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Reply to: Validity of managing peatlands with fire

Nature Geoscience volume 12, pages 886–888 (2019)Cite this article

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 20 November 2019

The Original Article was published on 28 October 2019

This article has been updated

replying to A. J. Baird et al. Nature Geoscience https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0477-5 (2019)

Prescribed burning when advocated to control wildfire1 is controversial, so we welcome the critique of our paper by Baird et al.2, which questions the generality of our finding based on a single-site experiment. In our paper, we emphasized that the experiment described was unique (mentioned thrice)1 based on its relatively long time span (~60 years) and that four prescribed burning treatments were applied in a replicated experimental design. We were, therefore, only too aware of the problems associated with extrapolating our results to other circumstances. Moreover, we placed numerous caveats to suggest that care would be needed in such extrapolation to other regions.

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Fig. 1: Effects of differing prescribed fire frequencies on peat and C accumulation rates.

Data availability

The link to the data that support the findings of this study is presented in ref. 1.

Change history

  • 20 November 2019

    An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

References

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Heather Trust and NERC/DEFRA (FIREMAN BioDiversa project (NE/G002096/1). S. Yee provided graphical support.

Author information

Author notes

  1. K. A. Allen

    Present address: Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

  2. J. G. Alday

    Present address: Department of Vegetal Production & Forestry Science, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain

  3. V. Santana

    Present address: Center for Environmental Studies in the Mediterranean, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain

  4. H. Lee

    Present address: National Institute of Ecology, Seocheon-gun, Republic of Korea

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    R. H. Marrs, E.-L. Marsland, R. Lingard, G. Milligan, K. A. Allen, J. G. Alday, V. Santana, H. Lee, K. Halsall & R. C. Chiverrell

  2. Environmental Radioactivity Research Centre, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    P. G. Appleby & G. T. Piliposyan

  3. Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Bailrigg, Lancaster, UK

    R. J. Rose

  4. Ptyxis Ecology, Lambley, Northumberland, UK

    J. O’Reilly

Authors
  1. R. H. Marrs
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Contributions

R.H.M. and R.C.C. planned and carried out the field sampling with R.J.R., E.-L.M., R.L. and K.H. R.C.C. led the geochemistry and stratigraphy with E.-L.M. and R.L.; P.G.A. and G.T.P. were responsible for the radiometric dating; the vegetation survey and analyses were planned and performed by J.G.A., K.A.A., H.L., G.M., R.J.R., J.O’R. and V.S. R.H.M. and R.C.C. produced the manuscript and all authors contributed to the final version. This paper was primarily authored by R.H.M., R.C.C. and J.G.A.; all other authors have seen and commented on the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. H. Marrs.

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Competing interests

Financial competing interests: The work reported in this paper was 95% funded by a Biodiversa grant (ERA-net project within the European Union’s 6th Framework Programme for Research — 2008 Joint call), which in the UK was funded jointly by DEFRA/NERC (NE/G002096/1). DEFRA is a government ministry whose policy is not to burn on peat. R.H.M. was a co- Investigator. The other 5% (about £2,000) was provided by the Heather Trust, which is a charity that’s dedicated to moorland and upland environment management. Non-financial competing interests: R.H.M. is a member of the Heather Trust and currently their honorary President; in this role he is specifically barred from interfering in any aspect of their work and does not have voting rights. The Trust aims to provide good moorland management and foster peat conservation in a range of different ways, of which burning is one approach. The Heather Trust does not seek to influence the author’s views when work they support is published. R.H.M. was an expert panel member for DEFRA in 2004 and 2005, when the regulations for burning on peatland were re-written. R.H.M. was an expert witness in a public inquiry on Heather Burning in 2012, supporting a private client. R.H.M. was an author of two of the reports by the IUCN UK Peatland Programme’s Commission of Inquiry on Peatlands. R.H.M. is a member of the Game Conservancy & Wildlife Trust’s Uplands Research Committee; this is advisory only and is unpaid. R.H.M. is not a member of the GWCT, is not involved with game shooting in any way, has never shot game of any description and has never attended any game-shooting event.

Additional information

Peer review information Primary Handling Editor(s): Xujia Jiang.

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Marrs, R.H., Marsland, EL., Lingard, R. et al. Reply to: Validity of managing peatlands with fire. Nat. Geosci. 12, 886–888 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0478-4

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