The Experts below are selected from a list of 10443 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Hans Joosten - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Sphagnum farming: the promised land for Peat Bog species?
Biodiversity and Conservation, 2015Co-Authors: Christoph Muster, Matthias Krebs, Greta Gaudig, Hans JoostenAbstract:Sphagnum farming is a promising approach towards sustainability in growing media production for horticulture. In this study we focus on the additional value of Sphagnum farming sites as a surrogate habitat for threatened Peat Bog fauna. The highly diverse arthropod groups of spiders and harvestmen were used as bioindicators to track changes in species assemblages over the first 3 years of Sphagnum farming on a site in northwestern Germany. The results were compared with simultaneously studied reference habitats of nearby Bog grasslands and degraded Peat Bog remnants. Spider communities changed rapidly from assemblages dominated by disturbance specialists (pioneer species) in the year of artificial Sphagnum establishment to diverse assemblages with large proportions of Peatland generalists in the following years. Conservation value based on rarity, Red List status, disturbance tolerance and Peatland association of individual species was in the later stage of Sphagnum farming as high as in the seminatural reference sites. Species quality index as derived from rarity scores was particularly high in the first year of succession due to the occurrence of some rare disturbance specialists. Despite the fact that each succession stage has its own conservation value, we advocate long rotation cycles in Sphagnum farming to allow establishment of slowly colonizing Peatland specialists. We generally recommend the establishment of Sphagnum farms on degraded Peatland, as creation of this artificial habitat promotes landscape and species diversity and provides refuges for endangered species of Peatland and ephemeral habitats.
Gaël Le Roux - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Reconstructing historical atmospheric mercury deposition in Western Europe using : Misten Peat Bog cores, Belgium
Science of the Total Environment, 2013Co-Authors: Mohammed Allan, Natalia Piotrowska, Gaël Le Roux, Jeroen E. Sonke, Maurice Streel, Nathalie FagelAbstract:Four sediment cores were collected in 2008 from the Misten ombrotrophic Peat Bog in the Northern part of the Hautes Fagnes Plateau in Belgium. Total mercury (Hg) concentrations were analyzed to investigate the intra-site variability in atmospheric Hg deposition over the past 1500 years. Mercury concentrations in the four cores ranged from 16 to 1100 μg kg− 1, with the maxima between 840 and 1100 μg kg− 1. A chronological framework was established using radiometric 210Pb and 14C dating of two cores (M1 and M4). Pollen horizons from these two cores were correlated with data from two additional cores, providing a consistent dating framework between all the sites. There was good agreement between atmospheric Hg accumulation rates in the four cores over time based on precise age dating and pollen chronosequences. The average Hg accumulation rate before the influence of human activities (from 500 to 1300 AD) was 1.8 ± 1 μg m− 2 y− 1 (2SD). Maximum Hg accumulation rates ranged from 90 to 200 μg m− 2 y− 1 between 1930 and 1980 AD. During the European-North American Industrial Revolution, the mean Hg accumulation rate exceeded the pre-Industrial values by a factor of 63. Based on comparisons with historical records of anthropogenic activities in Europe and Belgium, the predominant regional anthropogenic sources of Hg during and after the Industrial Revolution were coal burning and smelter Hg emissions. Mercury accumulation rates and chronologies in the Misten cores were consistent with those reported for other European Peat records.
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Multiproxy evidence of 'Little Ice Age' palaeoenvironmental changes in a Peat Bog from northern Poland
The holocene, 2009Co-Authors: François De Vleeschouwer, Natalia Piotrowska, Jaroslaw Sikorski, Jacek Pawlyta, Andriy Cheburkin, Gaël Le Roux, Mariusz Lamentowicz, Nathalie Fagel, Dmitri MauquoyAbstract:Little Ice Age' (LIA) climatic deteriorations have been abundantly documented in various archives such as ice, lake sediments and Peat Bog deposits. Palaeoecological analyses of Peat samples have identified these climatic deteriorations using a range of techniques, for example palynology, plant macrofossils, testate amoebae or carbon isotopic analyses. The use of inorganic geochemistry and the reconstruction of dust fluxes has remained a challenge in tracing the nature of LIA climatic changes. Although the idea of enhanced erosion conditions and storminess is commonly discussed, the conditions for dust deposition in Peatlands over Europe during the LIAare rarely favourable, because the natural forest cover over Europe was much more important than nowadays, preventing dust deposition. This intense forest canopy masks the deposition of dust in Peatlands. In northern Poland, near the Baltic shore, the Słowin'skie Błota area was deforested around AD 1100, ie, just before the LIA, and therefore constitutes a key area for the reconstruction of LIA climatic change. With the support of a well-constrained chronology, climatic fluctuations are recorded in an ombrotrophic Bog using inorganic geochemistry, plant macrofossils and carbon isotopic analyses. The reconstruction of LIA climatic changes is in good agreement with other records from Poland and NE Europe. However, a c. 50-year discrepancy can be observed between various records. This discrepancy is possibly due to progressive time-dependent cooling gradient from north to south Europe.
