Vegetation Re-development After Fen Meadow Restoration by Topsoil Removal and Hay Transfer

Klimkowska, Agata; Diggelen, Rudy van; Grootjans, Albert; Dzierża, Paulina; Brzezińska, Kamila

doi:10.1111/j.1526-100x.2009.00554.x

Cited by 75 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Topsoil removal on peat soils (thereby exposing an underlying peat layer) is an uncommon practice in nature restoration (but see Patzelt et al, 2001;Klimkowska et al, 2009Klimkowska et al, , 2015, but our results show that it can significantly improve conditions for rich fen development. It should be noted that we cannot ascertain that topsoil removal triggers a complete "ecosystem reset" to pristine conditions, as this requires complete knowledge of the conditions prior to degradation.…”

Section: Topsoil Removal As a Restoration Strategy For Organic Soilsmentioning

confidence: 63%

Topsoil removal in degraded rich fens: Can we force an ecosystem reset?

Emsens

Aggenbach

Smolders

et al. 2015

Ecological Engineering

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A B S T R A C TGlobal land-use intensification and drainage has altered the biogeochemical properties of many peatlands, and concomitant eutrophication has led to a loss of low-competitive fen species. We investigated the hypothesis that removal of a degraded and eutrophied top peat layer, thereby exposing an underlying peat layer, can improve conditions for rich fen restoration. We studied the long-term (3-18 years) effects of past topsoil removal in six rich fens in Western Europe by comparing topsoil removal plots with (untouched) control plots. Overall, topsoil removal plots were characterized by lower bulk densities and soil nutrient pools of P and KCl-extractable NH 4 + , while organic matter contents and soil C:N ratios were higher. Pore water concentrations of NO 3 À and NH 4 + also decreased in the topsoil removal plots, while concentrations of base cations (Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Na + , K + ) and HCO 3 À increased.Furthermore, lower nutrient levels appeared to restrict herb biomass production in the topsoil removal plots, so that optimized light conditions led to the establishment of light-demanding target species and a significant increase in bryophyte cover. Multivariate analysis revealed that most variation in vegetation assembly was due to higher groundwater levels in the topsoil removal plots, closely followed by a higher relative light intensity (RLI) at surface level, lower pore water nutrient (NH 4 + ) concentrations, and higher concentrations of base cations. We conclude that topsoil removal can be an effective mechanism to "reset" a degraded peatland to its initial state of nutrient limitation, base saturation and high availability of light, thereby improving the conservation prospects of endangered rich fen communities.

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Section: Topsoil Removal As a Restoration Strategy For Organic Soilsmentioning

confidence: 63%

Topsoil removal in degraded rich fens: Can we force an ecosystem reset?

Emsens

Aggenbach

Smolders

et al. 2015

Ecological Engineering

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“…Past research suggests that topsoil removal can be effective to reduce exotic competition and restore grassland habitats in upland conditions or to restore wet meadows in combination with introduction of native wetland plant propagules (Buisson et al 2006;Farrell et al 2007;Klimkowska et al 2010;Pfeifer-Meister et al 2012). Topsoil removal, however, causes extensive damage to the ecosystem, including removing the native seed bank and microbial communities (Diaz et al 2008;Pfeifer-Meister et al 2012), and requires somewhere to dispose of the soil.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficacy of Exotic Control Strategies for Restoring Coastal Prairie Grasses

Holl

Howard

Brown

et al. 2014

Invasive plant sci. manag.

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Restoration in Mediterranean-climate grasslands is strongly impeded by lack of native propagules and competition with exotic grasses and forbs. We report on a study testing several methods for exotic plant control combined with planting native grasses to restore prairies in former agricultural land in coastal California. Specifically we compared tarping (shading out recently germinated seedlings with black plastic) once, tarping twice, topsoil removal, herbicide (glyphosate), and a control treatment in factorial combinations with or without wood mulch. Into each treatment we planted three native grass species (Elymus glaucus, Hordeum brachyantherum, and Stipa pulchra) and monitored plant survival and cover for three growing seasons. Survival of native grass species was high in all treatments, but was slightly lower in unmulched soil removal and control treatments in the first 2 yr. Mulching, tarping, and herbicide were all effective in reducing exotic grass cover and enhancing native grass cover for the first 2 yr, but by the third growing season cover of the plant guilds and bare ground had mostly converged, primarily because of the declining effects of the initial treatments. Mulching and tarping were both considerably more expensive than herbicide treatment. Topsoil removal was less effective in increasing native grass cover likely because soil removal altered the surface hydrology in this system. Our results show that several treatments were effective in enhancing native grass establishment, but that longer term monitoring is needed to evaluate the efficacy of restoration efforts. The most appropriate approach to controlling exotics to restore specific grassland sites will depend not only on the effectiveness, but also on relative costs and site constraints.

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“…This would considerably hamper the prospects for restoration of degraded meadows and it may take a long time to reach a level of biodiversity that is considered a target. The restoration efforts on fen meadows could be enhanced by elimination of the disturbance factors (Funk et al 2008;Klimkowska et al 2009). Understanding the shifts in trait spectra during the system degradation and use of species re-assmably could be crucial for restoring resilient and invasion-resistant ecosystems (Pywell et al 2003;Funk et al 2008).…”

Section: Consequences For Vegetation Development and Relevance For Rementioning

confidence: 99%

Species trait shifts in vegetation and soil seed bank during fen degradation

et al. 2009

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Fens in Central Europe are characterised by waterlogged organic substrate and low productivity. Human-induced changes due to drainage and mowing lead to changes in plant species composition from natural fen communities to fen meadows and later to over-drained, degraded meadows. Moderate drainage leads to increased vegetation productivity, and severe drainage results in frequent soil disturbances and less plant growth. In the present article, we analyse changes in plant trait combinations in the vegetation and the soil seed bank as well as changes in the seed bank types along gradient of drainage intensity. We hypothesize that an increase in productivity enhances traits related to persistence and that frequent disturbance selects for regeneration traits. We use multivariate statistics to analyse data from three disturbance levels: undisturbed fen, slightly drained fen meadow and severely drained degraded meadow. We found that the abundance of plants regenerating from seeds and accumulating persistent seed banks was increasing with degradation level, while plants reproducing vegetatively were gradually eliminated along the same trajectory. Plants with strong resprouting abilities increased during degradation. We also found that shifts in trait combinations were similar in the aboveground vegetation and in soil seed banks. We found that the density of short-term persistent seeds in the soil is highest in fen meadows and the density of long-term persistent seeds is highest in degraded meadows. The increase in abundance of species with strong regeneration traits at the cost of species with persistencerelated traits has negative consequences for the restoration prospects of severely degraded sites.

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Vegetation Re-development After Fen Meadow Restoration by Topsoil Removal and Hay Transfer

Cited by 75 publications

References 61 publications

Topsoil removal in degraded rich fens: Can we force an ecosystem reset?

Topsoil removal in degraded rich fens: Can we force an ecosystem reset?

Efficacy of Exotic Control Strategies for Restoring Coastal Prairie Grasses

Species trait shifts in vegetation and soil seed bank during fen degradation

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