Authors:
Sébastien Gogo, Fatima Laggoun-Défarge, Laure Comont, Christian Défarge, Jean-Robert Disnar, Pascale Gautret, Marielle Hatton and Nathalie Lottier
Book:
After Wise Use – The Future of Peatlands, Proceedings of the 13th International Peat Congress: Peatland After-Use
Keywords:
bioindicator, management, organic-matter, peatland, restoration
Documentfile:
Gogo et al. 2008: How to assess cutover peatland regeneration
Summary:
When restored, cutover peatlands can favour biodiversity and carbon (C) sequestration. Within the EU pro- gram RECIPE, we aimed to identify combinations of site physico-chemical conditions, vegetation composi- tion and below-ground microbiological characteristics that are beneficial to the long-term biodiversity and C sink function regeneration. To shed light on these characteristics, we assessed the bioindicator value of peat or- ganic matter (OM) physico-chemistry from cutover peatlands at various stages of regeneration. Although OM continues to reflect disturbances in the catotelm deep peat, we show that along the chronosequence the re- generated peat tends to be biochemically and physically similar to the one from the non-exploited area of the same site. The combination of several indicators provides an efficient assessment of ecological conditions and makes valuable for the management of cutover peatlands.