NSERC Industrial Research Chair on Peatland Management - 3

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The Canadian peat industry recognizes the importance of a responsible resource management based on proven scientific ecological principles for environmental, social and economic benefits. However, management actions are required to either facilitate natural recolonization or to restore the ecosystem. To assist the choice of intervention during the restoration of the peat accumulating functions in commercial peatlands or to develop a sustainable way to produce Sphagnum biomass, this Chair program will focus on the biology of key accumulating plant species and how to facilitate their return into the degraded wetland ecosystems across different Canadian regions. This will be done through three topics of research. First, in collaboration with horticulture or agriculture-oriented colleges and native plant nurseries, experiments concerning storage,stratification and growing conditions will be conducted on typical native fen species. In the second part, the establishment and facilitation of fen and bog species in degraded peat ecosystems will be improve. A case study on post-fire plant colonization and succession in a rich fen will be done. The method developed for bog restoration will be adapted to fens by doing research on nurse species, on in situ sowing of seeds, on liming and fertilization during restoration and on invasive plant control. The survival of plant material to storage will also be studied. Finally, the third part will focus on the eco-hydrological relationships (to find the optimal water level in relation with species interactions) ofkey Sphagnum species and on the reduction of the decomposition rates at the base of the carpet to increase biomas accumulation in Sphagnum farming basins .