Acidifying surface water and water level management promote Sphagnum health for peatland restoration and paludiculture

IF 3.9 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Ecological Engineering Pub Date : 2025-03-28 DOI:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2025.107579

Adam H.W. Koks , Sannimari A. Käärmelahti , Ralph J.M. Temmink , Alfons J.P. Smolders , Bas P. van de Riet , Leon P.M. Lamers , Roy C.J.H. Peters , Christian Fritz , Gijs van Dijk

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Sphagnum-dominated peatlands play a vital role in carbon storage worldwide. However, large areas are strongly degraded due to land-use change. Success of Sphagnum introduction for bog restoration or paludiculture in former agricultural areas largely depends on local surface water for irrigation and to obtain stable water levels, especially during drought events. However, this water is often unsuitable for Sphagnum, especially in a drained and intensively-used landscape due to high bicarbonate concentrations, known to be toxic to Sphagnum. As such, removing bicarbonate from surface water through artificial acidification using hydrochloric acid (HCl) and/or water level management to mitigate bicarbonate toxicity may be an effective method to initiate a vital Sphagnum cover, but this has not yet been experimentally demonstrated.

We therefore performed a five-week laboratory experiment in which Sphagnum palustre was exposed to surface water from two drained peat landscapes with high bicarbonate concentrations, which differed in ion- and nutrient concentrations, and one artificial rainwater control. We applied the following treatments: acidified (pH 4.0) or non-acidified water, and moss capitula were placed either above or below the water surface.

Our experiment revealed that Sphagnum survived in all emergent treatments regardless of the ion concentration. Sphagnum submerged in non-acidified water became chlorotic and had lower capitulum potassium levels, but accumulated calcium and magnesium. Sphagnum remained vital when submerged in acidified conditions and had higher capitulum potassium levels.

This study highlights that acidification of bicarbonate-rich surface water mitigates bicarbonate toxicity even when surface water is high in ion concentrations. We further show that emergent capitula in bicarbonate-rich water does not lead to chlorosis after five weeks. This suggests artificial acidification of surface water or application of bicarbonate-rich irrigation water with emergent capitula are measures to overcome drought periods in Sphagnum restoration or paludiculture projects when acidic surface water is unavailable.

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地表水酸化和水位管理促进泥炭地恢复和古农业中泥炭藻的健康

泥炭地在世界范围内的碳储存中起着至关重要的作用。然而，由于土地利用的变化，大片地区正在严重退化。在原农业区引进泥沼恢复或古农业的成功，很大程度上取决于当地的地表水灌溉和获得稳定的水位，特别是在干旱事件期间。然而，这种水通常不适合Sphagnum，特别是在排水和密集使用的景观中，由于高浓度的碳酸氢盐，已知对Sphagnum有毒。因此，通过使用盐酸（HCl）和/或水位管理来人工酸化去除地表水中的碳酸氢盐，以减轻碳酸氢盐的毒性，可能是启动重要的泥鳅覆盖的有效方法，但尚未得到实验证明。因此，我们进行了一项为期五周的实验室实验，在实验中，我们将palustre泥炭暴露于来自两个高碳酸氢盐浓度（离子和营养物质浓度不同）的排干泥炭景观的地表水中，并进行了人工雨水控制。我们采用了以下处理：酸化（pH 4.0）或非酸化水，将苔藓头状花序置于水面以上或以下。我们的实验表明，无论离子浓度如何，Sphagnum在所有紧急处理中都能存活。浸泡在非酸化水中的藻体褪绿，头状钾含量降低，但钙和镁积累。当淹没在酸化条件下时，藻保持活力，并且头状体钾含量较高。这项研究强调，即使地表水的离子浓度很高，富含碳酸氢盐的地表水的酸化也会减轻碳酸氢盐的毒性。我们进一步表明，在富含碳酸氢盐的水中，新生头状体在5周后不会导致黄化。这表明，在缺乏酸性地表水的情况下，人工酸化地表水或施用富含碳酸氢盐的灌溉水是应对泥藻恢复或水产养殖项目干旱期的措施。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Ecological Engineering 环境科学-工程：环境

CiteScore

8.00

自引率

5.30%

发文量

293

审稿时长

57 days

期刊介绍： Ecological engineering has been defined as the design of ecosystems for the mutual benefit of humans and nature. The journal is meant for ecologists who, because of their research interests or occupation, are involved in designing, monitoring, or restoring ecosystems, and can serve as a bridge between ecologists and engineers. Specific topics covered in the journal include: habitat reconstruction; ecotechnology; synthetic ecology; bioengineering; restoration ecology; ecology conservation; ecosystem rehabilitation; stream and river restoration; reclamation ecology; non-renewable resource conservation. Descriptions of specific applications of ecological engineering are acceptable only when situated within context of adding novelty to current research and emphasizing ecosystem restoration. We do not accept purely descriptive reports on ecosystem structures (such as vegetation surveys), purely physical assessment of materials that can be used for ecological restoration, small-model studies carried out in the laboratory or greenhouse with artificial (waste)water or crop studies, or case studies on conventional wastewater treatment and eutrophication that do not offer an ecosystem restoration approach within the paper.