After the disturbance of hydrological regime, one of the relatively pristine ecosystems of Lithuania – open raised bogs are being occupied by woody vegetation. The impact of drainage is strengthened by current climate change. An assessment of raised bog vegetation state and hydrological changes has an important practical background: the conservation of unique habitats of European importance is one of the priority directions of the biodiversity protection policy of Lithuania.
As peatlands are one of the most inaccessible areas, the combination of remote sensing with in situ research is becoming an increasingly popular tool in research of these sensitive ecosystems. Therefore, using the latest data of high spatial and temporal resolution and combining them with in situ measurements, reliable conclusions can be drawn about the regularities of the development of raised bog ecosystems.
The main aim of this research is to reveal the peculiarities of the development of Lithuanian peatlands based on the research of vegetation patterns and hydrological changes.
The main objectives are: (1) Determine raised bog ecosystem types and their distribution, to identify elementary raised bog sub-basins; (2) Assess the vegetation status and its changes in raised bog ecosystem types; (3) Assess the moisture regime in raised bog ecosystem types; (4) Determine the regional regularities and prospects of raised bog development.
For implementation of Task 1 historical Landsat (since 1988) and Sentinel-2 (since 2015) data and actual Sentinel-2 data will be used. Historical maps of drainage network will be collected from the Directorate of National Parks and from the Regional Board. The collected ground-based data will be correlated with historical satellite data and actual ground-based data will be correlated with data from actual Sentinel 2 overpasses. In Task 2 spectral characteristics of raised bog ecosystem types will be used for calculations of soil-vegetation indices (from Sentinel-2). In the third task, in-situ water level measurements in different raised bog ecosystem types located in elementary raised bog sub-basins will be performed to assess the moisture regime. Raised bog water reserves expressed in terms of soil moisture, will be assessed according to Sentinel 1/2 data. Task 4 will be based on statistical analysis (factorial analysis) to assess regional patterns of interrelationships between raised bog ecosystem types and hydrological parameters.
This research should reveal the regional patterns of raised bog vegetation status and hydrological regime which would help to predict further trends of these sensitive ecosystems in the context of climate change and anthropogenic pressures.