Peatlands, shaped by centuries of human activities, now face a primary threat from mining activities. Vulnerable to drainage and hydrological instability, peatland areas encounter challenges that compromise their ecological integrity. This study hypothesised that permanent water reservoirs within mines could serve as refugia for water beetles from adjacent areas prone to drying in the summer. Employing standard methods, including entomological scraping and water traps, samples were collected. Results revealed that, in most cases, water beetles exhibited a preference for the Nature 2000 area untouched by mining. Despite unfavourable conditions, the Nature 2000 area showcased a more diverse water beetle fauna. Remarkably, the selected Nature 2000 area, despite its identified degradation based on flora, remained a biodiversity hotspot for peatland water beetle fauna. The study underscores the significance of assessing insects, particularly beetles, as rapid responders to environmental changes. This evaluation holds crucial implications for peatland restoration planning and decision-making regarding mining investments in proximity to peatland areas.

The Podemszczyzna peatland (Sandomierz Basin, SE Poland) is a place of peat exploitation for balneological purposes. The thickness of organic sediments (minerogenic peat) reaches 4.0 m, while the beginning of peat accumulation was dated using the radiocarbon method (14C) at 13,517–13,156 cal BP. During the peat exploitation numerous fragments of subfossil wood (of various species) were excavated and, based on dendrochronological analyzes and 14C dating (wiggle-matching), two short floating chronologies were elaborated: bog pine chronology (147 years long) and deciduous trees (oak, elm) chronology (139 years long). 14C dating has shown that the bog pine chronology (ca. 9980–9830 mod. cal BP) is the oldest pine chronology found in the Polish peatlands so far. It was synchronous with the Preboreal decline of fluvial activity and peat formation, whereas dying off of trees was connected with distinct rise of fluvial activity. Floating chronology of deciduous trees is much younger and encompasses time interval of ca. 680–545 cal BP. The trees’ encroachment on the peatland was related to the terrestrialization of the depositional fen, recorded in the loss on ignition curve in the form of mineral sediment delivery to the bog, as well as it is marked in the pollen record.

A multiproxy Holocene record from a bog in the Hudson Bay Lowlands, northern Ontario, Canada, was used to evaluate how ecohydrology relates to carbon accumulation. The study site is located at a somewhat higher elevation and on coarser grained deposits than the surrounding peatlands. This promotes better drainage and thus a slower rate of carbon accumulation relative to sites with similar initiation age. The rate of peat vertical accretion was initially low as the site transitioned from a marsh to a rich fen. These lower rates took place during the warmer temperatures of the Holocene thermal maximum, confirming the importance of hydrological controls limiting peat accretion at the local scale. Testate amoebae, pollen, and plant macrofossils indicate a transition to a poor fen and then a bog during the late Holocene, as the carbon accumulation rate and reconstructed water table depth increased. The bacterial membrane lipid biomarker indices used to infer paleotemperature show a summer temperature bias and appear sensitive to changes in peat type. The bacterial membrane lipid biomarker pH proxy indicates a rich to a poor fen and a subsequent fen to bog transition, which are supported by pollen, macrofossil, and testate amoeba records.

Tephra layers from 11 sediment cores were examined from a series of closely spaced lake and peat sites, which form an arc around the andesitic stratovolcano Mt. Taranaki, North Island, New Zealand. A new high-resolution composite tephra-deposition record was built, encompassing at least 228 tephra-producing eruptions over the last 30 cal ka BP and providing a basis for understanding variations in magnitude and frequency of explosive volcanism at a typical andesitic volcano. Intersite correlation and geochemical fingerprinting of almost all tephra layers was achieved using electron microprobe–determined titanomagnetite phenocryst and volcanic glass shard compositions, in conjunction with precise age determination of the tephra layers based on continuous down-core radiocarbon dating. Compositional variation within these data allowed the overall eruption record to be divided into six individual tephra sequences. This geochemical/stratigraphic division provides a broad basis for widening correlation to incomplete tephra sequences, with confident correlations to specific, distal Taranaki-derived tephra layers found as far as 270 km from the volcano. Furthermore, this tephrostratigraphical record is one of the most continuous and detailed for an andesitic stratovolcano. It suggests two general patterns of magmatic evolution, characterized by intricate geochemical variations indicating a complex storage and plumbing system beneath the volcano.

