The Recent Environmental History, Attempted Restoration and Future Prospects of a Challenged Lobelia Pond in Northeastern Belgium

Diversity Pub Date : 2024-08-09 DOI:10.3390/d16080487
Luc Denys, J. Packet, An Leyssen, F. Vanderhaeghe
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Abstract

Softwater ponds with Lobelia dortmanna (EU habitat type 3110) represent the rarest aquatic habitat in Belgium. As in many other European countries, its unfavourable conservation status necessitates restoration according to the EU Habitats Directive, which is compromised by a range of pressures and faces increasing social–economic opposition. To explore appropriate goals and remaining obstacles for its ecological rehabilitation, we investigated the environmental history of a pond, formerly renowned for the occurrence of this habitat. We complemented monitoring data with information inferred from diatoms analysed from old samples, herbarium specimens and surface sediments, vegetation records, physical–chemical analyses and additional observations. This indicated almost circumneutral, slightly buffered and nutrient-poor conditions for the first decades of the 20th century. Deposition of atmospheric pollutants caused gradual acidification from the early 1940s, intensifying into mineral-acidic conditions by the 1970s. More recently, a period of alkalinisation and eutrophication followed despite some restoration efforts. We discuss these changes in the contexts of general setting, external pressures and internal processes. Reflecting upon the prospects for restoring the pond’s emblematic biodiversity, management implications for this and other softwater sites dealing with similar problems are discussed. A new combination in the diatom genus Iconella is proposed.
比利时东北部一个受到挑战的龙舌兰池塘的近期环境历史、修复尝试和未来展望
长有龙须菜的软水池塘(欧盟栖息地类型 3110)是比利时最稀有的水生栖息地。与许多其他欧洲国家一样,根据欧盟栖息地指令,由于其不利的保护状况,有必要对其进行修复,但修复工作受到一系列压力的影响,并面临越来越多的社会经济反对。为了探索生态恢复的适当目标和仍然存在的障碍,我们调查了一个池塘的环境历史,该池塘曾因出现这种栖息地而闻名。我们利用从旧样本、标本馆标本和表层沉积物中分析出的硅藻、植被记录、物理化学分析和其他观察结果推断出的信息,对监测数据进行了补充。这表明,在 20 世纪的头几十年里,这里几乎处于中性、轻微缓冲和缺乏营养的状态。从 20 世纪 40 年代初开始,大气污染物的沉积导致海水逐渐酸化,到 20 世纪 70 年代,酸化加剧,形成矿物质酸性环境。最近,尽管进行了一些修复工作,但仍出现了碱化和富营养化现象。我们从总体环境、外部压力和内部过程的角度讨论了这些变化。考虑到恢复池塘标志性生物多样性的前景,我们还讨论了该池塘和其他面临类似问题的软水地点的管理影响。提出了硅藻属 Iconella 的新组合。
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