Stratigraphic Evidence of Regeneration in Some Irish Bogs

The processes by which the mosaics of vegetation and microtopography on raised bog surfaces have originated and are maintained have frequently excited speculation (Gorham 1957; Godwin & Conway 1939; Osvald 1923, 1937, 1949; Pearsall 1956; Ratcliffe & Walker 1958; Tansley 1939). In very general terms opinion is divided between those who see the pool-and-hummock complex as a balanced and self-perpetuating regeneration mechanism and those who regard the pools as erosion features of a bog which, if actively growing, would have a continuous vegetation cover. The importance of peat stratigraphy as a record of the processes which have taken place during the history of a bog has been recognized (Conway 1948, Godwin 1946, Osvald 1923, Tansley 1939) but examples of the detailed studies required are rare and inconclusive (Ratcliffe & Walker 1958). The aim of this work, carried out in Ireland during the summer of 1959, was to collect the most detailed observations practicable in the field on the recent ecological history of a number of bogs as revealed by the stratigraphy of the upper, post'Grenz', peats.