Studying boreal-type peatlands near the edge of their southern limit can provide insight into responses of boreal and sub-arctic peatlands to warmer climates. In this study, we investigated peatland history using multi-proxy records of sediment composition, plant macrofossil, pollen, and diatom analysis from a 14C-dated sediment core at Tannersville Bog in northeastern Pennsylvania, USA. Our results indicate that peat accumulation began with lake infilling of a glacial lake at ~ 9 ka as a rich fen dominated by brown mosses. It changed to a poor fen dominated by Cyperaceae (sedges) and Sphagnum (peat mosses) at ~ 1.4 ka and to a Sphagnum-dominated poor fen at ~ 200 cal yr BP (~ AD 1750). Apparent carbon accumulation rates increased from 13.4 to 101.2 g C m− 2 yr− 1 during the last 8000 yr, with a time-averaged mean of 27.3 g C m− 2 yr− 1. This relatively high accumulation rate, compared to many northern peatlands, was likely caused by high primary production associated with a warmer and wetter temperate climate. This study implies that some northern peatlands can continue to serve as carbon sinks under a warmer and wetter climate, providing a negative feedback to climate warming.

Understanding the potential for ecosystem transformation and community change in response to climate variability is central to anticipating future ecological changes, and long-term records provide a primary source of information on these dynamics. We investigated the late Holocene history of upland forest and peatland development at Cranesville Swamp, a peatland located along the West Virginia–Maryland border in the USA. Our primary goal was to determine whether establishment of peatland was triggered by moisture variability, similar to recent developmental models derived from depressional peatlands in glaciated regions. Results indicate that the peatland established at about 1200 cal yr BP, and was associated with a dramatic and persistent change in upland forest composition. Furthermore, timing of these upland and wetland ecological changes corresponded with evidence for multidecadal drought and enhanced moisture variability from nearby tree-ring and speleothem climatic reconstructions. Our results add to a growing body of research highlighting the sensitivity of both peatland development and upland forest communities to transient drought and enhanced moisture variability, and suggest that enhanced moisture variability in the future could increase the probability of similarly abrupt and persistent ecological change, even in humid regions like eastern North America.

In this study, we documented the Holocene history of a peat plateau at the arctic tree line in northern Québec using stratigraphic and macrofossil analyses to highlight the effects of geomorphic setting in peatland development. Paludification of the site began about 6800 cal yr BP. From 6390 to 4120 cal yr BP, the peatland experienced a series of flooding events. The location of the peatland in a depression bounded by two small lakes likely explains its sensitivity to runoff. The proximity of a large hill bordering the peatland to the south possibly favored the inflow of mineral-laden water. The onset of permafrost aggradation in several parts of the peatland occurred after 3670 cal yr BP. Uplifting of the peatland surface caused by permafrost stopped the flooding. According to radiocarbon dating of the uppermost peat layers, permafrost distribution progressed from the east to the west of the peatland, indicating differential timing for the initiation of permafrost throughout the peatland. Most of the peatland was affected by permafrost growth during the Little Ice Age. Picea mariana macroremains at 6450 cal yr BP indicate that the species was present during the early stages of peatland development, which occurred soon after the sea regression.

We investigated the developmental and hydrological history of a Sphagnum-dominated, kettle peatland in Upper Michigan using testate amoebae, plant macrofossils, and pollen. Our primary objective was to determine if the paleohydrological record of the peatland represents a record of past climate variability at subcentennial to millennial time scales. To assess the role of millennial-scale climate variability on peatland paleohydrology, we compared the timing of peatland and upland vegetation changes. To investigate the role of higher-frequency climate variability on peatland paleohydrology, we used testate amoebae to reconstruct a high-resolution, hydrologic history of the peatland for the past 5100 years, and compared this record to other regional records of paleoclimate and vegetation. Comparisons revealed coherent patterns of hydrological, vegetational, and climatic changes, suggesting that peatland paleohydrology responded to climate variability at millennial to sub-centennial time scales. Although ombrotrophic peatlands have been the focus of most high-resolution peatland paleoclimate research, paleohydrological records from Sphagnum-dominated, closed-basin peatlands record high-frequency and low-magnitude climatic changes and thus represent a significant source of unexplored paleoclimate data.

