abstract
- Peatlands are unique habitats that are covering around 3% of the land area and they are characterized by high sensitivity to climate. These very complex ecosystems impact both water and carbon cycle at local as well as global scale. Peatlands are also valuable ecosystems due to their mitigating features in terms of floods or soil erosion and they can store and filtrate water in the landscape as well. As a result of high moisture they can also gather a big amount of carbon and this ability makes peatlands climate coolers. On the other hand a stored carbon can be released into the atmosphere due to peat moisture decrease and it accelerate the global warming processes. Beside climate changes, peatlands are under pressure that is caused by human activities like land use changes or fires. Peatlands protection and restoration can both mitigate climate changes and water balance disturbances. A review of peatlands status and feature in the context of climate changes and human-induced disturbances are presented in this paper.