Impact of Peatland Restoration on Soil Microbial Activity and Nematode Communities
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WETLANDS RESTORATION
Impact of Peatland Restoration on Soil Microbial Activity and Nematode Communities Lenka Bobuľská 1 & Lenka Demková 1 & Andrea Čerevková 2 & Marek Renčo 2 Received: 13 June 2018 / Accepted: 16 August 2019 # Society of Wetland Scientists 2019
Abstract Urban and industrial developments were the reason for draining peatlands in the past which caused changes in their ecology. Restoration of the water regime aims to bring back their original functions. This study examines the natural recovery of peatland following re-wetting, blocking the drainage ditches. We used soil microbial activity, physicochemical properties and nematode communities as indicator taxa to describe restoration status five years after management. Data were compared to those obtained from adjacent degraded forest and meadow like habitats of former peatlands. Our results indicate that re-wetting had considerable effect to soil indices and nematodes. Soil moisture and organic carbon significantly increased, while pH has not changed. In contrast, soil enzymatic activity significantly decreased after re-wetting in the restored part of the peatland compared to the degraded habitats. These conditions were probably less favourable for small metazoans, because of their abundance; species number and diversity were significantly decreased after re-wetting management. The nematode trophic structure was also significantly degraded; the restored part of peatland had less omnivore and predators as well as plant parasites. We conclude that in respect to both biological indicators and basic soil properties analysed, blocking of drainage ditches creates capable conditions for natural peatland restoration. Keywords Peatland . Regeneration . Carbon sequestration . Microbial activity . Nematode . Indicators
Introduction Even though wetland ecosystems cover only 7% of the terrestrial ecosystems, they store about one third of the total organic carbon, and thus remain one of the major reservoirs of biosphere carbon. For this reason, preservation and restoration of wetlands is critical to maintain their key functional roles in ecosystems as improving water quality, carbon sequestration because vegetation production is greater than decomposition, mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, and protecting other function and values of wetlands (Bridgham et al. 2006; Inglett and Inglett 2013). It is widely accepted that wetlands can
* Lenka Bobuľská [email protected] 1
Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences, Department of Ecology, University of Prešov, 17. novembra 1, 081 16 Prešov, Slovakia
2
Institute of Parasitology, Department of Environmental and Plant Parasitology, Slovak Academy of Science, Hlinkova 3, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia
provide important ecological, economic, and social benefits. Wetlands have high net primary productivity, mitigate floods and provide wildlife habitats for unique fauna and flora, which have adapted to this acidic, low-oxygen environment. Consequently, these areas are valuable and are protected by law and by variou
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