Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in natural bog pools and those created by rewetting schemes

Abstract

Anthropogenic drainage and cutting over of peatlands have historically occurred worldwide leading to erosion, issues with water quality, loss of biodiversity, and reduced rates of carbon accumulation. In recent years, rewetting measures have attempted to address these issues. Creating dams to block drainage ditches on peatlands is a common restoration tool, yet the ecological consequences of such management interventions are poorly understood. In particular, knowledge about the ecology of the thousands of pools created by drain blocking is limited even though they potentially provide valuable new habitat for aquatic species and food and water sources for terrestrial organisms. More research is needed to assess the suitability of these artificial pools as surrogates for naturally occurring peat pools with regard to the flora (e.g., bryophytes, algae, and macrophytes) and fauna (e.g., invertebrates and amphibians), which utilize them. Evidence suggests that (1) to maximize benefits to aquatic biota, land managers should consider creating an array of differently sized pools behind the dams as a broader size range would facilitate colonization by a wider range of taxa, (2) prioritizing landscapes close to existing water bodies would encourage faster colonization, and (3) even newly created pools with low macrophyte cover may be able to sustain substantial populations of larger fauna via algal primary production, consumption of detritus, and microbial processing of humic substances and methane. Ongoing programs of peatland restoration worldwide also afford unique opportunities to study how pool communities assemble and change over time. © 2015 The Authors. WIREs Water published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.