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Start • Tasks • Vegetation studies

Vegetation studies

Inventory and natural values assesment of vegetation
Given the lack of complete and up-to-date recognition of the vegetation of Czerwone Bagno, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive phytosociological survey and make the map of actual vegetation. For this, one needs field campaign lasting at least two growing seasons. Mapping of the vegetation types will be preceded by in-door preparation of background maps, with use of contemporary high-resolution satellite images and/or aerial photographs. The field research will include: elaboration of the interpretation key for the satellite images and aerial photographs, direct vegetation (as a complementary method to remote sensing) and collecting a representative number of phytosociological relevés to document vegetation diversity. The in-door activities will encompass the whole process of vegetation map preparation in the GIS-standards, as well as elaboration of the phytosociological vegetation tables and description of vegetation types, including the ecological values assessment.

Assessment of the dynamics of plant communities and adaptation of conservation methods
Obtaining knowledge of the dynamic tendencies in Czerwone Bagno vegetation during the last century is much needed, both for assessing and evaluating effects of the, 80-years long, strict protection period and for the assessment of the stability of a Baltic raised bog ecosystem in relation to climatic and hydrological changes occurring in the regional and over-regional scale. This aim requires collection and analysis of historical materials, including vegetation maps, archive aerial photographs, and their comparison with the actual vegetation map being prepared within the proposed project. This will allow for distinction of the basic directions of vegetation succession and, in particular, assess the changes in spatial extent and density of forest and shrub communities. The resulted map of vegetation dynamic tendencies will be interpreted with support of the hydrological and soil-habitat research. It is particularly important to compare the current vegetation pattern and contemporary dynamic tendencies of plant communities with the successional trends revealed from studying the sub-fossil vegetation (paleo-botanical studies are included in the soil-habitat survey), which will allow for verifying the hypothesis of changing vegetation development conditions during the last century. The carried analyses will help understanding the eco-hydrological links in the landscape, providing base for proposing conservation approaches, within the strict protection zone Czerwone Bagno in the Biebrza National Park, as well as in other raised bogs subjected to similar processes.

Czerwone Bagno as a reference area
The importance of Czerwone Bagno as a reference site for restoration and conservation of Baltic raised bogs is implied by its large size and 80-years long continuation of strict protection, which make this site unique among similar ecosystems in Central Europe. Understanding processes, which occur in an undisturbed by man bog will allow for assessing the effectiveness of strict protection in raised bogs of temperate climate, with increasingly expressed water deficit. To enable the use of vegetation investigations for the general aim, it is also necessary to direct research towards eco-hydrological interrelationships between the abiotic environment and vegetation diversity. During the field research, we plan therefore, to strictly link phytosociological relevés with measurements of selected habitat parameters (groundwater level, pH, redox, electrical conductivity), carried out in the direct vicinity. The information on productivity and growth-limiting nutrients will be gathered by collecting biomass samples and their dry weigh and chemical analyses. The rich databank gathered will serve a basis for multivariate statistical analysis, aimed at finding factors, which determine field distribution of plant species and communities. The results of such planned research, carried out in a landscape with apparent natural zonation of plant communities and environmental gradients and without any direct human interference for the last 100 years will be of large importance for predicting potential changes and planning nature conservation in other bog areas.