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Land
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Peatland Restoration – towards an Integrated Approach
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Peatland Restoration – towards an Integrated Approach

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 3532

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Ian Rotherham

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield S1 1WB, UK
Interests: wildlife & heritage tourism; religious tourism; cultural tourism; regional economic development; sports leisure & tourism; countryside recreation; related health issues
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This volume of papers addresses current issues in peatland research in relation to site degradation history and contemporary restoration opportunities and practice. Driven by emerging policies in terms of climate change, climate change mitigation and landscape resilience, there are major initiatives to restore and reinstate functioning peatland systems such as mires and fens. Resulting from these projects there is increased awareness of peat-related matters such as carbon release and carbon capture, of climate change resilience, of flood-risk mitigation, and of the delivery of broader ecosystem services. The histories of peatland exploitation are less understood and yet they underpin any understanding of the contemporary condition of these often degraded landscapes and help inform restoration trajectories.

Restoration itself is a complex process affected by current site condition, removal of adverse or damaging exploitation, and factors such as location, topography, and climate. Assessing the progress towards functioning restored peatlands is also a multi-faceted phenomenon. Key peat-forming taxa such as sphagnum mosses may provide useful indicators to site condition and health, but detailed and usable indicators of condition are yet to be clearly defined.

This volume brings together cross-disciplinary contributions presenting current approaches and novel insights to improve our understanding of peatland history and inform future recovery. The topic is embedded in wider discussions of soil, carbon, biodiversity, and climate. Emerging awareness of the former widespread occurrence of peatlands, for instance, suggests the potential for much greater carbon capture in restored landscapes than was previously recognized. However, in terms of policy and practice, restoration and recovery must be supported by viable social and economic systems in order to deliver new sustainable landscapes. This context necessitates thoroughly embedded cross-disciplinary approaches. 

Prof. Dr. Ian Rotherham
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 5090 KiB  
Article
Effect of ‘Peatland-Use’ Type on Culturable Microbial Groups in Irish Peatlands in the Midlands
by Gouri Atapattu, Samuel Apori Obeng, Tara Battersby, Michelle Giltrap and Furong Tian
Land 2023, 12(8), 1614; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12081614 - 16 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 883
Abstract
Soil microbial ecology in the Irish wetlands is still poorly understood, although it is crucial in introducing effective rewetting schemes to restore and conserve the Irish peatlands. As an initiative, peatlands with distinct land-use types (cutaway, raised semi-degraded, unimproved grassland and grassland) were [...] Read more.
Soil microbial ecology in the Irish wetlands is still poorly understood, although it is crucial in introducing effective rewetting schemes to restore and conserve the Irish peatlands. As an initiative, peatlands with distinct land-use types (cutaway, raised semi-degraded, unimproved grassland and grassland) were collected from farms in the midlands to analyse various microbial populations. Peat was homogenized and serially diluted to culture on a range of specific and non-specific culture media. Culture isolation and microbial enumeration were performed. Gram staining and other microscopic observations of morphologically distinct microorganisms were performed, followed by isolation procedures. The numbers of total viable bacteria of cutaway bog and unimproved grassland were 4.23 × 103 CFU g−1 and 9.81 × 107 CFU g−1, respectively, with a significant statistical difference (p ≤ 0.05). Raised semi-degraded bogs comprised low values of both aerobes and fungal populations. Penicillium spp. and Trichoderma spp. were common in many vegetation types. Phosphate-solubilizing bacteria were present in the majority of the study sites. This indicated that the soluble form of phosphorus was being assimilated by plants. Cutaway peat contained the bacteria with the highest phosphate-solubilizing index (3.167). Overall, the number of culturable microbial groups in cutaway and raised semi-degraded peatlands exhibited significant differences, while the rest did not show drastic changes according to land-use type. This study provides baseline data to continue studies on bog microbiology, which provides a new outlook for restoration. Future work should consider microbial interaction with environmental variables in different land-use types. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Peatland Restoration – towards an Integrated Approach)
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30 pages, 13817 KiB  
Article
The Determination of Priority Areas for the Restoration of Degraded Tropical Peatland Using Hydrological, Topographical, and Remote Sensing Approaches
by Bambang Kun Cahyono, Trias Aditya and Istarno
Land 2022, 11(7), 1094; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11071094 - 18 Jul 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2059
Abstract
Degraded peatland is caused by forest clearing and the construction of artificial water networks. When water management is not implemented across land uses in the entire peatland landscape, then it will be a big issue that causes a water deficit and leads to [...] Read more.
Degraded peatland is caused by forest clearing and the construction of artificial water networks. When water management is not implemented across land uses in the entire peatland landscape, then it will be a big issue that causes a water deficit and leads to increasing droughts and fires. Effective restoration must first identify the part of Peatland Hydrological system Units (PHUs) with insufficient water storage and resources. This study used intercorrelated factors of water balance, deficit months, NDMI-NDVI indices, dry periods, recurrent fires, peat depth, and water loss conditions, as the evaluation parameters, within individual sub-PHUs to determine the most degraded areas that require intervention and restoration. Sub-PHU was determined based on the peat hydrological unity concept by identifying streamline, outlet channels, peat-depth, slopes, and network connectivity. Global hydrological data using TerraClimate and CHIRPS, combined with field observations, were used to validate and calculate each sub-PHU’s water balance and dry periods. Soil moisture (NDMI), vegetation density (NDVI), and fire frequency were extracted from multispectral satellite images (e.g., Landsat 8, MODIS-Terra, and MODIS-Aqua). Each parameter was ranked by the score for each sub-PHU. The parameters that can be ranked are only the ordinal type of number. The lowest ranks indicated the most degraded sub-PHUs requiring peat rewetting interventions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Peatland Restoration – towards an Integrated Approach)
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