Abstract
We compared the seasonal patterns of sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium concentrations, pH, and electrical conductivity in pore water in a nutrient-poor mire of the southern Alps to precipitation chemistry, water-table depth, and potential evapotranspiration, with the main objective to unravel differences between pore-water chemistry in hummock and hollow habitats. Sodium concentrations in mire water were primarily determined by precipitation inputs, with highest values in spring. Potassium concentrations were dependent on vegetation uptake, peaking before the growing season started, and showing lowest values in summer. Calcium and magnesium concentrations were highest in summer. Cation-exchange processes, evaporation, and humification affected the periodicity of bivalent cations. The pH decreased from spring to autumn, gradually in hollow water and more abruptely in hummock water. Electrical conductivity followed the bivalent cation concentration pattern both in hummocks and hollows.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Alber, R., L. Bragazza, and R. Gerdol. 1996. Ein Beitrag zur Moortypologie am südlichen Rand desSphagnum—Moorareals in Europa. Phyton (Horn, Austria) 36:107–125.
Andrus, R. E. 1986. Some aspects ofSphagnum ecology. Canadian Journal of Botany 64:416–426.
Bayley, S. E., R. S. Behr, and C. A. Kelly. 1986. Retention and release of S from freshwater wetland. Water, Air and Soil Pollution 31:101–114.
Bell, P. R. 1959. The ability ofSphagnum to adsorb cations preferentially from dilute solutions resembling natural waters. Journal of Ecology 47:351–355.
Boatmann, D. J., P. D. Hulme, and R. W. Tomlinson. 1975. Monthly determinations of the concentrations of sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium in the rain and in pools of the Silver Flowe National Nature Reserve. Journal of Ecology 63:903–912.
Braekke, F. H. 1981a. Hydrochemistry of high altitude catchments in south Norway. 2. Water chemical gradients inside a catchment. Meddeleser fra Norsk Institutt for Skogforskning 36 (9):1–39.
Braekke, E. H. 1981b. Hydrochemistry in low pH soils of south Norway. 2. Seasonal variations in some peatlands sites. Meddeleser fra Norsk Institutt for Skogforskning 36 (12): 1–22.
Bragazza, L. 1993. Seasonal changes in water chemistry in a bog on the southern Alps. Suo 44:87–92.
Brehm, K. 1971. EinSphagnum-Bult als Beispiel einer natürlichen lonen Austauschersäule. Beiträge zur Biologie der Pflanzen 47:287–312.
Clymo, R. S. 1963. Ion exchange inSphagnum and its relation to bog ecology. Annals of Botany N.S. 27:309–324.
Damman, A. W. H. 1987. Distribution and movement of elements in ombrotrophic peat bogs. Oikos 30:480–495.
Damman, A. W. H. 1986. Hydrology, development and biogeochemistry of ombrogenous peat bogs with special reference to nutrient relocation in a western Newfoundland bog. Canadian Journal of Botany 64:384–394.
Damman, A. W. H. 1988. Spatial and seasonal changes in water chemistry and vegetation in an ombrogenous bog. p. 107–119.In J. T. A. Verhoeven, G. W. Heil, and M. J. A. Werger (eds.) Vegetation Structure in Relation to Carbon and Nutrient Economy. The Hague, The Netherlands.
Damman, A. W. H. 1990. Nutrient status of ombrotrophic peat bogs. Aquilo 28:5–14.
Fliri, F. 1975. Das Klima der Alpen in Raume von Tirol. Universitätsverl. Wagner, Innsbruck, Austria.
Frahm, J.-P. and W. Frey. 1987. Moosflora. Ulmer, Stuttgart, Germany.
Gerdol, R. 1991. Seasonal variations in the element concentration in mire water and inSphagnum mosses on an ombrotrophic bog in the Southern Alps. Lindbergia 16:44–50.
Gies, T. and W. Lötschert. 1973. Untersuchungen über den Kationhaushalt im Hochmoor. II. Jahrezeitliche Veränderungen und Einfluß derSphagnum Vegetation. Flora, Jena 162:244–268.
Goldberg, E. D. 1965. The oceans as a chemical systems. p. 3–25.In M. N. Hill (ed.) The Sea. 2. The Composition of Sea Water: Comparative and Descriptive Oceanography. Wiley, New York, NY, USA.
Gorham, E. and W. Pearsall. 1956. Acidity, specific conductivity and calcium content of some bog and fen waters in northern Britain. Journal of Ecology 44:129–141.
Gorham, E. 1958. The influence and importance of daily weather conditions on the supply of chloride, sulphate and other ions to fresh water from atmospheric precipitation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B 241:147–178.
Gorham, E., S. J. Eisenreich, J. Ford, and M. J. Santelmann. 1985. The chemistry of bog waters.In W. Stumm (ed.) Chemical Processes in Lakes. Wiley, New York, NY, USA.
