Towards Developing a Functional-Based Approach for Constructed Peatlands Evaluation in the Alberta Oil Sands Region, Canada

Abstract

Peatlands support vital ecosystem services such as water regulation, specific habitat provisions and carbon storage. In Canada, anthropogenic disturbance from energy exploration has undermined the capacity of peatlands to support these vital ecosystem services, and thus presents the need for their reclamation to a functional ecosystem. As attempts are now being made to implement reclamation plans on postmining oil sands landscapes, a major challenge remains in the absence of a standard framework for evaluating the functional state of a constructed peatland. To address this challenge, we present a functional-based approach that can guide the evaluation of constructed peatlands in the Alberta oil sands region. We achieved this by conducting a brief review, which synthesized the dominant processes of peatland functional development in natural analogues. Through the synthesis, we identified the interaction and feedback processes that underline various peatland ecosystem functions and their quantifiable variables. By exploring the mechanism of key ecosystem interactions, we highlighted the sensitivity of microbially mediated biogeochemical processes to a range of variability in other ecosystem functions, and thus the appropriateness of using them as functional indicators of ecosystem condition. Following the verification of this concept through current pilot fen reclamation projects, we advocate the need for further research towards modification to a more cost-efficient approach that can be applicable to large-scale fen reclamation projects in this region.

The impact of a black spruce (Picea mariana) plantation on carbon exchange in a cutover peatland in Western Canada

“…In Canada, some stakeholders have 57 included recovery of biodiversity, hydrological conditions, and C accumulation as Nwaishi et al 2015). This study particularly focuses on the return of carbon 60 accumulating function to a cutover bog post-restoration.…”

Spatial variation in nutrient dynamics among five different peatland types in the Alberta oil sands region

“…Establishing ecosystems, especially peatlands, requires not only that suitable hydrological conditions be established but also that introduced vegetation has suitable substrate conditions, much of which hinges on proper microbial and biogeochemical functioning (Nwaishi et al, 2015). Thus, peatland reclamation faces a number of challenges in predicting nutrient dynamics (Nwaishi et al, 2015), drainage and survival of peatland vegetation, which is uncertain where post-mined environments could have high concentrations of salts, metals and naphthenic acids (Rooney et al, 2012). Therefore, studies to extend knowledge on how natural peatlands within this region function are necessary to determine the appropriate vegetation and critical processes (hydrological and biogeochemical) that are needed to successfully reclaim an area and also to gauge the likely successional pathways that these systems will take.…”

Creating fen initiation conditions: a new approach for peatland reclamation in the oil sands region of Alberta

“…For peatland ecosystems, this can include the recovery of species diversity, hydrologic regime and peat‐accumulation processes (Rochefort & Lode ; Nwaishi et al . ). There are many successful examples and suggested guidelines for restoring degraded peatland bogs (Bugnon, Rochefort & Price ; Rochefort et al .…”