DOI: 10.5061/dryad.hqbzkh1pm
title: Peatland restoration in Norway – evaluation of ongoing monitoring and identification of plant indicators of restoration success

description: Norway launched a national action plan on wetland restoration in 2016. So
 far, 90% of the restoration effort has been on peatland restoration, with
 about 140 mires restored so far. There are three main restoration goals
 stated in the action plan: 1) Limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, 2)
 climate adaptation, and 3) improve ecological condition. Quantifying the
 outcome of the restoration actions is necessary to evaluate whether the
 goals of the action plan are met. A vegetation monitoring protocol was
 suggested before restoration started and has been implemented at five
 restoration sites. As the peatland restoration effort in Norway is
 increasing, it is timely to evaluate if the data currently collected can
 measure peatland restoration outcomes. We evaluate the monitoring protocol
 based on statistical analyses of the data collected at two sites, describe
 how indicator species can be identified using generalized composition data
 used as the basis for classifying habitats in Norway (EcoSyst framework),
 and suggest the way forward for peatland restoration monitoring in Norway.
 Data collected according to the monitoring protocol can document changes
 in species composition at restoration sites but has limitations when the
 ecological complexity at the sites increases and reference sites are
 unavailable. We argue that adjusting the monitoring protocol will: 1)
 Facilitate alignment with existing peatland research; 2) connect better
 with monitoring programs where data is collected applying EcoSyst
 framework principles; and 3) enable upscaling to cover the wide variation
 emerging in peatland restoration.
description: Data was collected at two sites: Kaldvassmyra and Hildremsvatnet,
 both in Trøndela, Norway. A pinpoint intercept method was used to collect
 data along permanent transects. Transects at Kaldvassmyra were 50–80 m
 long, with the midpoint placed in a former ditch and the far ends of the
 transects reaching intact parts of the peatland. At Hildremsvatnet all
 transects were 50 meters long and they cross multiple, parallel ditches.
 Four transects were established before restoration at both sites, and a
 fifth transect (reference) was established at Kaldvassmyra in 2021. At
 Hildremsvatnet, all mires had been ditched and no reference area was
 available for establishing a reference transect. Data was collected before
 and after restoration at both sites, and a third time at Kaldvassmyra, as
 the site was restored prior to Hildremsvatnet. Species
 data was recorded in 2.5 m segments (hereafter called species lines)
 spaced by 10 m intervals laterally along the transects, with the first
 species line starting at meter 0. We used a point intercept method to
 record data every 10 cm: A rod was held vertical to the ground and all
 species touching the rod were recorded. A species was only recorded once
 at each point, even if it touched the rod at several places. Species names
 follow the Species Nomenclature Database of the Norwegian Biodiversity
 Information Center. Scripts of statistical analyses are
 available from GitHub: https://github.com/marijokerud/Peatland-restoration-in-Norway.git
description: # Peatland restoration in Norway – evaluation of ongoing monitoring and
 identification of plant indicators of restoration success
 The data was recorded to
 monitor and evaluate the restoration outcome of mire restoration in
 Norway. Data was collected before and after restoration at two sites.
 Vegetation data was collected before and after hydrological restoration of
 two mires. Species data was collected using a pinpoint method insering a
 rod vertical into the ground and recording all species hitting the rod.
 The pinpoint method was applied along 2.5 meters segments every ten meters
 along permanent transects (50-80 meters long). Species were recorded every
 10 centimeters. ## Description of the data and file structure **2. File
 list** File 1 Name: Data_mire_restoration_Norway.csv File 1 Description:
 YEAR; AREA; Species; Species_line; cm; YEAR2 The first column (YEAR) gives
 year the data was collected. The second column (AREA) is the site the data
 was collected. The third column (Species_line) is the ID of the individual
 species lines (segments) the data was collected along. The first letter of
 the ID is the first letter of the site, the number is the transect ID and
 the last number the species line ID. The fourth column (Species) lists the
 species recorded. The fifth column (cm) indicate at which centimeter the
 species was recorded along the species line (indicated in column three).
 The sixth column (YEAR2) is the number of years befor and after
 restoration was performed. **Dataset details:** YEAR: 2015, 2018, 2021
 AREA: Hildremsvatnet, Kaldvassmyra Species_line: e.g. H1_10, K4_50
 Species: given as scientific names cm: 10, 20, 30, ..., 250 YEAR2: -2, 1,
 4 (before restoration given as negative number) ## Code/Software Link to
 statistical script used to analyse the data: *