Caithness and Sutherland's 'Peatland Week' saw the third Flow Country Research Conference take place in late October 2015, with a focus on research. Two workshops were held as part of the conference: the first an exercise to draw the Flow Country boundaries on a map - no easy feat; whilst the second workshop got participants discussing priorities for research, and this is what they came up with:
- Performance of new restoration techniques compared to older, against various ecosystem functions including carbon sequestration, water regulation, climate effect and biodiversity
- Evaluation of restoration outcomes and 'trajectories' of peatlands in the Flows following environmental change
- Cost-benefit of management and restoration in both tangible and economic terms
- Variability of 'reference', disturbed and restored systems across long timescales and large areas.
Some of the key actions suggested ny the Flow Country Research Hub to tackle these priorities include:
- Organise output focused events, where 'big ideas' could be turned into proposals
- Prepare an online database of projects to facilitate the integration of knowledge across disciplines
- Spend time on the ground (site visits, demonstration events etc).
Progress in addressing these gaps and advances in peatland science will be discussed at the 4th Research in the Flow Country Conference to be held in spring 2017.
