Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Vejlsøvej 25, 8600 Silkeborg, Denmark; Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 4, 2100 København Ø, Denmark.
Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Vejlsøvej 25, 8600 Silkeborg, Denmark.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Dec 1;798:149146. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149146. Epub 2021 Jul 20.
For more than two decades, wetland restoration has been successfully applied in Denmark as a tool to protect watercourses from elevated nutrient inputs from agriculture, but little is known about how the flora and fauna respond to restoration. The main objective of this study was therefore to: (1) examine plant community characteristics in 10 wetland sites in the River Odense Kratholm catchment, restored between 2001 and 2011 by re-meandering the stream and disconnecting the tile drains, and (2) explore whether the effects of restoration on plant community characteristics change with the age of the restoration. Specifically, we hypothesised that plant community composition, species richness and diversity would improve with the age of the restoration and eventually approach the state of natural wetland vegetation. We found that the prevailing plant communities could be characterised as humid grasslands, moist fallow fields and improved grasslands, whereas the abundance of natural wetland plant communities (e.g., rich fens, fen-sedge beds and humid grasslands) was lower in both the recently restored as well as in older restored wetlands. Additionally, species richness and diversity did not seem to improve with the age of the restoration. We suggest that the continued high nutrient input at the restored sites in combination with restricted dispersal of wetland plant species may hamper the recovery of natural plant communities and that the sites therefore may stay botanically poor for many decades.
二十多年来，湿地恢复已在丹麦成功应用于保护河道免受农业中升高的养分输入的影响，但对于湿地恢复后动植物的响应知之甚少。因此，本研究的主要目的是：（1）调查在奥登塞河克罗马尔姆集水区的 10 个湿地点的植物群落特征，这些湿地点是在 2001 年至 2011 年间通过重新弯曲溪流和断开瓦管进行恢复的；（2）探索湿地恢复对植物群落特征的影响是否随恢复的年龄而变化。具体而言，我们假设植物群落组成、物种丰富度和多样性会随着恢复的年龄而提高，并最终达到自然湿地植被的状态。我们发现，主要的植物群落可以被描述为湿润的草原、潮湿的休耕地和改良的草地，而自然湿地植物群落（如丰富的沼泽、沼泽莎草床和湿润的草原）在最近和较老的恢复湿地中都较少。此外，物种丰富度和多样性似乎并没有随着恢复的年龄而提高。我们认为，在恢复的地点持续的高养分输入以及湿地植物物种传播的限制可能会阻碍自然植物群落的恢复，因此这些地点可能在未来几十年内仍保持植物种类的匮乏。
