Elve Lode

Restoration of Degraded Boreal Peatlands

Even though Sphagnum mosses are not easy plants to manipulate on artificial substrates or in nonnatural environments, it is possible to revegetate large expanses of cutover peatland at a relatively low cost (in the range of US

Typological Up-Scaling of Wooded Peatlands

900–1400 per hectare). Only long term monitoring of the current restoration projects will confirm if it is possible to restore the ecological functions of the cutover peatland to bring it back to a peat-accumulating ecosystem. Fen restoration of peat fields used for agriculture has been mostly studied in central Europe but much research is needed to develop sound restoration procedures for cutover peatlands and learn how to grow true mosses. Sphagnum farming (cultivation in nurseries) is promising and research in that area should be promoted.Not only would it be useful for supplying plant material for reintroduction in countries with low supply, but it could prove a useful source of biomass to ameliorate growing substrates.

Forest Management and the Water Cycle: An Integrated Introduction to Scaling

About 29% of peat coverage of eight European peat-rich countries is drained for forestry, resulting in (a) increased expansion of forest to the other opened parts of the peatlands, (b) increased variety of the peatland surface structure, and (c) different ecohydrological conditions of formed mire ecotopes in the same landscape. Despite modern spatial monitoring systems ortophoto-based spatial datasets are still favourable due to: (a) improved quality and quantity of datasets, and (b) user-friendly availability both from a technical and a financial point of view. Results of typological up-scaling of disturbed mire ecotopes were ecotope structure dependent, i.e. varying wooded conditions resulted in different up-scaling hierarchies. The ground level study of the radial increment of Scots pine (Pinus Sylvestris L.) revealed important information about changes in mire environmental conditions of different ecotopes, being also important for the ground-level interpretation of up-scaled spatial datasets.

Self-Recovery of Cut-over Bogs: Summary from Case Studies

Scaling is a multifaceted methodology which can be applied in a great variety of forest hydrological and management contexts. The purpose of this introduction is to provide an overview of Part III of this book which addresses various scaling applications in forest management and hydrology. It provides an integrated overview of commonly applied scaling procedures in computer cartography and establishes links between modelling, geographic mapping and remote sensing. The following chapters provide deeper insights into the theoretical and practical concepts of scaling using information from numerous forest studies which have been performed across Europe.

Impacts of rewetting on peat, hydrology and water chemical composition over 15 years in two finished peat extraction areas in Sweden

Investigations in 1996–1998 of one Estonian and three Swedish hand-cut peat sites, abandoned 20–50 years ago, showed five main types of natural or semi-natural surface cover in peat pits, with prevailing development of: (1) Sphagnum spp.; (2) Eriophorum vaginatum with Sphagnum spp.; (3) Eriophorum vaginatum together with dwarf-shrubs, Pinus sylvestris and Betula pubescens tree species; (4) ≥50% muddy peat surface; and (5) open water and/or ponds. Main reasons for development of different pit environments located in comparably similar climatic and field environment conditions, including their acid and nutrient-poor hydrochemical environment, were local differences in inundation depths and surface water regulation conditions. Those pits dominated by a re-established Sphagnum carpet had a relatively large range of inundation water depths (0.2–0.6 m above soil surface) but comparably small water-level fluctuations (SD = 1.1–2.6 cm). Pits dominated by Eriophorum vaginatum were on average less inundated (up to 30 cm), but with more fluctuation (SD = 3.7–4.8 cm). Study pits characterised by dwarf-shrubs with E. vaginatum had average water levels around 4–20 cm below the peat-soil surface, with comparably-average fluctuations (SD = 2.3–6.9 cm) – quality and quantity of woody growth being related to site wetness. Both highly-fluctuating water levels (SD = 12.1–18.9 cm) in comparably deeply-inundated pits, and the degree of surface soaking in non-inundated pits, were the main reasons for non-establishment of plant cover.