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Long-term effects of drainage and hay-removal on nutrient dynamics and limitation in the Biebrza mires, Poland

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Abstract

To provide a reference for wetlands elsewhere we analysed soil nutrients and the vegetation of floodplains and fens in the relatively undisturbed Biebrza-valley, Poland. Additionally, by studying sites along a water-table gradient, and by comparing pairs of mown and unmown sites, we aimed with exploring long-term effects of drainage and annual hay-removal on nutrient availabilities and vegetation response. In undrained fens and floodplains, N mineralization went slowly (0–30 kg N ha−1 year−1) but it increased strongly with decreasing water table (up to 120 kg N ha−1 year−1). Soil N, P and K pools were small in the undisturbed mires. Drainage had caused a shift from fen to meadow species and the disappearance of bryophytes. Biomass of vascular plants increased with increasing N mineralization and soil P. Annual hay-removal tended to have reduced N mineralization and soil K pools, but it had increased soil P. Moreover, N concentrations in vascular plants were not affected, but P and K concentrations and therefore N:P and N:K ratios tended to be changed. Annual hay-removal had induced a shift from P to K limitation in the severely drained fen, and from P to N limitation in the floodplain. The low nutrient availabilities and productivity of the undisturbed Biebrza mires illustrate the vulnerability of such mires to eutrophication in Poland and elsewhere. In nutrient-enriched areas, hay removal may prevent productivity increase of the vegetation, but also may severely alter N:P:K stoichiometry, induce K-limitation at drained sites, and alter vegetation structure and composition.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Dutch PIN-MATRA fund for Nature Management in Central and Eastern Europe (project 2001/039).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Harry Olde Venterink

  2. Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Environmental Restoration, Warsaw University of Life Sciences SGGW, Ul. Nowoursynowska 166, 02787, Warsaw, Poland

    Ignacy Kardel

  3. Department of Plant Ecology and Environmental Conservation, Institute of Botany, University of Warsaw, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00478, Warsaw, Poland

    Wiktor Kotowski

  4. Environmental Sciences, Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development and Innovation, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80115, 3508, TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Wilma Peeters & Martin J. Wassen

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  1. Harry Olde Venterink
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  2. Ignacy Kardel
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  4. Wilma Peeters
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  5. Martin J. Wassen
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Correspondence to Harry Olde Venterink.

 

 

See Appendix 1.

Appendix 1 Vegetation composition and cover of species in floodplain (FL), undrained fens (UF), drained fen (DF) and severely drained fen (SDF) sites of the Biebrza Valley, Poland. Sites in FL, DF and SDF were selected in pairs: one site unmown, the other mown and hay removed
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Olde Venterink, H., Kardel, I., Kotowski, W. et al. Long-term effects of drainage and hay-removal on nutrient dynamics and limitation in the Biebrza mires, Poland. Biogeochemistry 93, 235–252 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-009-9300-5

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