Information on spatial and temporal variation in abundance is crucial for effective management of wildlife. Yet abundance estimates for the Critically Endangered Sumatran tiger Panthera tigris sumatrae are lacking from Riau, the province historically believed to hold the largest percentage of this subspecies. Recently, this area has had one of the highest global rates of deforestation. Using camera traps we investigated tiger abundance across peatland, flat lowland, and hilly lowland forest types in the province, and over time, in the newly established Tesso Nilo National Park, central Sumatra. We estimated densities using spatially explicit capture–recapture, calculated with DENSITY, and traditional capture–recapture models, calculated with CAPTURE. With spatially explicit capture–recapture the lowest tiger density (0.34 ± SE 0.24 per 100 km2) was estimated in the hilly lowland forest of Rimbang Baling and the highest (0.87 ± SE 0.33 per 100 km2) in the flat lowland forest of the Park. Repeated surveys in the Park documented densities of 0.63 ± SE 0.28 in 2005 to 0.87 ± SE 0.33 per 100 km2 in 2008. Compared to traditional capture–recapture the spatially explicit capture–recapture approach resulted in estimates 50% lower. Estimates of tiger density from this study were lower than most previous estimates in other parts of Sumatra. High levels of human activity in the area appear to limit tigers. The results of this study, which covered areas and habitat types not previously surveyed, are important for overall population estimates across the island, provide insight into the response of carnivores to habitat loss, and are relevant to the interventions needed to save the tiger.

Many mires of high conservation value occur in Bulgaria. These mires acted as refugia during the dry phases of ice ages and therefore contain a high number of rare and disjunct species. The mires harbour specific ecotypes and genotypes of plants and animals, and thus provide an opportunity to test biogeographical hypotheses, and they also contain important information about the history of European mires. In this study we ranked all known mire and spring complexes in Bulgaria according to the occurrence of rare and threatened plant and mollusc species. This analysis shows a conspicuous concentration of rare species at several sites, and no correspondence between the importance of individual mires for biodiversity and their legal protection. Of the 10 mire complexes of highest priority only one is effectively protected. The remaining unprotected mires have either been destroyed or are threatened by ongoing development. Having joined the European Union, Bulgaria has built a Natura 2000 network that could provide an opportunity for mire conservation. However, destruction of mire habitats proceeds faster than the approval of Natura 2000 sites. There is thus a possibility that unique Bulgarian mires will be lost before the Natura 2000 system begins to perform its role. Only effective and timely protection of the mire remnants, together with appropriate management, will ensure the future of these unique habitats.

To study the relationships between groups of organisms and the degree to which these relationships are consistent across major climatic gradients, we analysed the testate amoeba (Protozoa) communities, vegetation and water chemistry of one peatland in five countries: Switzerland, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Sweden and Finland, as part of the BERI (Bog Ecosystem Research Initiative) project. The relationships between the different data sets and subsets were investigated by means of detrended correspondence analysis, canonical correspondence analysis and Mantel permutation tests. The comparison of data on vegetation and testate amoebae showed that inter-site differences are more pronounced for the vegetation than for the testate amoebae species assemblage. Testate amoebae are a useful tool in multi-site studies and in environmental monitoring of peatlands because: (1) the number of species in Sphagnum-dominated peatlands is much higher than for mosses or vascular plants; (2) most peatland species are cosmopolitan in their distributions and therefore less affected than plants by biogeographical distribution patterns, thus differences in testate amoeba assemblages can be interpreted primarily in terms of ecology; (3) they are closely related to the ecological characteristics of the exact spot where they live, therefore they can be used to analyse small-scale gradients that play a major role in the functioning of peatland ecosystems. This study revealed the existence of small-scale vertical gradients within the vegetation and life-form niche separation in response to water chemistry. The deep-rooted plants such as Carex spp. and Eriophorum spp. are related to the chemistry of water sampled at or near the ground water table, whereas the mosses are not. Testate amoebae were shown to be ecologically more closely related to the chemistry of water sampled at or near the water table level and to the mosses than to the deep-rooted plants.