Transitional mire vegetation restoration: changing failure back to success, case study from Slovenia

Abstract

In this article, we describe two restoration efforts (raising and lowering the water table) in a transitional mire and use vegetation survey data (from 1987, 1999, and 2015) to evaluate restoration success. We used historical and current vegetation relevés and vegetation maps to identify target plant communities and track changes in vegetation over time. Ordination plot (NMDS) and the Sankey diagram were used to detect changes in plant community composition and overall vegetation. The first restoration (1993) was not planned according to the standards and was unsuccessful because of a very rapid rise in the water level. It caused the destruction of bog and mire plant communities and the emergence of new wetland stands. Subsequent restoration (in 2000), with a gradual lowering of the water table, allowed natural restoration of mire communities, but certain species remain absent. Our study demonstrated the importance of careful restoration planning, selection of target plant communities, and the importance of vegetation survey for monitoring.