%0 Articles
%T Impacts of restoration of forestry-drained peatlands on nutrient and organic carbon exports and methane dynamics
%A Koskinen, Markku
%D 2016
%J Dissertationes Forestales
%V 2017
%N 232
%R doi:10.14214/df.232
%U http://dissertationesforestales.fi/article/2015
%X <div id="abstract"><p>In this study, the effects of restoration of forestry-drained peatlands on the nutrient and organic carbon exports and methane dynamics of the restored sites are explored. The study consists of four sub-studies. Two of the sub-studies are concerned with the effects on water quality and export of elements of restoration and were conducted on a catchment scale. One of the studies was conducted in the laboratory, and assessed the release of elements from peat samples under anaerobic inundation simulating the effects of a rising water table after restoration or logging. The fourth study was again a field study, in which the differences in methane emissions between undrained, drained and restored spruce swamp forests were assessed. In all, 24 different pristine, drained and restored sites are featured in the study, one site being present in two of the sub-studies.</p><p>The results indicate potentially large effects of restoration especially on the nutrient rich spruce-dominated sites, which had the highest restoration-induced increases in organic carbon and nutrient exports in the catchment studies, and which also exhibited high methane emissions after restoration, higher than in the undrained or drained state. The results should prompt research into the techniques applied in restoration of such sites and into the processes which lie behind these large effects.</p></div>