Deep Histories and Wet Wonders of Aukštumala: What plants, waters and peat tell us.
Current Project

Collaborator/s:
WETBEINGS Aukštumala ~ Arts, Science & Story Field Symposium
Excursions
31 May 2025
Aukštumala Raised Bog: Protected Areas
with:
Andreas Haberl (paleo- and peatland ecologist and paludiculture expert, Michael Succow Foundation, Greifswald) with Balinis vėžlys - European Pond Turtle and Jūratė Sendžikaitė (botanist, peatland restoration expert, Foundation for Peatland Restoration and Conservation, Vilnius) with Saulašarė - Sundew.
We learn how water, mire plants, and peat depend on each other in living peatland ecosystems. In intact peatlands (mires), plants growing there end up under water-saturated conditions after they die. Due to the lack of oxygen, microbes cannot decompose the dead plant material completely, and over time, layers of dead organic material accumulate on the site. We call this material peat, and the place where it accumulates is a peatland. Over the last 10,000 years, peatlands in Europe form peat deposits several meters deep—an archive that helps interpret the history of the peatland and its environment.