Peatlands only cover 4% of the worlds surface but hold 550 gigatonnes of carbon, which is twice the carbon stored in the biomass of forests. Understanding the carbon balance in these systems is of vital importance so we can predict effects of global warming and manage wetlands sustainably. However, the peatland carbon store has complex interactions with the biosphere. My research focusses on vegetation/bacterial biomarkers and their isotopic signatures, which can be used to describe the microbial community and organic matter composition in the peat environment. We use these tools to characterize the formation and preferential degradation of peats, which microbes/processes are involved in the degradation, and how these interactions changed over time.