Peatland e
cosystem services
include drinking water provision, flood mitigation, habitat provision and
carbon sequestration
. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal is a key treatmen
t process for
the
supply of potable
water
downstream
from
peat
-
dominated catchments
.
A transition from peat
-
forming
Sphagnum
moss to vascular plants has been observed in peatlands degraded by
(a)
land
management,
(b)
atmospheric
deposition and
(c)
climate
change.
Here
within
we show that
the
presence of
vascular plants
with higher
annual above
-
ground biomass production
leads to a seasonal
addition of labile
plant
material
into the peatland ecosystem
as
litter recalcitrance
is lower
. The net
effect
will
be a
smaller
litter
carbon pool due
to
higher rates of
decomposition
,
and a greater
seasonal pattern of DOC flux
.
C
onventional
water
treatment involving coagulation
-
flocculation
-
sedimentation
may
be impeded by
vascular
plant
-
derived
DOC
. It has been shown that
vascular
plant
-
derived DOC is
more difficult to remove via these methods
than DOC derived from
Sphagnum
,
whilst also being less susceptible to microbial mineralisation before reaching the treatment works
.
These results provide evidence that
practices aime
d at re
-
establishing
Sphagnum
moss on degraded
peatlands
could reduce costs and improve efficacy at water treatment works
, offering an alternative
to ‘
end
-
of
-
pipe’ solutions
through
management of ecosystem service provision.