Peatland restoration: A brief assessment with special reference to Sphagnum bogs

Recent literature on peatland restoration indicates as a general goal repairing or rebuilding ecosystems by restoring ecosystem structure, trophic organization, biodiversity, and functions to those characteristic of the type of peatland to which the damaged ecosystem belonged, or at least to an earlier successional stage. Attainment requires provision of an appropriate hydrological regime, manipulating surface topography, improving microclimate, adding appropriate diaspores, manipulating base status where necessary, fertilizing in some cases, excluding inappropriate invaders, adaptively managing through at least one flood/ drought cycle to ensure sustainability, and monitoring on a scale of decades. Several matching conditions favoring or opposing restoration are suggested. In the restoration of peatlands, successes have generally been those of short-term repair. Periods of restoration have been much too short to ensure progression to, or even well toward, a fully functional peatland reasonably compatible with the pristine state of similar peatlands elsewhere, although with altered surface patterns. Long-term monitoring of peatland-restoration projects is essential for a better understanding of how to carry out such restoration successfully. Paleoecology is suggested as an underutilized tool in peatland restoration.