Hamon, W. R. 1963. Computation of direct runoff amounts from storm rainfall. Association. International d’Hydrologie Scientifique, Symposium of Berkeley 63:52–62.
Heath, R. H., J. S. Kahl, S. A. Norton, and I. J. Fernandez. 1992. Episodic stream acidification caused by atmospheric deposition of sea salts at Acadia National Park, Maine, United States. Water Resources Research 28:1081–1088.
Ingram, H. A. P. 1967. Problems of hydrology and plant distribution in mires. Journal of Ecology 55:711–724.
Karlin, E. F. and L. C. Bliss. 1984. Variation in substrate chemistry along microtopographical and water-chemistry gradients in peat-lands. Canadian Journal of Botany 62:142–153.
Koerselman, W., M. B. Van Kerkhoven, and J. T. A. Verhoeven. 1993. Release of inorganic N, P and K in peat soils; effect of temperature, water chemistry and water level. Biogeochemistry 20:63–81.
Malmer, N. 1962. Studies on mire vegetation in the Archaean Area of south-western Götaland (South Sweden). II. Distribution and seasonal variation in elementary constituents on some mire sites. Opera Botanica 7:1–67.
Malmer, N. 1986. Vegetational gradients in relation to environmental conditions in north-western European mires. Canadian Journal of Botany 64:375–383.
Malmer, N. 1988. Patterns in the growth and the accumulation of inorganic constituents in theSphagnum cover on ombrotrophic bogs in Scandinavia. Oikos 53:105–120.
Malmer, N., D. G. Horton, and D. H. Vitt. 1992. Element concentrations in mosses and surface waters of western Canadian mires relative to precipitation chemistry and hydrology. Ecography 15:114–128.
Moore, P. D. and D. J. Bellamy. 1974. Peatlands. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY, USA.
Nicholson, B. J. 1989. Peat chemistry of a continental mire complex in western Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 67:763–775.
Norusis, M. J. 1994. SPSS for Windows. SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA.
Økland, R. H. 1990. A phytoecological study of the mire Northern Kisselbergmosen, SE Norway. II. Identification of gradients by detrended (canonical) correspondence analysis. Nordic Journal of Botany 10:79–108.
Økland, R. H. 1992. Studies in SE Fennoscandian mires: relevance to ecological theory. Journal of Vegetation Science 3:279–284.
Pignatti, S. 1982. Flora d’Italia. Edagricole, Bologna, Italy.
Proctor, M. C. F. 1992. Regional and local variation in the chemical composition of ombrogenous mire waters in Britain and Ireland. Journal of Ecology 80:719–736.
Proctor, M. C. F. 1994. Seasonal and shorter-term changes in surface water chemistry on four English bogs. Journal of Ecology 82:597–610.
Pugh IV, A. L., S. A. Norton, M. Schauffer, G. L. Jr Jacobson, J. S. Kahl, W. F. Bratsaert, and C. F. Mason. 1996. Interactions between peat and salt-contaminated runoff in Alton Bog, Maine, USA. Journal of Hydrology 182:83–104.
Reinikainen, A., T. Lindholm, and H. Vasander. 1984. Ecological variation of mire site types in the small Kettle-hole mire Heinisuo, southern Finland. Annales Botanici Fennici 21:79–101.
Sanger, L. J., M. F. Billet, and M. S. Cresser. 1996. The effect of precipitation chemistry upon anion and cation fluxes from the surface layer of ombrotrophic mires in the UK. Journal of Applied Ecology 33:754–772.
Siegel, D. J. and P. H. Glaser. 1987. Groundwater flow in a bog-fen complex, Lost River Peatland, Northern Minnesota. Journal of Ecology 75:743–754.
Sjörs, H. 1952. On the relation between vegetation and electrolytes in North Swedish mire waters. Oikos 2:241–258.
Smidsrød, O. and T. J. Painter. 1984. Contribution of carbohydrates to the cation-exchange selectivity of aquatic humus from peat-bog water. Carbohydrate Research 127:267–281.
Sparling J. H. 1966. Studies on the relationship between water movement and water chemistry in mires. Canadian Journal of Botany 44:747–758.
Urban, N. R., E. S. Verry, and S. J. Eisenreich. 1995. Retention and mobility of cations in a small peatland: trends and mechanisms. Water, Air and Soil Pollution 79:210–224.
Verry, E. S. 1975. Stream flow chemistry and nutrient yields from upland-peatland watersheds in Minnesota. Ecology 56: 1149–1157.
Vitt, D. H., S. E. Bayley, and T.-L. Jin. 1995. Seasonal variation in water chemistry over a bog-rich fen gradient in continental western Canada. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 52:587–606.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bragazza, L., Alber, R. & Gerdol, R. Seasonal chemistry of pore water in hummocks and hollows in a poor mire in the southern Alps (Italy). Wetlands 18, 320–328 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03161527
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03161527