Soil- and biodiversity of the former peat mines in Shaturskaya Meshchera in the context of their anthropogenic transformation

Abstract

The problem of pedo- and biodiversity of mire ecosystems under the long-term multiple anthropogenic impact was studied in one of the most intensively technogenically transformed areas of Shaturskaya Meshchera, adjacent to power station Shaturskaya in the north and stretching along the route Kerva – Dolgusha – Severnaya Griva. For more than a hundred years, mires in the Shatura area have been under the influence of drainage, peat extraction, fires, attempts to create agricultural land, secondary watering and pollution, resulting from the power station, transport, and settlements wastewaters. Currently, the bio- and soil diversity of secondary ecosystems has increased significantly compared to undisturbed mires. Instead of bog, in some cases there appeared secondary meadow, grass-shrub communities, small-leaved forests, and dry sparse areas. The remaining bogs experience stable eutrophication, which leads to the formation of mesotrophic and eutrophic phytocenoses and, accordingly, peat mesotrophic and oligotrophic secondary eutrophic soils. In addition, the proportion of eutrophic mires is slightly increased by the peat formation in shallow lakes, which at the initial stage of peat extraction were used for storing wood waste. The phenomenon of secondary oligotrophization of the disturbed bogs of Meshchera, noted in the literature, is not observed in the area under consideration due to a significant anthropogenic load. To preserve the local flora of oligotrophic bogs, marginal areas of flooded quarries and cofferdams with undeveloped peat deposits are of great importance. The increase in pedodiversity was facilitated by the agricultural development of drained peatlands for the cultivation of perennial grasses, which resulted in the formation of torfozems and agrotorfyano-gleyzems.