McKinnon, M.E., F.C. Nwaishi, B. Xu and R.M. Petrone . 2025.
The construction of tens of thousands of oil and gas well pads in peatlands on the Western Boreal Plain has resulted in a need to develop strategies to restore ecosystem function on these sites. As peatlands take hundreds to thousands of years to form, steps must be taken to ensure moisture and nutrient regimes during restoration are aligned with natural fens. This is essential to ensure successional trajectories will result in peat-accumulating vegetation communities. Following the partial removal and introduction of fen mosses onto a pad near Lesser Slave Lake, Alberta, whether nutrient regimes would support fen initiation was assessed. To do so, a field study to characterize the physicochemical properties (e.g., organic matter and nutrient contents) of the mineral substrate was undertaken and compared biogeochemical processes (e.g., decomposition and nutrient cycling) and nutrient supply rates between the residual pad and a surrounding fen. During five years post-partial removal, cation supply was similar to extreme-rich fens, although bioavailable pools of nitrogen and phosphorus tended to be lower than in the fen. This was due at least in part to the low organic matter content of the mineral substrate, which appears to have limited decomposition on the pad to rates lower than in the fen. Spatial variability in physicochemical properties and biogeochemical processes were limited across the residual pad, and as such moisture regime is likely to be the dominant control over fen vegetation initiation. Neither the application of straw mulch nor rock phosphate fertilizer had long-term biogeochemical effects.
