Prof. Xiangming Xiao, Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology, Center for Earth Observation and Modeling, University of Oklahoma, USA; Dr Xinxin Wang and Prof. Bo Li, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Fudan University, China.

Peatlands store twice as much carbon as all the biomass of the World’s forests. Vast areas of peatland have been drained and turned into CO2 sources. Their rewetting is essential to reduce CO2 emissions. But how exactly do the rewetted peatlands look like, do they resemble again the natural state?

Static maps are key tools for assessing ecosystem services. Our study shows that hotspots of three boreal-forest services – wood production, bilberry production, and topsoil carbon storage – can change over just 10 years, suggesting that dynamic tools should be used to manage the dynamic forests landscapes.