Response of plant diversity to moss, Carex or Scirpus revegetation strategies of wet depressions in restored fens

Abstract

Pool margins and wet depressions (hollows) contribute considerably to peatland biodiversity by sheltering specific plant assemblages. In peatlands restored after peat extraction, the typical communities associated with pools generally fail to re-establish if only the moss layer transfer technique is applied, a common approach on flat bare peatlands. To adapt peatland ecological restoration methods for recolonizing shallow wet fen habitats, this study investigates the response of plant communities re-establishing in wet depressions subjected to four revegetation strategies. In a restored fen (southeastern Quebec, Canada), 48 depressions were dug out and revegetated with 1) mosses, 2) Carex species, 3) Scirpus validus, or 4) through spontaneous colonization (control treatment without implanted species). After four growing seasons, plant community structure and composition were surveyed in and outside the revegetated area respectively to test whether reintroduced communities had a propensity to extend beyond the central wet depression. Restoration strategies strongly impacted plant communities. Moss-revegetated wet depressions had higher moss and vascular fen-specialist species richness and distinct species assemblages relative to other treatments. Carex treatment increased only vascular cover compared to control, while Scirpus validus treatment did not differ from control. The positive impact of moss transfer was local and limited to core revegetated areas, as transferred plant material did not colonize any further. Our results suggest that transferring moss in created wet depressions is an effective strategy to foster the recolonization of diverse and distinct plant assemblages, and thereby restore local fen biodiversity hotspots.