Past Human Activities and Environmental Changes as Recorded by Humic Acids from Raised Bogs

摘要

Peat soils play a crucial role in the carbon cycle as they are generally net sinks for atmospheric carbon dioxide and net sources of greenhouse gases on a long term basis. Among peatlands, ombrotrophic bogs are also considered unique archives of past environmental conditions because their genesis is directly linked to the atmospheric conditions occurring during peat formation [1]. Although several studies have been carried out in the last decades using ombrotrophic bogs in order to reconstruct the historical trends of heavy metal pollution due to anthropogenic activities [2], scientific literature is still rather controversial about the role of ombrotrophic bogs as reliable record of past climatic and environmental changes.