortia funded by the state's excellence research programme, Mrs. Hesse informed herself about the research questions in WETSCAPES. The young scientists presented their research in the peatland with posters and technical devices as well as samples. At the same time, Thomas Krüger, leader of the SPD parliamentary group in the state parliament, also gained an insight into the work of the scientists at the universities of Greifswald and Rostock. He has long been committed to paludiculture, i.e. the agricultural and forestry use of rewetted moorland sites, and was therefore enthusiastic about the WETSCAPES project, which is developing the scientific basis for paludiculture. Mrs. Hesse concluded: "I was impressed how many young scientists work together with older scientists. I sensed how enthusiastic research is going on here at WETSCAPES." 

On 31th January the third colloquium of WETSCAPES took place at the German Aerospace centre (DLR) in Neustrelitz. After an introduction into the technique to receive, archive and apply data at the DLR, we had fruitful discussions concerning past and future project progression, this time with the main focus on remote sensing.

We performed a basic test for airtightness of our greenhouse gas chambers in the field. Field testing has the advantage that we can assess the tightness of the whole system (chamber, collar, sealing) at once and under realistic conditions. As suggested by Hoffmann et al. 2017, we used smoke from a cartridge as indicator for gas leakage. This worked unexpectedly well and we even found a small leakage around an incorrectly installed plug in the lid of one chamber, visible by a thin whisp of white smoke. Fortunately, this leakage could be fixed very easily. Since the smoke cartridge test is very fast and easy (and fun…), we plan to repeat it each time the chambers or collars are modified to ensure airtightness throughout the study period.

Am Dienstag fand an der Agrar- und Umweltwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Rostock eine Projektbesichtigung des Verbundprojektes WETSCAPES statt. Herr Egbert Holthuis von der Generaldirektion Beschäftigung, Soziales und Integration der Europäischen Kommission und Vertreter der Ministerien für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur sowie für Wirtschaft, Arbeit und Gesundheit des Landes Mecklenburg-Vorpommern erhielten einen Einblick in die Arbeit der Wissenschaftler an den Universitäten Rostock und Greifswald. In Vorträgen, Posterpräsentationen und anhand vieler praktischer Demonstrationen zeigte sich zum einen die enorme Bedeutung dieser Forschung für Klimaschutz und Wirtschaft als auch die Vielfalt der verwendeten Methoden.

Nachdem die Gäste aus Brüssel und Schwerin viele angeregte Diskussionen mit jungen Forschern führten und Einblick in ein modernes Forschungslabor erhielten, zog Herr Holthuis das Fazit, dass das spannende Thema Moorschutz und Paludikultur noch viel zu wenig bekannt ist und daher demnächst durch die WETSCAPES-Wissenschaftler in Brüssel vorgestellt werden soll.

The first all-day colloquium of WETSCAPES took place on 28th June 2017 in Bad Sülze. 30 Scientists discussed about sampling, data exchange, planned investigations and already first results. The next meeting is scheduled for September.

The first investigation sites were set up. Hard-working helpers from the WETSCAPES team built board walks and fences in the coastal transgression mire. Construction work at the other sites will follow within the next weeks.