{"id":157,"date":"2026-03-25T13:01:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/?page_id=157"},"modified":"2026-04-29T10:52:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T07:52:49","slug":"research-aims","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/research-aims\/","title":{"rendered":"Research aims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The\u00a0Centre of\u00a0Excellence\u00a0in\u00a0Peatlands, Climate\u00a0Change and\u00a0Ecological Restoration studies ongoing changes in northern peatlands. We aim to advance understanding of how climate\u00a0change\u00a0affects\u00a0the biodiversity\u00a0and climate responses of peat-rich ecosystems, and\u00a0how\u00a0upcoming\u00a0large-scale\u00a0restoration\u00a0in Finland and\u00a0elsewhere\u00a0in Europe will\u00a0affect\u00a0northern peatlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The knowledge gained will be embedded into disaggregative decision-support tools, helping to make informed restoration decisions \u2014 particularly in situations where impacts on biodiversity and climate are in conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our ambition is to <strong>renew peatland science<\/strong> by uncovering mechanisms behind ecosystem resilience and tipping points, as well as vegetation and greenhouse gas dynamics and their interconnectedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Figure-1_Version_4_8_June-1024x427.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-114\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Figure-1_Version_4_8_June-1024x427.png 1024w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Figure-1_Version_4_8_June-300x125.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Figure-1_Version_4_8_June-768x320.png 768w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Figure-1_Version_4_8_June-1536x641.png 1536w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Figure-1_Version_4_8_June-2048x854.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To\u00a0reach our overall ambition, we combine\u00a0paleoecology,\u00a0remote\u00a0sensing, experimental ecological\u00a0research,\u00a0modelling, and\u00a0decision-support\u00a0methods\u00a0in a novel and original way. The core of our work consists of comprehensive mapping of the past, ongoing, and future pressures shaping northern peatlands&#8217; biodiversity and water table (WP1), carbon sink function (WP2), methane emissions (WP3) and biophysical feedbacks (WP4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These efforts will help us to define target states for restoration and assess the feasibility and consequences of restoration initiatives across northern Europe, Finland in particular (WP5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, we aim to develop new decision-support tools and make the latest peatland science accessible to citizens (WP6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"465\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Figure-2_Version_4_9_June-1024x465.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-115\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Figure-2_Version_4_9_June-1024x465.png 1024w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Figure-2_Version_4_9_June-300x136.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Figure-2_Version_4_9_June-768x349.png 768w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Figure-2_Version_4_9_June-1536x698.png 1536w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Figure-2_Version_4_9_June-2048x931.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Our science is based on <strong>geographically and temporally extensive<\/strong> field observations. For example, we make use of peatland vegetation data from the <a href=\"https:\/\/mmm.fi\/en\/forests\/forestry\/forest-inventories\">Finnish National Forest Inventory<\/a> and from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sttinfo.fi\/tiedote\/70696742\/monitoring-study-completed-restoration-brings-peatland-vegetation-closer-to-pristine-state?lang=en\">Finnish peatland restoration network<\/a>. Furthermore, observed ecosystem-atmosphere greenhouse gas exchanges from our own <strong>field research platforms <\/strong>equipped with eddy covariance stations will be compared to international records through our broad network of collaborators and established flux data networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To reveal short-term responses and causal relationships, we make use of both new and existing experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Peatresc_supersites_2026-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Peatresc_supersites_2026-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Peatresc_supersites_2026-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Peatresc_supersites_2026-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Peatresc_supersites_2026-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Peatresc_supersites_2026-992x558.png 992w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/Peatresc_supersites_2026.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"979\" height=\"866\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/peat2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-154\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/peat2.png 979w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/peat2-300x265.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/581\/2026\/03\/peat2-768x679.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 979px) 100vw, 979px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0Centre of\u00a0Excellence\u00a0in\u00a0Peatlands, Climate\u00a0Change and\u00a0Ecological Restoration studies ongoing changes in northern peatlands. We aim to advance understanding of how climate\u00a0change\u00a0affects\u00a0the biodiversity\u00a0and climate responses of peat-rich ecosystems, and\u00a0how\u00a0upcoming\u00a0large-scale\u00a0restoration\u00a0in Finland and\u00a0elsewhere\u00a0in Europe will\u00a0affect\u00a0northern peatlands. The knowledge gained will be embedded into disaggregative decision-support tools, helping to make informed restoration decisions \u2014 particularly in situations where impacts on biodiversity [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1378,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-157","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Research aims - PeatResC - Centre of Excellence in Peatlands, Climate Change and Ecological Restoration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/peatresc\/research-aims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Research aims - PeatResC - Centre of Excellence in Peatlands, Climate Change and Ecological Restoration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The\u00a0Centre of\u00a0Excellence\u00a0in\u00a0Peatlands, Climate\u00a0Change and\u00a0Ecological Restoration studies ongoing changes in northern peatlands. We aim to advance understanding of how climate\u00a0change\u00a0affects\u00a0the biodiversity\u00a0and climate responses of peat-rich ecosystems, and\u00a0how\u00a0upcoming\u00a0large-scale\u00a0restoration\u00a0in Finland and\u00a0elsewhere\u00a0in Europe will\u00a0affect\u00a0northern peatlands. 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