Impacts of restoration on the physico-chemical and microbiological properties of soil along restoration transects in a moorland ecosystem

In the UK, upland moorland soils of the Southern Pennines serves as a major terrestrial carbon sink with an estimated 16 to 20 million tonnes of carbon reserve. Historical land management practices coupled with the deposition of anthropogenic pollutants, fire and climate change have led to the severe degradation of this ecosystem leaving significant areas devoid of vegetation and characterised by unconsolidated bare peat. Severe peat erosion has expose the underlying mineral soil and led to the loss of stored carbon. Major restoration projects which involve liming and fertilization followed by nurse grass seeding have successfully revegetated areas of bare peat , but the effects on vegetation succession and particularly the below-ground ecosystems properties remain poorly understood. Thus, this research was aimed at preliminary understanding of the impacts of restoration on soil physico-chemical and microbiological properties in a moorland undergoing restoration at Holme Moss in the Southern Pennines. Soils were sampled (line transects) in vegetation mosaics representing the various stages of moorland plant community re-establishment. Integrated soil microbiological and physico-chemical analyses (pH, SOM, N, P, K and heavy metals) generated information on vegetation-dependent relationships. The study site was highly acidic (pH 3.7- 4.1), low in K+ and high in concentrations of N, P, Zn and Pb (in the vegetated sites). Statistically significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) between culturable soil microbial population in the restored and non-restored sites were identified, but a highly significant correlation observed between the microbial species and some heavy metals suggests that the microbial species in the site are tolerant to metal toxicity. The study concluded that vegetative conditions and restoration treatments clearly affected the physico-chemical and microbiological properties of soils which consequently influenced the rates of nutrients cycling and mobility of metals.