Towards the quantification of blanket bog ecosystem services to water

Blanket bogs are common in many areas of Ireland, contributing to some of our most iconic landscapes. However, although they cover approximately 13% of the country, natural processes sustaining blanket bogs remain poorly understood. This lack of knowledge includes an underappreciation of the natural capital that they contain and the ecosystem services that they provide to society. Failure to appreciate the wider benefits provided by blanket bogs has resulted in many blanket bogs being altered for alternative uses that generate marketable products such as fuel, meat and timber. Some of these activities involve installing artificial drainage, which can negatively affect bog hydrology (or how water behaves). This can have an impact on bog vegetation, flow in streams and water quality. Moreover, damage to blanket bog hydrology can have significant economic knock-on effects, ranging from an increased risk of flooding downstream to higher water treatment costs and reduced water security. However, assigning costs to these effects has been complicated by a lack of information on how blanket bogs behave naturally and how much human activities have altered natural processes.