Bogs into bush: Research suggests climate change threatens Alberta wetlands

EDMONTON — New research suggests that climate change is threatening to turn Alberta's huge northern wetlands into vast expanses of bush and shrub.

The shift would create great changes in the province's freshwater cycle and release large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The study, published today in the journal Nature, concludes that even small increases in temperature would cause peat bogs to start drying out.

That would make them more susceptible to fire and less likely to recover after they've been burned over.

The study says the bogs would eventually be replaced by stands of willow bushes and poplar trees.