Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of Water Level via Controlling Water Chemistry on Revegetation Patterns After Peat Mining

  • Article
  • Published:
Wetlands Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The recovery of plant communities is related to various environmental factors, in particular, waterlevel and chemistry, after peat mining. The changes over time after peat-mining were annually monitored from 2002 to 2007 in Sarobetsu peatland mined during 1970 and 2003, northern Japan, by using permanent plots setting up in various ages after mining. Rhynchospora alba was the earliest colonizer in the post-mined peatland, and three grasses followed. The recovery was slow when waterlevel was low, while Sphagnum papillosum, being predominant in pre-mined peatland, established well in post-mined sites with high waterlevel of which values were equivalent to post-mined site. Water chemistry was variable according to the effect of waterlevel in the post-mined peatland, while they were relatively stable in pre-mined peatland. Therefore, with large scale, merged with post-and pre-mined peatlands, water chemistry became the first determinants manipulated by waterlevel. In conclusion, high waterlevel that decreases nutrients in groundwater is a prerequisite to promote Sphagnum recovery in a post-mined peatland. Also, low pH was related to nutrient uptake by vascular plants and dilution by groundwater, and was advantageous for Sphagnum establishment. Re-establishment of vascular plants may promote the stabilization of water chemistries and facilitate revegetation towards the original Sphagnum peatland.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abreu Z, Llambi LD, Sarmiento L (2009) Sensitivity of soil restoration indicators during Paramo succession in the high tropical Andes: Chronosequence and permanent plot approaches. Restoration Ecology 17:619–628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez MG, Tron F, Mauchamp A (2005) Sexual versus asexual colonization by Phragmites australis: 25-year reed dynamics in a Mediterranean marsh, southern France. Wetlands 25:639–647

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen R, Rochefort L, Poulin M (2010) Peat, water and plant tissue chemistry monitoring: a seven-year case-study in a restored peatland. Wetlands 30:159–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benscoter BW, Vitt DH (2008) Spatial patterns and temporal trajectories of the bog ground layer along post-fire chronosequence. Ecosystems 11:1054–1064

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bragazza L, Gerdol R (1999) Hydrology, groundwater chemistry and peat chemistry in relation to habitat conditions in a mire on the South-eastern Alps of Italy. Plant Ecology 144:243–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruland GL, Hanchey MF, Richardson CJ (2003) Effects of agriculture and wetland restoration on hydrology, soils, and water quality of a Carolina Bay complex. Wetlands Ecology and Management 11:141–156

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burnham PB, Anderson DR (1998) Model selection and multimodel inference: A practical information-theoretic approach. Springer-Verlab, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell DR, Lavoie C, Rochefort L (2002) Wind erosion and surface stability in abandoned milled peatlands. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 82:85–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egawa C, Koyama A, Tsuyuzaki S (2009) Relationships between the developments of seedbank standing vegetation and litter in a post-mined peatland. Plant Ecology 203:217–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graf MD, Rochefort L, Poulin M (2008) Spontaneous revegetation of cutaway peatlands of North America. Wetlands 28:28–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grosvernier P, Matthey Y, Buttler A (1997) Growth potential of three Sphagnum species in relation to water level and peat properties with implications for their restoration in cut-over bogs. Journal of Applied Ecology 34:471–483

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gusewell S, Willem K, Verhoeven JTA (2002) Time-dependent effects of fertilization on plant biomass in floating fens. Journal of Vegetation Science 13:705–718

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hajek M, Hekera P (2004) Can seasonal variation in fen water chemistry influence the reliability of vegetation-environment analyses? Preslia 76:1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Hajkova P, Wolf P, Hajek M (2004) Environmental factors and Carpathian spring fen vegetation: the importance of scale and temporal variation. Annales Botanici Fennici 41:249–262

    Google Scholar 

  • Heijmans MMPD, Klees H, de Visser W, Berendse F (2002) Respose of Spahgnum bog plant community elevated CO2 and N supply. Plant Ecology 162:123–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hotes S, Poschlod P, Takahashi H, Grootjans AP, Adema E (2004) Effects of tephra deposition on mire vegetation: a field experiment in Hokkaido, Japan. Journal of Ecology 92:624–634

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iwatsuki Y, Mizutani M (1972) Colored illustrations of bryophutes of Japan. Hoikusya, Osaka

    Google Scholar 

  • Japan Meteorological Agency (2008) http://www.data.jma.go.jp/obd/stats/etrn/index.php. Accessed 20 Oct 2008

  • Jongman RHG, ter Braak CJF, van Tongeren OFR (1987) Data analysis in community and landscape ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Keeney DR, Nelson DW (1982) Nitrogen-inorganic forms. In: Pagemiller RH, Keeney DR (eds) Methods of soil analysis. Part 2. Chemical and microbiological properties, 2nd edn. American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science of America, Madison, pp 643–698

