What is so special about bogland biodiversity?
To survive in the wet and open bogland habitat plants and animals have had to adapt.
To mark National Biodiversity Week, the Irish Peatland Conservation Council (IPCC) has offered an insight into why bogland biodiversity is so special.
The national charity which works towards the conservation of a representative sample of Irish peatlands for people to enjoy today and in the future.
Bogland
According to the IPCC, sphagnum mosses can hold up to ten times their own weight in water as they have internal specialised cells known as hyaline cells.
There are over twenty different species of sphagnum moss found on Irish bogs, which are known as the 'bog builders'.
The ability of sphagnum mosses to store water helps to prevent flooding in communities, one of the many ecosystem services of this type of habitat, the council added.
The IPCC said that boglands are also the only habitat in Ireland where you will find cranberries growing, a food that was traditionally picked to make preserves for the winter ahead.
Biodiversity
A bogland is 90% water and 10% dead plants. The surface of a bog is made up of drier hummocks and wetter bog pools.
There is a great diversity of invertebrate communities living within these bog pools, including Ireland's largest spider, the raft spider.
The pools also act as important nurseries for the larval stages of many species of damselfly and dragonfly.
Two of Ireland's amphibians – the common frog and smooth newt – both lay their eggs in bog pools where their young develop.
The presence of these invertebrates and amphibians in turn support bird life including the curlew and snipe.
These birds both have long beaks to probe deep under the surface of the bog pools in search of a tasty meal.
Due to the wet and nutrient poor nature of these habitats, the growth of taller plants is not supported and as a result all bogland plants are low growing.
Bogland birds must nest on the open bogland habitat relying on heather for shelter.
Ireland's insect eating plants, the native sundew and butterwort, have adapted to trap and eat insects rather than depending on absorbing nutrients from peat.
The IPCC said that species such as the large heath butterfly, red grouse, cottongrasses and devil's matchstick lichen can all be described as 'iconic bogland biodiversity'.
'What's so special about bogland biodiversity? The variety of, their quirky adaptations and the many services they provide for us all combine to make bogland biodiversity special,' the council added.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
11 hours ago
- Irish Independent
How pig feasts and ‘magic' mushrooms reveal Newgrange's strange similarity to Stonehenge
'The pigs were deliberately fattened on acorns in oak forests for a period prior to being slaughtered at Newgrange, mainly during midwinter feasting conducted around 2,600 to 2,450BC,' said Dr Neil Carlin, a UCD archaeologist who took part in the research along with others from Ireland, the UK and Canada, and whose work has been published in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. 'It also shows very strong links with places like Stonehenge where very similar solstice-related pig feasting was happening at the same time,' Dr Carlin said. It was surprising, he added, to find such strong evidence that the winter feasting at Newgrange and Stonehenge were taking place at exactly the same time and in a very similar manner. We don't know whether the feasting went on for a day, a week or more The researchers believe the Newgrange feasts would have involved groups of people gathering at the entrance to the sealed tomb, perhaps to pay homage to their ancestors. This view is based on the quantity of materials present, the nature of the radiocarbon dates recovered from the animal bones and the size of the timber and earthen monuments constructed at the time. 'This may have been 100 or maybe 1,000 people – we can't tell, and we also don't know whether the ceremonies and feasting went on for a day, a week or more,' said Dr Fiona Beglane, archaeologist at the Atlantic Technological University, Sligo, and a lead author. 'We think that it may have involved larger numbers of people for several days over at least a few decades. 'There may have been a formal religious ceremony, perhaps including ritual slaughter of the animals, followed by depositing offerings of pork joints to the ancestors, and then the feasting.' The researchers found grooved-ware pottery in the area outside the tomb – a pottery type that has been linked to the storage of food and drink and the making and consuming of alcoholic drinks. 'Based on the presence of grooved ware, they were probably drinking alcohol, maybe mead – which is made from honey – or beer-type drinks, made from grain, or maybe fruit wines,' Dr Beglane said. 'They may also have used hallucinogenic mushrooms or poisonous plants to induce states of altered consciousness.' The archaeologists believe midwinter feasting at Newgrange continued for centuries after the tomb was closed, even when the sun lighting up the burial chamber was no longer visible. The Newgrange results highlight an especially intense use of acorns Dr Eric Guiry, an archaeologist at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, and a lead author of the research, studies the diets and behaviour of the people of Newgrange. It was interesting, he noted, that the archaeological findings from Newgrange showed how little pig husbandry practices in Ireland had changed over the centuries. 'In some of the earliest Irish writings, such as law texts, pigs are strongly linked to acorn feeding,' Dr Guiry said. 'The Newgrange results highlight an especially intense use of acorns –underscoring the deep antiquity of the connection between pigs, people and forests in Ireland.'
