Ecological restoration of rich fens in Europe and North America: from trial and error to an evidence‐based approach |
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| Authors: | Leon P M Lamers Melanie A Vile Ab P Grootjans Mike C Acreman Rudy van Diggelen Martin G Evans Curtis J Richardson Line Rochefort Annemieke M Kooijman Jan G M Roelofs Alfons J P Smolders |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Aquatic Ecology & Environmental Biology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands;2. Department of Biology, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, U.S.A.;3. Department of Energy and Environmental Studies, Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands;4. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Maclean Building, Benson Lane Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, U.K.;5. Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium;6. Upland Environments Research Unit, School of Environment and Development, The University of Manchester, Manchester, U.K.;7. Duke University Wetland Center, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, U.S.A.;8. Département de phytologie, Faculté des sciences de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation, Université Laval, Québec, Canada;9. Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;10. B‐Ware Research Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands |
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| Abstract: | Fens represent a large array of ecosystem services, including the highest biodiversity found among wetlands, hydrological services, water purification and carbon sequestration. Land‐use change and drainage has severely damaged or annihilated these services in many parts of North America and Europe; restoration plans are urgently needed at the landscape level. We review the major constraints on the restoration of rich fens and fen water bodies in agricultural areas in Europe and disturbed landscapes in North America: (i) habitat quality problems: drought, eutrophication, acidification, and toxicity, and (ii) recolonization problems: species pools, ecosystem fragmentation and connectivity, genetic variability, and invasive species; and here provide possible solutions. We discuss both positive and negative consequences of restoration measures, and their causes. The restoration of wetland ecosystem functioning and services has, for a long time, been based on a trial‐and‐error approach. By presenting research and practice on the restoration of rich fen ecosystems within agricultural areas, we demonstrate the importance of biogeochemical and ecological knowledge at different spatial scales for the management and restoration of biodiversity, water quality, carbon sequestration and other ecosystem services, especially in a changing climate. We define target processes that enable scientists, nature managers, water managers and policy makers to choose between different measures and to predict restoration prospects for different types of deteriorated fens and their starting conditions. |
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| Keywords: | agriculture carbon sequestration climate change eutrophication ecosystem services hydrology nature management peatland wetland |
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