Journal
JOURNAL FOR NATURE CONSERVATION
Volume 20, Issue 5, Pages 255-263Publisher
ELSEVIER GMBH, URBAN & FISCHER VERLAG
DOI: 10.1016/j.jnc.2012.05.001
Keywords
Conservation; Ecohydrology; Ecotones; Fen; Mire; Land-use; Relict populations
Categories
Funding
- Nyrstar
- Staatsbosbeheer
- Vereniging Natuurmonumenten
- Unie van Bosgroepen
- Brabants Landschap
- Landschap Overijssel
- Stichting het Limburgs Landschap
- national research programme 'Survival Plan for Woodland and Nature', of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality
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In intact raised bog landscapes transitions from ombrotrophic into minerotrophic conditions occur. These gradients are lost from many bogs due to peat harvesting and drainage, and are difficult to restore. To determine which endangered species are characteristic of pristine raised bog gradients and their current status in degraded bogs, plants and macroinvertebrates were surveyed in Estonian intact raised bogs and Dutch degraded bog remnants. Dutch national distribution data were used to determine whether communities with these species occurred outside bog habitats. Water chemistry data were used to describe associated environmental conditions. Intact bog gradients were the preferred habitat for six plant species and fifteen macroinvertebrate species, all of which are endangered. In degraded bogs these species were scarce or not recorded. In intact bogs these species lived at sites where runoff from the bog massif came into contact with regional ground water resulting in a gradient in pH, alkalinity, Ca, Fe and ionic ratio. Analysis of Dutch national distribution data revealed aggregations of these endangered species in moorland pools. These pools contained water chemistry gradients similar to those found in pristine bogs, which occurred at sites were groundwater seepage and stream water came in contact. In the past, stream water has been used to increase pH and trophic status of moorland pools facilitating fisheries. Today, this practice offers a conservation strategy for the protection of endangered species for which no short-term alternatives are available. (c) 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
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