Irish Post
a day ago
- Irish Post
Met Éireann will fund research project which uses AI to improve flood forecasting
A RESEARCH project which uses AI to improve flood forecasting in Ireland has secured Met Éireann funding. Based at the University of Galway, the study is being led by Dr Indiana Olbert, a lecturer in Civil Engineering at the School of Engineering in the College of Science and Engineering at the university. Titled IMUFF: Integrated Multi-model multi-hazard Flood Forecasting, Dr Olbert's two-year project will address the threat of compound coastal-fluvial flooding – when rivers and streams burst. It seeks to develop an advanced system for three-day flood forecasts using AI-generated time series and water depth maps. 'More than 300 Irish communities at risk from this type of flooding and the project will aggregate diverse data sources - such as meteorological forecasts, river flows, tidal record and satellite data - directly supporting Met Éireann's flood forecasting, strengthening community resilience and improving Ireland's readiness for compound flood events in a changing climate,' a spokesperson for the university explained. The project is one of eight based at universities across Ireland which have been awarded a total of €2.8m in funding from the national meteorological service. The funding is part of Met Éireann's Weather and Climate Research Programme, which aims to strengthen national research capacity and scientific expertise in weather and climate, through high-impact projects. 'I am delighted to receive this funding award from Met Éireann,' Dr Olbert said. 'As floods are amongst the most common and deadly weather-related natural disasters, the project aims to develop a state-of-the-art AI-based compound flood forecasting system,' she added. 'The project will support the forecasting work delivered by the Flood Forecasting Centre at Met Éireann, increasing resilience of Irish communities and better preparing for the growing threat of compound coastal-fluvial floods.' A second project at the University of Galway has also received funding Met Éireann funding. Dr Paul Nolan's T3UD: TRANSLATE-3: Underpinning Data research project has also been awarded a grant. A climate scientist and project lead in the Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC) at the university, Dr Nolan's project will deliver updated climate projections and related products for Ireland over the next four years. 'Using global data it will also explore how these projections are used in practice across different sectors, addressing uncertainty and risk management,' a university spokesperson explained. 'Ultimately, the work aims to enhance national climate services by producing user-relevant, scientifically grounded projections while communicating the limitations and confidence levels of the data.' Dr Nolan said he and his team were 'delighted' to receive Met Éireann's support. 'The combination of high-resolution local simulations from ICHEC and historical data from Met Éireann means that we can provide the best insights from the worlds of physics and statistics to inform the climate adaptation plans of Irish local authorities, utilities, and other end-users,' he added. Professor Lokesh Joshi, Interim Vice-President for Research and Innovation at the University of Galway, said they were 'delighted' that two university projects have been selected for funding under Met Éireann's research programme. 'These awards recognise the strength of University of Galway's research in vital areas such as delivering advanced climate projections and improving flood forecasting,' he said. 'Together, these projects will help deliver real benefits to communities in Ireland as we face more extreme weather events and a changing climate,' he added. See More: Flooding, Funding, Ireland, Met Eireann, University Of Galway
Agriland
2 days ago
- Agriland
What are the risks to the Irish agri-environment from the Asian hornet?
Following confirmation of the presence of an Asian Hornet in Ireland by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Sussex-based scientist Norman Carreck - who has kept bees since the age of 15 - told us what complications an invasion of the insects would bring to Ireland. Carreck said beekeepers in Ireland will be rightfully concerned by the recent discovery, as these hornets do enjoy eating honeybees. However, the scientist warned that the hornets can have a wider impact on the Irish environment. The scientist described them as a very opportunistic species who eat all sots of insects, and - similar to wasps - enjoy attacking fruits which grow in Ireland, such as blueberries and strawberries. Their feeding habits can cause quite large economic losses to farmers and growers. He also stated that there is a strong public health risk, mostly because hornets nest in places where humans are more likely to disturb their nest. Carreck explained how the species is not individually more aggressive than European hornets or wasps, but warned if you stir up a nest there is a good chance of being stung. He also cited hornet-related fatalities in France and Spain. He urged the public to keep an eye out for the species saying they are quite distinct. Carreck said: "European hornets look a yellow brown colour while Asian hornets are black with yellow legs." When asked will these hornets do well in Ireland, Carreck said: "They are doing really well in warm places such northern Spain and France, but they are also doing reasonably well in northern Italy where it is quite cool, and in Belgium and The Netherlands, where the climate is not too different from Ireland, except drier." They do like good weather to establish, but even though their nest is made of paper and left out in weather, they are remarkably weather-proof, so even torrential rain won't destroy them." Carreck explained that it is possible Ireland's higher rainfall will make it a less habitable environment for the insects, though they have proved to be quite a robust species out of their natural environment.. However, the scientist said the difference in rainfall between the east and west of Ireland may mean the insects could enjoy the east. He added that he would not consider Cork too unsuitable for them. Carreck said that this invasive species can enter the country in many ways. While the Heritage Council's 2023 risk assessment highlighted the role of sentinel hives in importing the insects, the scientist highlighted that the Asian hornet does not need bees to get into Ireland. He said that there is many ways they can get to the island, and an individual queen can arrive though somebody's luggage, as well as fruit, vegetables, and other commodity shipments. Carreck said the most likely entry is through ports, noting that this week's sighting was in Cork, and the last sighting in 2021 was in Dublin, two cities with large ports. Despite this being a common entry point, the UK scientist said that these hornets are equally commonly found on lorries, and so could be found anywhere in the country. Carreck explained how having first appeared in Gloucestershire in 2016, the Asian hornet is now established in the extreme south-east corner of England - such as Kent and east Sussex - since 2022, despite the official government view being that they are not established. He added that originally, there was only one or two nests recorded, up to a max of four nests a year, with numbers falling during Covid-19 due to less cross-Channel traffic. However, he said in 2023, there was suddenly 75 nests in the year. While that figure fell sightly in 2024, this year looks set to beat the 2023 record, as 54 nest have already being confirmed as of last week. Tests by the UK national bee unit and associated lab showed some of this year's queens were offspring of last year, while others were grouped from nests that were not discovered. Carreck explained that the UK's Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) bee inspectors have been trained to use cherry pickers to destroy the nests. He said it is still quite early in the season for nests to be spotted at the top of tall trees, as typically they go unnoticed until leaves fall. According to the scientists, as the hornets produce their offspring late in the season, inspectors have to race to the destroy any nests they discover before this point.
