The Effect of Peatland Restoration on Ciliate Communities: Long-Term Analyses
, Aleksandra Bartkowska 1,*, Urszula Bronowicka-Mielniczuk 2 and Natalia Rudyk-Leuska 3Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe main question addressed by the research is he functioning of ciliates in peatland ecosystems subjected to long-term restoration processes and seasonal changes
the manuscript entitled The effect of peatland restoration on ciliate communities: longterm analyses. presents important information on peatlands, useful for its conservation.
The paper is well presented and discussed; however, minor details can be checked in order to improve the manuscript.
Authors can explicit which treatment was considered controls (positive and negative)
it is required to improve legends of Figs 2 to 5, please fix taksons (taxons)
please check for taxons not taksons,
fig 5: it is difficult to visualize the species. Can be improved?
Any hypothesis?
It seems that there are sufficient related references. line 134: fix the reference citation:
Comments on the tables and figures:
such as: figure legends: to fix taksons / replace by taxons, etc.
Also Add a hypothesis,
Improve figures: to better visualize the species names.
I suggest using bar colors, if possible.
and to check for reference citations along the ms.
the manuscript entitled The effect of peatland restoration on ciliate communities: long-2 term analyses. presents important information on peatlands, useful for its conservation.
The paper is well presented and discussed; however, minor details can be checked in order to improve the manuscript.
it is required to improve legends of Figs 2 to 5, please fix taksons (taxons)
please check for taxons not taksons,
fig 5: it is difficult to visualize the species. Can be improved?
Any hypothesis?
line 134: fix the reference citation:
Author Response
Dear Reviewer
Thank you very much for your review. Based on the comments, I have corrected the article. Below, I describe in detail how my submission has been corrected in accord with the nemarks made. Please note that I have taken the liberty of marking the most important changes in colour (to facilitate their checking).
- Comments 1:Authors can explicit which treatment was considered controls (positive and negative)
Response: Thank you for pointing this out. I have corrected [96-97]
- Comments 2: It is required to improve legends of Figs 2 to 5, please fix taksons (taxons)
Response: I agree with this comments. I have corrected [220-221, 233-234, 237-238]
- Comments 3: Please check for taxons not taksons.
Response: Thank you for pointing this out. I have corrected [225,228].
- Comments 4: Fig 5: it is difficult to visualize the species. Can be improved?
Response: Thank you very much for your suggestion. I changed the gradient to make it more readable
- Comments 5: Any hypothesis?
Response: Two hypotheses were presented [83-89]
- Comments 6: Line 134: fix the reference citation:
Response: I have corrected.
- Improve figures: to better visualize the species names.
Response: I have corrected. I changed it to make it more readable.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe presented manuscript concerns a very important environment that attracts the attention of many scientists - namely peat bogs. Until recently, peat bogs were considered an environment where valuable peat-forming plants could be found, while other organisms received less attention. That's why I'm happy with works that concern this topic, in this case Ciliate.
From minor comments:
Page 1, line 29: Ciliate cannot be a perfect indicative group, due to the difficulty of collection and marking. Nevertheless, this fact does not diminish the value of the work.
In my opinion, keywords should be better selected. For example: Ciliata, peatland, restoration, etc.
Page 2, line 67 - unnecessary paragraph.
Table 3 needs more explanation - what do the colors mean?
In general, I suggest describing tables and figures in more detail - especially figures 3 and 4 - whether it concerns the year or whether it is an average - it must be in the title.
Figure 5 and 6 are difficult to read.
Figure 7 - abbreviations need to be explained.
I have similar thoughts to the rest of the figures.
The work was well discussed, I would make more general conclusions, without repeating the statistical results.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer
Thank you very much for agreeing with us to the intention of this manuscript. I have read your comments carefully and tried our best to address them one by one.
Below, I describe in detail how my submission has been corrected in accord with the nemarks made by the Reviewers. Please note that I have taken the liberty of marking the most important changes in colour (to facilitate their checking).
- Comments 1: Page 1, line 29: Ciliate cannot be a perfect indicative group, due to the difficulty of collection and marking. Nevertheless, this fact does not diminish the value of the work.
Response: Thank you very much for your suggestion. I have corrected [30]
- Comments 2: In my opinion, keywords should be better selected. For example: Ciliata, peatland, restoration, etc.
Response: Thank you for pointing this out. I have corrected the keywords [32]
- Comments 3: Page 2, line 67 - unnecessary paragraph.
Response: I removed unnecessary paragraph [67].
- Comments 4: Table 3 needs more explanation - what do the colors mean?
Response: I have corrected table 3 [200-201]. The colors do not appear in Table 3.
- Comments 5: In general, I suggest describing tables and figures in more detail - especially figures 3 and 4 - whether it concerns the year or whether it is an average - it must be in the title.
Response: Thank you for pointing this out. I have corrected [232, 235]
- Comments 6: Figure 5 and 6 are difficult to read.
Response: Thank you very much for your suggestion. I changed the gradient to make it more readable
- Comments 7: Figure 7 - abbreviations need to be explained.
Response: I agree with your comments. I have corrected [259-265]
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
