Peat bogs are weird repositories of Earth science, history, and ecology.
“Peatlands have taught us perhaps more about human history than any other” ecosystem, says ecologist Merritt Turetsky, author of Bogland: The Secret World That Defies Death and Protects Life. “They’re storytellers about Earth’s history. They’re storytellers about early human societies.”
“Bog bodies,” unearthed hundreds and even thousands of years after their burial, are one example of the preservative power of peatlands. “Natural Mummies Hold Memories of Life and Land” is a fascinating introduction to bog bodies, icemen, and other human remains that are naturally, if unintentionally, preserved by the intersecting idiosyncrasies of temperature, moisture, aridity, pressure, and microbiomes. This feature also reminds us that these mummies are not only scientific specimens—they are the remains of human beings and touchpoints for the rights of Indigenous peoples long overlooked in Western-dominated research.
Peatlands record stories far older than humanity, of course. “Wildfires Burned in Antarctica 90 Million Years Ago” explores how Antarctic sediment cores are revealing the White Continent’s evolution from a temperate rainforest to a peatland during the Cretaceous.
History is still being written in peat, and it might even help predict the future. Recent research revealed that bird biodiversity is soaring in a solar park built on degraded peatland. (That story is one of many Eos articles available in audio.) Rewetted bogs offer an additional reason for cautious optimism, as detailed in “Restored Peatlands Could Become Carbon Sinks Within Decades.”
In addition to being Turetsky’s storytellers, peat bogs and other wetlands “are actually unsung heroes,” says Annie Proulx in Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis.
We hope this issue of Eos reacquaints you with wetlands and ushers in a hopeful approach to October.
—Caryl-Sue Micalizio, Editor in Chief