Testate amoebae (single-celled organisms surrounded by a shell) have potential to act as bioindicators of the impact of peatland rewetting strategies. However, sampling in a time- and cost-effective way is challenging. In this paper, the authors discuss three methods which have improved their testate amoebae sampling and subsequent insights into peatland biology.
The team out on location after a day of fieldwork.
Tom Holmes / SEI
Monitoring the potential for and success of peatland restoration strategies through traditional means can be time-consuming and expensive. To address this problem, attention has turned to testate amoebae (TA) and their capacity to act as bioindicators of rewetting impacts.
TA are useful bioindicators because different species thrive in different wetness conditions, providing a species spectrum from wet to dry. In peatlands, TA communities live within Sphagnum mosses but also other moss and plant litter. Therefore, developing an understanding of how much and what type of moss to sample to provide a meaningful representation of the TA communities is vital if researchers are to develop a robust understanding of peatland restoration processes.
In this paper, the research team explores how they can make their moss sampling more efficient and effective. Given the variation in TA communities within a particular segment of Sphagnum moss, changes in hydrological gradients and seasonal changes in TA characteristics, they find that for UK upland peatlands the most simple and effective method is to sample:
The research was further supported by Yorkshire Water Services; United Utilities; the Moorland Association; the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, and the Law Family Charitable Foundation.
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