Can the rewetting of drained, nitrogen contaminated peatlands reduce EU-wide greenhouse gas emissions and improve wetland biodiversity? Peatlands represent 2.5% of all agricultural land in the EU, but ~ 25% of agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and ~ 5% of total EU-wide GHG emissions. The rewetting of peatlands has been found to reduce, or even reverse, carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) gas emissions, the most common and potent GHGs respectively.

How are the domestic peatlands doing? Which peatlands in Austria are best suited for current and future peatland restoration? By comparing the vegetation of the peatlands - from before the compilation of the Austrian Peatland Conservation Catalogue in 1992 until today - the current conservation status of the peatlands is surveyed. The data collection is spread over seven federal states and all peatland types. The development and state of peatlands allow to estimate the potential of carbon storage through ecological restoration. Additionally, the data will allow to refine climate risk scenarios for peatlands in Austria. 

Pamela Baur is working on quantifying and improving the process understanding of methane, carbon dioxide and water vapor fluxes in the reed belt of Lake Neusiedl.

Raphael Müller deals with the degradation of organic matter by soil microorganisms under the special conditions of the saline Lake Neusiedl.

Yujing Deng investigates mechanisms of peat decomposition under climate change and anthropogenic activities.

 ReVersal (Restoring peatlands of the nemoral zone under conditions of varying water supply)

The ReVersal project aims to develop a indicator framework for peatland restoration success across peat bog sites affected by drainage and/or extraction. This will be achieved by the consideration of biological and biogeochemical conditions, greenhouse gas fluxes, and biodiversity along degradation and restoration trajectories s. Based on this consideration, uncertainties of conservation and restoration approaches will be evaluated and adaptive management strategies considering trade-offs between restoration goals will be developed. These strategies can be transferred across landscapes via remote-sensing based models.

Researchers in the new PeatGOV-Austria project, funded by the Austrian Climate Research Program (ACRP), are studying how best to keep peat in the field. The research teams from the Working Group Geoecology of the University of Vienna and the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU) are working together on the question "How large is the greenhouse gas emission from agriculturally used peatland and what could climate-appropriate management of the land look like."