Soil Systems (Mar 2020)
From Understanding to Sustainable Use of Peatlands: The WETSCAPES Approach
- Gerald Jurasinski,
- Sate Ahmad,
- Alba Anadon-Rosell,
- Jacqueline Berendt,
- Florian Beyer,
- Ralf Bill,
- Gesche Blume-Werry,
- John Couwenberg,
- Anke Günther,
- Hans Joosten,
- Franziska Koebsch,
- Daniel Köhn,
- Nils Koldrack,
- Jürgen Kreyling,
- Peter Leinweber,
- Bernd Lennartz,
- Haojie Liu,
- Dierk Michaelis,
- Almut Mrotzek,
- Wakene Negassa,
- Sandra Schenk,
- Franziska Schmacka,
- Sarah Schwieger,
- Marko Smiljanić,
- Franziska Tanneberger,
- Laurenz Teuber,
- Tim Urich,
- Haitao Wang,
- Micha Weil,
- Martin Wilmking,
- Dominik Zak,
- Nicole Wrage-Mönnig
Affiliations
- Gerald Jurasinski
- Landscape Ecology and Site Evaluation, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Sate Ahmad
- Soil Physics, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Alba Anadon-Rosell
- Landscape Ecology and Ecosystem Dynamics, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, Soldmannstr. 15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
- Jacqueline Berendt
- Grassland and Fodder Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Florian Beyer
- Geodesy and Geoinformatics, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Ralf Bill
- Geodesy and Geoinformatics, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Gesche Blume-Werry
- Experimental Plant Ecology, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, Soldmannstr. 15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
- John Couwenberg
- Peatland Studies and Palaeoecology, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstr. 15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
- Anke Günther
- Landscape Ecology and Site Evaluation, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Hans Joosten
- Peatland Studies and Palaeoecology, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstr. 15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
- Franziska Koebsch
- Landscape Ecology and Site Evaluation, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Daniel Köhn
- Landscape Ecology and Site Evaluation, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Nils Koldrack
- Geodesy and Geoinformatics, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Jürgen Kreyling
- Experimental Plant Ecology, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, Soldmannstr. 15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
- Peter Leinweber
- Soil Science, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Bernd Lennartz
- Soil Physics, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Haojie Liu
- Soil Physics, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Dierk Michaelis
- Peatland Studies and Palaeoecology, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstr. 15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
- Almut Mrotzek
- Peatland Studies and Palaeoecology, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstr. 15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
- Wakene Negassa
- Soil Science, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Sandra Schenk
- Geodesy and Geoinformatics, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Franziska Schmacka
- Grassland and Fodder Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- Sarah Schwieger
- Experimental Plant Ecology, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, Soldmannstr. 15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
- Marko Smiljanić
- Landscape Ecology and Ecosystem Dynamics, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, Soldmannstr. 15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
- Franziska Tanneberger
- Peatland Studies and Palaeoecology, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstr. 15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
- Laurenz Teuber
- Experimental Plant Ecology, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, Soldmannstr. 15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
- Tim Urich
- Bacterial Physiology, Institute of Microbiology, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, University of Greifswald, Felix-Hausdorff-Straße 8, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
- Haitao Wang
- Bacterial Physiology, Institute of Microbiology, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, University of Greifswald, Felix-Hausdorff-Straße 8, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
- Micha Weil
- Bacterial Physiology, Institute of Microbiology, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, University of Greifswald, Felix-Hausdorff-Straße 8, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
- Martin Wilmking
- Landscape Ecology and Ecosystem Dynamics, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre, Soldmannstr. 15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
- Dominik Zak
- Bioscience, Faculty of Technology, University of Aarhus, Vejlsovej 25, 8600 Silkeborg, Denmark
- Nicole Wrage-Mönnig
- Grassland and Fodder Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, J.-v.-Liebig-Weg 6, 18051 Rostock, Germany
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/soilsystems4010014
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 4,
no. 1
p. 14
Abstract
Of all terrestrial ecosystems, peatlands store carbon most effectively in long-term scales of millennia. However, many peatlands have been drained for peat extraction or agricultural use. This converts peatlands from sinks to sources of carbon, causing approx. 5% of the anthropogenic greenhouse effect and additional negative effects on other ecosystem services. Rewetting peatlands can mitigate climate change and may be combined with management in the form of paludiculture. Rewetted peatlands, however, do not equal their pristine ancestors and their ecological functioning is not understood. This holds true especially for groundwater-fed fens. Their functioning results from manifold interactions and can only be understood following an integrative approach of many relevant fields of science, which we merge in the interdisciplinary project WETSCAPES. Here, we address interactions among water transport and chemistry, primary production, peat formation, matter transformation and transport, microbial community, and greenhouse gas exchange using state of the art methods. We record data on six study sites spread across three common fen types (Alder forest, percolation fen, and coastal fen), each in drained and rewetted states. First results revealed that indicators reflecting more long-term effects like vegetation and soil chemistry showed a stronger differentiation between drained and rewetted states than variables with a more immediate reaction to environmental change, like greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Variations in microbial community composition explained differences in soil chemical data as well as vegetation composition and GHG exchange. We show the importance of developing an integrative understanding of managed fen peatlands and their ecosystem functioning.
Keywords
