Summary1. In the UK, drainage for agricultural reclamation during the 19th and 20th centuries is responsible for an alteration of the ecological and hydrological functioning of peatlands, in turn, affecting a whole suite of ecosystem services. Today, initiatives are in place throughout the UK to reinstate this eco-hydrological functioning by blocking drainage ditches. Effects on ecosystem services remain unclear, as does the overlapping impact of climate change on peatland recovery. 2. This article uses a conceptual model to present the effects of restoration on ecosystem services, that is, water provision and quality, carbon storage, biodiversity, food and fibre provision and cultural services, both immediately after ditch blocking and in the few years postrestoration. The model is then applied in the context of Exmoor National Park, in South West England and used to perform a cost-benefit analysis of the restoration and monitoring programme, as these shallow peatlands are located in geographically marginal areas, and therefore more sensitive to climate change. 3. Past research indicates that some processes tend to return progressively to their predisturbance state, but whether the complete recovery of peatlands to functioning mires occurs after restoration remains unclear, partly due to the difference between the temporal and spatial scale at which processes occur (i.e. up to decadal) and are monitored (typically a few years). 4. Overall, on Exmoor, the long-term benefit of peatland restoration to some ecosystem services, such as a reduction in carbon losses and improvement of water storage and quality, has the potential to balance high financial investment. 5. Synthesis and applications. Gaining a better understanding of the effects of peatland restoration on ecosystem services provided is essential to assess the potential value of restoration projects. Using the case of the shallow peatlands of Exmoor National Park, located in geographically marginal areas in the UK and therefore more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, we find that there is potential for both the value of carbon storage and water provision to offset the costs of restoration in the long-term. Our results from Exmoor can provide ecological analogues of impending change further north.

No abstract

Hard X-ray/soft gamma-ray astrophysics is on the verge of a major advance with the practical realization of technologies capable of efficiently focusing X-rays above 10 keV. Hard X-ray focusing telescopes can achieve orders of magnitude improvements in sensitivity compared to the instruments based on coded apertures and collimated detectors that have traditionally been employed in this energy band. Compact focal planes enable high-performance detectors with good spectral resolution to be employed in efficient, low-background configurations. We have developed multilayer coated grazing incidence optics and solid state Cadmium Zinc Telluride focal plane systems for the High Energy Focusing Telescope (HEFT) balloon-borne experiment, and for the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) Small Explorer satellite. In this paper we describe the technologies, telescope designs, and performance of both experiments.

Globally, the historic and recent exploitation of peatlands through management practices such as agricultural reclamation, peat harvesting or forestry, have caused extensive damage to these ecosystems. Their value is now increasingly recognised, and restoration and rehabilitation programmes are underway to improve some of the ecosystem services provided by peatlands: blocking drainage ditches in deep peat has been shown to improve the storage of water, decrease carbon losses in the long-term, and improve biodiversity. However, whilst the restoration process has benefitted from experience and technical advice gained from restoration of deep peatlands, shallow peatlands have received less attention in the literature, despite being extensive in both uplands and lowlands. Using the experience gained from the restoration of the shallow peatlands of Exmoor National Park (UK), and two test catchments in particular, this paper provides technical guidance which can be applied to the restoration of other shallow peatlands worldwide. Experience showed that integrating knowledge of the historical environment at the planning stage of restoration was essential, as it enabled the effective mitigation of any threat to archaeological features and sites. The use of bales, commonly employed in other upland ecosystems, was found to be problematic. Instead, 'leaky dams' or wood and peat combination dams were used, which are both more efficient at reducing and diverting the flow, and longer lasting than bale dams. Finally, an average restoration cost (£306 ha(-1)) for Exmoor, below the median national value across the whole of the UK, demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of these techniques. However, local differences in peat depth and ditch characteristics (i.e. length, depth and width) between sites affect both the feasibility and the cost of restoration. Overall, the restoration of shallow peatlands is shown to be technically viable; this paper provides a template for such process over analogous landscapes.

The degree to which proxy palaeoenvironmental data can be used to reliably indicate the presence of woodland clearings is therefore critical. This paper presents results from two modern analogues (Dunham Massey, Cheshire and Epping Forest, Greater London, UK-Figure 1), which were studied in order to examine