Book Description

This volume focuses on the geology, land use history, palaeoecology, ecology and conservation of peatlands (fens and bogs) in The Netherlands. The volume provides detailed accounts that, together, give a representative picture of the studies that have been carried out in the Dutch mires over the past 25 years. Contents: Chapter 1: Verhoeven -- Introduction. Chapter 2: Pons -- is a comprehensive geographic and pedological account of peat formation in space and time in the western coastal plain. Chapter 3: Casparia and Streefkerk -- is a detailed description of the various stages of development from fen to bog of the Bourtanger Moor. Chapter 4: Borger and Stol -- details the history of peat draining, digging and dredging in The Netherlands and Flanders. Chapter 5: Barkman -- deals with bog remnants in the eastern Netherlands and northwestern Germany. This chapter also includes data on oligotrophic heath pools which have a vegetation that is similar to that found in bogs. Chapters 6: Den Held; 7: Van Wirdum et al.; 8: Koerselman and Verhoeven -- are chapters on vegetation, synecology and nutrient dynamics of fens and chapter 9: Wiegers -- focuses mainly on terrestrializing fens that are so characteristic of the western Netherlands where they presently occur in turf ponds created by peat dredging in former centuries. Chapter 10: Vermeer and Joosten -- concludes the volume with a treatment of problems with mire conservation and management.