Peatland restoration in Norway – evaluation of ongoing monitoring and identification of plant indicators of restoration success

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 (EcoSy..., 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 star..., , # 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 (Sp...