%0 Research Notes
%T Changes in understorey biomass and species composition after water level drawdown on pine mires in southern Finland
%A Laiho, Raija
%D 1996
%J Suo - Mires and peat
%V 47
%N 2
%U http://suo.fi/article/9755
%X Abstract: Understorey biomass and species composition were analyzed on six sites representing tall sedge pine fen at different stages of secondary succession caused by drainage for forestry. Two of the sites were undrained controls and the other sites had been drained 8 - 55 years earlier. Cyperaceous and herbaceous field layer was found to diminish permanently after drainage, whereas shrub and moss layers survived in the drainage succession in terms of biomass allocation although the species composition changed almost completely. On the oldest drained site the ground vegetation was dominated by typical upland forest species with the exception of Sphagnum russowii. Total understorey biomass varied from 260 g m-2 on sites drained 22-30 years earlier to 990 g m-2 on a site drained 8 years earlier. 
Key words: drainage, field layer, ground vegetation, moss layer, peatland, succession