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleijn D (2003) Can establishment characteristics explain the poor colonization success of late successional grassland species on Ex-Arable land? Restoration Ecology 11:131–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kotowski W, van Andel J, van Diggelen R, Hogendorf J (2001) Responses of fen plant species to groundwater level and light intensity. Plant Ecology 155:147–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koyama A, Tsuyuzaki S (2010) Effects of sedge and cottongrass tussocks on plant establishment patterns in post-mined peatland, northern Japan. Wetlands Ecology and Management 18:135–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamers LPM, Smolders AJP, Roelofs JGM (2002) The restoration of fens in the Netherlands. Hydrobiologia 478:107–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lavoie C, Grosfernier P, Girard M, Marcoux K (2003) Spontaneous revegetation of mined peatlands: an useful restoration tool? Wetlands Ecology and Management 11:97–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lavoie C, Saint-Louis A, Lachanve D (2005) Vegetation dynamics on an abandoned vacuum-mined peatland: 5 years of monitoring. Wetlands Ecology and Management 13:621–633

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Limpens J, Berendse F, Klees H (2003) N deposition affects N availability in interstitial water, growth of Sphagnum and invasion of vascular plants in bog vegetation. New Phytologist 157:339–347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahaney WM, Wardrop DH, Brooks RP (2004) Impacts of sedimentation and nitrogen enrichment on wetland plant community development. Plant Ecology 175:227–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malmer N, Sevensson BM, Wallen B (1994) Interaction between Sphagnum mosses and field layer vascular plants in the development of peat-forming systems. Folia Geobotanica 29:483–496

    Google Scholar 

  • Malmer N, Albinsson C, Svensson BM, Wallen B (2003) Interferences between Sphagnum and vascular plants: effects on plant community structure and peat formation. Oikos 100:469–482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nishimura A, Tsuyuzaki S, Haraguchi A (2009) A chronosequence approach for detecting revegetation patterns after Sphagnum-peat mining, northern Japan. Ecological Research 24:237–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohlson M, Malmer N (1990) Total nutrient accumulation and seasonal variation in resource allocation in the bog plant Rhynchospora alba. Oikos 58:100–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohwi J (1975) Flora of Japan (revised edn). Shibundo, Tokyo

    Google Scholar 

  • Price JS, Whitehead GS (2001) Developing hydrologic thresholds for Sphagnum recolonization on an abandoned cutover bog. Wetlands 21:32–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Price JS, Heathwaite AL, Baird AJ (2003) Hydrological processes in abandoned and restored peatlands: An overview of management approaches. Wetlands Ecology and Management 11:65–83

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Proctor MCF (1994) Seasonal and shorter-term changes in surface-water chemistry on four English ombrogenous bogs. Journal of Ecology 82:597–610

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2009) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna

  • Robert EC, Rochefort L, Garneau M (1999) Natural revegetation of two block-cut mined peatlands in eastern Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 77:447–459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rochefort L (2000) Sphagnum - A keystone genus in habitat restoration. Bryologist 103:503–508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sjors H, Gunnarsson U (2002) Calsium and pH in north and central Swedish mire waters. Journal of Ecology 90:650–657

    Google Scholar 

  • Tagawa M (1983) Colored illustrations of the Japanese pteridophyta. Hoikusya, Osaka

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsuyuzaki S, Haraguchi A, Kanda F (2004) Effects of scale-dependent factors on herbaceous vegetation patterns in a wetland, norther Japan. Ecological Research 19:349–355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D, Wedin D (1991) Dynamics of nitrogen competition between successional grasses. Ecology 72:1038–1049

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D, Knops J, Wedin D, Reich P, Ritchie M, Siemann E (1997) The influence of functional diversity and composition on ecosystem processes. Science 277:1300–1302

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tomassen HM, Smolders AJP, Lamers LPM, Roelofs JGM (2003) Stimulated growth of Betula pubescens and Molinia caerulea on ombrotrophic bogs: role of high levels of atmospheric nitrogen deposition. Journal of Ecology 91:357–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verhoeven JTA, Maltby E, Schmitz MZ (1990) Nitrogen and Phosphorus mineralization in fens and bogs. Journal of Ecology 78:713–726

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vitt DH, Chee W (1990) The relationships of vegetation to surface water chemistry and peat chemistry in fens of Alverta, Canada. Vegetatio 89:87–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker LR, Wardle DA, Bardgett RD, Clarkson BD (2010) The use of chronosequences in studies of ecological succession and soil development. Journal of Ecology 98:725–736

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wetzel RG, Likens GE (2000) Inorganic nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients. In: Limnological analyses, 3rd edn. Springer, New York, pp 85–111

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler BD, Proctor MCF (2000) Ecological gradients, subdivisions and terminology of north-west European mires. Journal of Ecology 88:187–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Wind-Mulder HL, Rochefort L, Vitt DH (1996) Water and peat chemistry comparisons of natural and post-harvested peatlands across Canada and their relevance to peatland restoration. Ecological Engineering 7:161–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zoltai SC, Vitt DH (1995) Canadian wetlands: environmental gradients and classification. Vegetatio 118:131–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank H. Nogawa and all other staff members of Ministry of the Environment, and staff members of Toyotomi Town Office for research permission. This work is partly supported by JSPS.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Agricultural Research Center, Kannondai 3-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8666, Japan

    Aiko Nishimura

  2. Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Kita 10 Nishi 5, Kitaku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0810, Japan

    Shiro Tsuyuzaki

Authors
  1. Aiko Nishimura
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shiro Tsuyuzaki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aiko Nishimura.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nishimura, A., Tsuyuzaki, S. Effects of Water Level via Controlling Water Chemistry on Revegetation Patterns After Peat Mining. Wetlands 34, 117–127 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-013-0490-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-013-0490-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation