A review of techniques for monitoring the success of peatland restoration

An important element of all peatland restorationprojects is a programme of monitoring to checkresults and progress. Several peat projectworkshops identified a demand for technicalguidance on monitoring techniques. So NaturalEngland commissioned this study to: -Review the range of peatland restorationmonitoring techniques available. -Identify those that were consistent, informativeand easily applicable for peatland restorationprojects at a range of scales and budgets.Tables to identify appropriate monitoringtechniques for specific projects are published inthe Technical Information Note TIN097 -Guidelines for monitoring peatland restoration.Further information on these techniques isprovided in this report.The findings of this study have been used to: -Inform the JNCC project to design a researchprogramme on UK Peatland Green House Gasand Carbon Flux. -Develop thinking on monitoring peatlands inthe IUCN UK Peatland Programme. -Inform hydrological monitoring programmes forthe Dartmoor and Exmoor Mires Project.These findings are being disseminated to: -Encourage the use of balanced and consistentapproaches to peatland restoration monitoring. -Develop consistency in monitoring approachesso as to enable possible future collation ofpeatland monitoring data as a single databaseresource.A single database resource of peatlandrestoration would enable more robust analysesof monitoring data to support the developmentand implementation of future support andmanagement techniques for peatlandrestoration

Guidelines for monitoring the success of peatland restoration

The aim of this guidance is to provide information to enable peatland restoration projects to develop appropriate monitoring programmes. Degraded peatlands are restored for a wide range of reasons. Restoration objectives can include protecting and enhancing biodiversity, improving water quality, reducing flood risk and protecting cultural heritage or carbon stores. Restoration projects need monitoring programmes to show whether these objectives are being met and to help them to adapt practices to respond to environmental changes

Short-term effectiveness of drain-blocking in suppressingenzymic peat decomposition and DOC export

It has become evident that there is a general problem of increasing colour in the water draining from areas of accumulated peat in upland Britain. It was agreed in early 2007 to set up a preliminary investigation into the causes of change in colour using methods based on characterising the breakdown and oxidation of peat. These make use of techniques to measure the activities of extracellular enzymes which catalyse the process of decomposition independently from the microbial population. The overall aim of this investigation was to investigate the effect of grip blocking on the enzymic decomposition of peat and the consequential production of colour. The main study area is located within Langdon Moor, part of the Raby Estate. Peat samples were collected at 5 m intervals along transects perpendicular to a natural gully and a blocked grip. At each 5 m interval peat samples were collected at 5 depths down to 85 cm depth. Peat samples were analysed in the laboratory for carbon-related enzyme activities, microbial activity, colour and phenolic concentration.There were clear differences between enzyme activities in surface peat when compared with peat from greater depth at both study sites. There were no significant differences in magnitude of enzyme activity levels in surface peat from either area. However, there were significant differences between the areas for a number of parameters including enzyme activities in peat collected from depths between 5 and 85cms. These results suggest that increased retention of water within Langdon moor, as a result of grip blocking has caused a significant impact on the amount of colour and phenolic compounds with increasing depth relative to the amounts in a naturally drained area. Furthermore, the relationship between water colour and the concentration of phenolic compounds has been altered in the area of the blocked grip. This indicates some difference, yet to be elucidated, in the processes producing the colour deriving from the two drainage states.There were also significant differences in amounts of colour and phenolic compounds, but not enzyme activities with increasing distance from the blocked grip in contrast to the naturally drained area where amounts were less variable. This again indicates a significant influence of altered drainage patterns on the amount and quality of the coloured compounds produced from the breakdown of peat.Further detailed research will be required to determine whether this phenomenon is site specific or widespread in peatlands, and to the cause and effect of changing enzyme activity, phenolics and colour in peatlands. This preliminary study has only focused on one site per management treatment and therefore, at this stage, the results must be considered to be preliminary and site specific to Langdon moor rather than applicable to peatlands in general.Despite the small size of the study, we have achieved a good indication that there are significant differences between the two sites with contrasting drainage histories that were chosen for study and that it is possible to determine the involvement of a number of soil enzymes in the breakdown processes. It should now be possible to produce a properly convincing dataset with enough replicate study sites included which could quantify spatial variation that will undoubtedly be there at this scale. Now that the methods have been implemented, the funding requirements are relatively modest so that a level similar to that originally provided by Peatscapes (£4k) would enable a design that could cover a substantive area of Langdon Moor in enough detail to clearly demonstrate the impact of impeded drainage on this managed area

Seasonal variations in decomposition processes in a valley-bottom riparian peatland

A year-long field survey was carried out at a valley-bottom riparian peatland site in North Wales, UK from January 2002 to December 2002 to examine the seasonal variation of decomposition processes and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations. Peat temperature, physicochemistry, organic carbon pools, basal CO2 respiration and extracellular enzyme activities (β-glucosidase, phosphatase, sulphatase and phenol oxidase) were monitored monthly. The results of a principle component eigenanalysis of field data show that concentrations of basal CO2 respiration, soil solution DOC and phenolics were positively correlated to soil temperature (P < 0.01, F = 12.25; P < 0.001, F = 59.8; P < 0.001, F = 141.27) with Q10 responses of 2.29, 6.42 and 14.42, respectively. Extracellular enzyme activities, however, were more strongly associated with seasonal changes in ion concentrations and did not correspond significantly to temperature alone suggesting limitations attributable to a combination of continuous anaerobiosis and/or the suppressive compounds. Restraints on soil enzyme activities may limit the loss of CO2 from the microbial community that is dependent on soil enzyme activities for nutrient availability. The seasonal effect of temperature on DOC may be explained by increased plant rhizodeposition and microbial activity. These results do not imply that the long-term increasing trend in DOC export is explainable by temperature increase but suggest that temperature may be a key factor regulating the seasonal variation in DOC concentrations. Thus, seasonal temperature effects on DOC may represent an important component of long-term models of DOC export