Ecosystems are increasingly prone to climate extremes, such as drought, with long-lasting effects on both plant and soil communities and, subsequently, on carbon (C) cycling. However, recent studies underlined the strong variability in ecosystem's response to droughts, raising the issue of nonlinear responses in plant and soil communities. The conundrum is what causes ecosystems to shift in response to drought. Here, we investigated the response of plant and soil fungi to drought of different intensities using a water table gradient in peatlands-a major C sink ecosystem. Using moving window structural equation models, we show that substantial changes in ecosystem respiration, plant and soil fungal communities occurred when the water level fell below a tipping point of -24 cm. As a corollary, ecosystem respiration was the greatest when graminoids and saprotrophic fungi became prevalent as a response to the extreme drought. Graminoids indirectly influenced fungal functional composition and soil enzyme activities through their direct effect on dissolved organic matter quality, while saprotrophic fungi directly influenced soil enzyme activities. In turn, increasing enzyme activities promoted ecosystem respiration. We show that functional transitions in ecosystem respiration critically depend on the degree of response of graminoids and saprotrophic fungi to drought. Our results represent a major advance in understanding the nonlinear nature of ecosystem properties to drought and pave the way towards a truly mechanistic understanding of the effects of drought on ecosystem processes.

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Peat deposits from an ombrotrophic bog (north-eastern Poland) were analysed to reconstruct peatland development and environmental changes. This paper presents reconstructions of hydrological changes and plant succession over the last 6000 years. The methods included the high-resolution analysis of plant macrofossils, pollen and testate amoebae, supported by radiocarbon dating. Three main phases were identified in the history of the bog and surrounding woodland vegetation: 4000–400 BC, 400 BC–AD 1700 and AD 1700–2011. Except for terrestrialisation and the fen-to-bog transition phase, the development of bog vegetation was mainly dependent on the climate until approximately AD 1700. The dominant taxon in Gązwa bog was Sphagnum fuscum/rubellum. Woodland development was significantly affected by human activity at several time periods. The most visible human activity, manifested by the decline of deciduous species, occurred ca. 350 BC, ca. AD 250, ca. AD 1350 and after AD 1700. These events correspond to phases of human settlement in the area. During 400–300 BC, the decline of deciduous trees, primarily Carpinus, coincided with an increase in indicators of human activity and fire frequency. At ca. AD 200, Carpinus and Tilia abundance decreased, corresponding to an increased importance of cereals ( Secale and Triticum). Since ca. AD 1350, the impact of Teutonic settlement is apparent, and after AD 1700, deciduous forests largely disappeared.

Peatlands are ecosystems for which carbon budget relies strongly on the meteorological and hydrological conditions. Here, using a manipulative field experiment, we measured ecosystem respiration (R ECO ) over two years (2013)(2014) ). With the natural dry period event which occurred in 2014, the seasonal R ECO increased by approx. 0.2 μmol CO 2 m −2 s −1 as compared to the previous year. Projected global warming will therefore significantly enhance C loss from poor fens in this region of Europe.

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The article presents the results of landscape analysis of the surroundings of Lake Rzecin in Noteć Forest depicted on cartographic materials. Morphometrical analysis and analysis of changes in the water conditions of Lake Rzecin were conducted. Thanks to many cartographic data, changes in lake geometry could be observed during almost the whole of the last two centuries. The results show that the major impact on the rate of lake level decrease in the last two hundred years was due to melioration works. Two periods of rapid decrease in the lake surface can be observed during this time. The first occurred as a result of the creation of Rzecin Ditch, which probably took place in the middle of the 19th century; the second, in all likelihood, with its cleaning out; the exact date of this operation is not known but the results of map analysis suggest that it could have happened between 1958 and 1966. Due to these two events the lake surface decreased by 73.6% during the analysed period. Apart from this phenomenon the lake surface area seems to be quite stable: there were some fluctuations; however, changes did not exceed more than 5%. That is why it can be assumed that the human factor has the biggest influence on succession rate of the lake ecosystem. Analysis of the map collection shows that during the last two centuries there were no huge changes in the local landscape; however, other historical sources do not confirm this. According to them, not only man but also fires and insect gradations had an enormous influence on the Noteć Forest ecosystem. Nonetheless, land use structure within the Rzecin Ditch catchment area did not change a great deal; the most significant modification was the increment of forested areas from 74.1 up to 85.1 %.

This paper presents the state and spatial distribution of surface sediment contamination of 77 lakes in Poland by Cr, Ni, Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cu. The analyzed lakes were located within a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union (EU). Spatial distribution of the heavy metals (HMs), factors favoring the delivery/accumulation of HMs in surface sediments, and pollution sources were analyzed. The results indicate the contamination of lake sediments by HMs, but the potentially toxic effects of HMs are only found in single lakes. The spatial distribution of Cr indicates predominant impacts of point sources, while for Pb, Ni, and Zn, the impact of non-point sources. The analysis showed the presence of areas with very high values of particular HMs (hot spots) in the western part of Poland, while a group of 5 lakes with very low values of Ni, Pb, and Zn (cold spots) was identified in the central part of Poland. Principal component analysis showed that presence of wetlands is a factor limiting HMs inflow to lakes. Also, lower HMs concentrations were found in lake surface sediments located in catchments with a higher proportion of national parks and nature reserves. Higher HMs concentrations were found in lakes with a high proportion of Special Protection Areas designated under the EU Birds Directive. The positive matrix factorization analysis identified four sources of HMs. High values of HMs concentrations indicate their delivery from industrial, urbanized, and agricultural areas. However, these impacts overlap, which disturbs the characteristic quantitative profiles assigned to these pollution sources.

Wetlands are very vulnerable ecosystems and sensitive to changes in the ground water table. For the last few thousand years, hydrological balance has also been influenced by human activity. To improve their cropping features, drainage activity and fertilizing were applied. The drainage process led to an abrupt change of environment, the replacement of plant communities and the entire ecosystem. The problem of carbon sequestration is very important nowadays. A higher accumulation rate is related to higher carbon accumulation, but the intensity of carbon sequestration depends on the type of mire, habitat, and climatic zone. The main aim of this article was an examination of the changes in poor-fen ecosystem during the last 200 years in relation to natural and anthropogenic factors, using paleoecological methods (pollen and macrofossils). The second aim was a detailed investigation of the sedimentary record to aid our understanding of carbon sequestration in the poor fen of temperate zone. This case study shows that fens in temperate zones, in comparison with boreal ones, show higher carbon accumulation rates which have been especially intensive over the last few decades. To reconstruct vegetation changes, detailed palynological and macrofossil analyses were done. A 200-year history of the mire revealed that it was influenced by human activity to much degree. However, despite the nearby settlement and building of the drainage ditch, the precious species and plant communities still occur.