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Anthropogenic impacts in North Poland over the last 1300 years - A record of Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni and S in an ombrotrophic Peat Bog
Science of the Total Environment, 2009Co-Authors: François De Vleeschouwer, Anna Pazdur, Natalia Piotrowska, Jaroslaw Sikorski, Andriy Cheburkin, Nathalie Fagel, Nadine Mattielli, Virginie Renson, Barbara Fialkiewicz, Gaël Le RouxAbstract:Lead pollution history over Northern Poland was reconstructed for the last ca. 1300 years using the elemental and Pb isotope geochemistry of a dated Polish Peat Bog. The data show that Polish Pb-Zn ores and coal were the main sources of Pb, other heavy metals and S over Northern Poland up until the industrial revolution. After review of the potential mobility of each element, most of the historical interpretation was based on Pb and Pb isotopes, the other chemical elements (Zn, Cu, Ni, S) being considered secondary indicators of pollution. During the last century, leaded gasoline also contributed to anthropogenic Pb pollution over Poland. Coal and Pb-Zn ores, however, remained important sources of pollution in Eastern European countries during the last 50 years, as demonstrated by a high 206Pb/207Pb ratio (1.153) relative to that of Western Europe (ca. 1.10). The Pb data for the last century were also in good agreement with modelled Pb inventories over Poland and the Baltic region.
Ivančica Ternjej - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Spatial distribution of insect indicator taxa as a basis for Peat Bog conservation planning
Ecological Indicators, 2017Co-Authors: Andreja Brigić, Jelena Bujan, Antun Alegro, Vedran Šegota, Ivančica TernjejAbstract:Abstract Peat Bogs are highly endangered ecosystems worldwide. In the Western Balkans, they represent fragmented habitat patches, where insect diversity and implications for the habitat loss are poorly known. Carabid beetles and ants, widely used environmental indicators, were sampled by pitfall trapping in the largest and oldest Croatian Peat Bog and at its edges. We found that tyrphobiontic—Bog specialist—species were absent in both taxonomic groups, which is likely due to biogeographical limitation for dispersal of these species into this region. With this study, tyrphophilous—typical of Bogs—species have been recognised as environmental indicators in the Western Balkans Peat Bogs. Assemblages of both taxa were strongly affected by specific conditions in the Peat Bog – high soil moisture and Sphagnum moss dominance, showing that edges are more favourable habitats for both taxa. Overall, carabid beetle activity density was significantly higher at the edge than at the Peat Bog, while species richness increased for both taxa at the edge, but not significantly. Spatial distribution of tyrphophilous species differed between studied taxa, with ants being more abundant in the Peat Bog, and carabid beetles at the edge. Additionally, some stenotopic and globally endangered species preferred edges. Occurrence of tyrphophilous and globally endangered species highlights the great conservation value of Peat Bog habitats in the Western Balkans. However, successional changes in vegetation are changing hydrological conditions of the Peat Bog. Here we suggest active conservation measures to preserve these unique soil invertebrate zoocoenoses.
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Spatial distribution and seasonal changes of mayflies (Insecta, Ephemeroptera) in a Western Balkan Peat Bog
ZooKeys, 2016Co-Authors: Marina Vilenica, Andreja Brigić, Mladen Kerovec, Sanja Gottstein, Ivančica TernjejAbstract:Peat Bogs are unique wetland ecosystems of high conservation value all over the world, yet data on the macroinvertebrates (including mayfly assemblages) in these habitats are still scarce. Over the course of one growing season, mayfly assemblages were sampled each month, along with other macroinvertebrates, in the largest and oldest Croatian Peat Bog and an adjacent stream. In total, ten mayfly species were recorded: two species in low abundance in the Peat Bog, and nine species in significantly higher abundance in the stream. Low species richness and abundance in the Peat Bog were most likely related to the harsh environmental conditions and mayfly habitat preferences. In comparison, due to the more favourable habitat conditions, higher species richness and abundance were observed in the nearby stream. Three of the recorded species, Caenis luctuosa from the Peat Bog, and Eurylophella karelica and Leptophlebia marginata from the stream are new records for the Croatian mayfly fauna. Typical Central European life cycle patterns were confirmed for several species (e.g. Baetis vernus, Nigrobaetis niger, Electrogena ujhelyii), while for several others (e.g. Habrophlebia fusca, Paraleptophlebia submarginata) some discrepancies were observed. Therefore, these results provide new and valuable information on the ecology of mayflies in Peat Bog habitats
Dmitry S. Kosyakov - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Migration and transformation of 1,1-dimethylhydrazine in Peat Bog soil of rocket stage fall site in Russian North.
