EMBER: Effects of Moorland Burning on the Ecohydrology of River systems
Controlled burning is used worldwide for vegetation management, yet there is serious concern about its environmental implications. Across northern England and Scotland, moorland burning is a traditional practice for encouraging and maintaining heather growth. However, the area of moorland that has been burned has increased in some areas by one third since 1995, to the potential detriment of peatland soils, their hydrology, river flow regimes, water quality and biota. Yet detailed evaluations of the costs, benefits and sustainability of burning are hampered by a lack of basic scientific data. Many moorland owners feel pressured to change what they see as traditional practice despite any convincing evidence of environmental degradation and this is causing serious tension between farmers and regulators. Moorland burning is therefore one of the most pressing applied ecological issues for which upland managers are requesting evidence from the scientific community. EMBER will address these issues by providing the first co-ordinated evaluation of moorland burning effects on river basin hydrological and ecological processes.
This project is funded by NERC with additional support from Yorkshire Water.
It started in June 2009 and will run for 38 months.
