The Newsletter

Can-Peat is divided into activities to achieve our 5 project goals. 11 out of 16 research activities are now underway. Visit our activity page to learn more about our research efforts and meet our dedicated graduate students and postdocs.

This year's annual meeting built on the main themes of the project discussed at our 2023 Kickoff such as Indigenous engagement and data sovereignty and accessibility. We also met with our advisory committees to discuss the project's direction and progress.

Drs. Rezanezhad and Van Cappellen of Can-Peat have published a paper in Geoderma on synthesis data analysis investigating the spatial distribution pattern of temperature sensitivity (Q10) of peat respiration and its correlation with climate conditions, soil properties, and hydrology. 

Can-Peat is excited to announce our annual meeting on February 20-22 in Quebec City. Although the main meeting is for members only, we are hosting a public Peatland Science Symposium jointly with the Peatland Ecology Research Group (PERG). Additionally, the outcomes will be shared in the next newsletter so stay tuned!

Dr. Saraswati, formally of Dr. Strack's research group, currently of the Ecohydrology Research Group, wins NSERC Banting fellowship.

For more information: https://uwaterloo.ca/ecohydrology/news/saraswati-wins-prestigious-nserc-banting-postdoctoral

Looking for terrestrial or aquatic CO2 and CH4 fluxes, and supporting enviro data
Deadline: December, 2023
On behalf of the ABCflux team

Katie Hettinga, starting her MSc in September, shares her experiences at the RE3 conference and GPI/Can-Peat workshop. 

Have you deposited your datasets into databases? Can-Peat, with PhD candidate Maryam Bayatvarkeshi, is working to improve peatland data accessibility.

Communication and cross-discipline collaboration is often limited to the same groups leading to duplicated efforts and missed synergies. To improve this, Can-Peat is developing a public list of Canadian peatland projects.

Submit your project here!

By Nancy Goucher

Can-Peat: Peatlands as nature-based climate solutions got down to work at its first annual workshop held in Waterloo, ON at the end of January 2023. The meeting brought together 36 researchers, NGOs, industry, government and Indigenous communities from across Canada to discuss plans for meeting their ambitious goals which include creating a Canadian peatland network, developing a database to house peatland carbon data, advancing peatland carbon models, and identifying mechanisms for implementing peatland nature-based solutions.

By Christopher Schulze 

In June 2019, a peatland burned near my long-term peatland research site in northernmost Alberta. This changed my PhD, as I and my supervisors David Olefeldt (University of Alberta) and Oliver Sonnentag (Université de Montréal) realized that this presented a rare opportunity.

By Marissa Davies

My project aims to test how the timing and combination of treatments impacts peatland carbon losses and recovery from fire using the Canadian Model for Peatlands (CaMP), which tracks carbon pools and fluxes pre- and post-disturbances. This work will support continued field studies and explore recovery trajectories on timescales of 50-100 years. My work will also help to include more fire scenarios within CaMP that can be used to predict carbon losses from fire at a national scale.

By Kayla Martin

My work focuses on Can-Peat's second objective of developing a data repository. For my data compilation, I am combing peatland carbon data from six sites across Alberta and Quebec with more sites to come.

The Can-Peat newsletter will be published four times a year. Articles will focus on research updates, upcoming events, and research team profiles.

We also hope to include features and updates from our partners, collaborators, and the broader Canadian peatland community so if you have an idea for article or have a great photo, please get in touch at canpeat@uwaterloo.ca!

Can-Peat has two advisory committees, the Science and Policy Advisory Board and the Indigenous Advisory Council, to guide the research and outreach, ensuring good science and ethical practices. Please welcome our new members.

Across Canada, and internationally, peatlands are subject to significant human disturbances, such as agricultural drainage, forestry drainage, peat extraction, and oil sands mining, which may convert them into a significant carbon (C) source, thus jeopardized their climate mitigation function.