The Science of the total environment, 2020Co-Authors: Nikolay V. Ul'yanovskii, D. E. Lakhmanov, I. I. Pikovskoi, Danil I. Falev, Mark S. Popov, Alexander Yu. Kozhevnikov, Dmitry S. KosyakovAbstract:Abstract An ingress of highly toxic rocket fuel 1,1-dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) and its transformation products into environment represents a serious negative impact on the ecosystem, as well as human health. The present research demonstrates the first data on the spatial distribution and quantification of UDMH and its main transformation products (methylhydrazine, hydrazine, 1,1,4,4-tetramethyltetrazene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and furaldehyde N,N-dimethylhydrazones, 1-formyl-2,2-dimethylhydrazine, N,N-dimethylformamide, N-nitrosodimethylamine, and 1-methyl-1H-1,2,4-triazole) in the Peat Bog soil of the fall site in subarctic region. One hundred samples of Peat Bog soil and one sample of surface water were analyzed by the developed earlier methodology. The considerable amounts of UDMH and most of its transformation products were found at distances of not >10 m from the center of the fall site. The maximum concentration of UDMH was found near the center, where maximal permissible concentration (MPC) was exceeded 2400-fold. The greatest pollution was observed in the surface soil layer, while methylhydrazine, 1-methyl-1H-1,2,4-triazole, 1-formyl-2,2-dimethylhydrazine, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde N,N-dimethylhydrazones, and N,N-dimethylformamide were the major UDMH transformation products. With increasing distance from the center, the composition of the transformation products changes in favor of the last three compounds. Formaldehyde N,N-dimethylhydrazone and N,N-dimethylformamide are present in all soil samples and can be considered as reliable markers of contamination with rocket fuel. The surface water of the Peat Bog contained four UDMH transformation products in considerable concentrations, including extremely toxic N-nitrosodimethylamine. The processes of migration and transformation of UDMH in Peat Bog soil differ considerably from those in sandy soils. This is due to cold climate of subarctic zone, the reducing environment of Peat Bog, and strong binding of hydrazines to organic matter of Peat, which prevents migration of pollutants and contributes to the long-term maintenance of high levels of soil pollution.
Lars B Clemmensen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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storminess variation during the last 6500 years as reconstructed from an ombrotrophic Peat Bog in halland southwest sweden
Journal of Quaternary Science, 2006Co-Authors: Rixt De Jong, Svante Bjorck, Leif Bjorkman, Lars B ClemmensenAbstract:Cores taken from an ombrotrophic Peat Bog in the coastal zone of Halland, southwest Sweden, were examined for wind transported mineral grains, pollen and humidity indicators. The core covers the period from 6500 cal. yr BP to present. Ombrotrophic conditions existed from ca. 4200 cal. yr BP onwards. Bog surface wetness fluctuated strongly until ca. 3700 cal. yr BP, with an apparent dominance of dry summer conditions from 4800-4500 cal. yr BP. Local wet shifts occurred around 4300, 2800, 2400 and 1500 cal. yr BP, whereas the most recent 600 years of the record show increasingly dry conditions. Mineral grain content, interpreted as aeolian sand influx (ASI), was used as a proxy for (winter) storm frequency and intensity until ca. 1500 cal. yr BP, after which increasing human impact, as reconstructed by pollen analysis, became a second important potential cause for increased sand drift. Strongly increased storminess occurred at 4800, 4200, 2800-2200, 1500, 1100 and 400-50 cal. yr BP, indicating a dominance of cold and stormy winters during these periods. Many of these storm periods apparently coincide with storm events in other sites in southwestern Scandinavia, suggesting that our ASI record reflects a regional scale climatic signal. Furthermore these stormy periods correlate to well-known cold phases in the North Atlantic region, suggesting a link to large-scale fluctuations in atmospheric circulation patterns. (Less)