The drying of peatlands is reducing bird diversity

"The populations of many common peatland birds, such

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as the wood sandpiper, the meadow pipit, the yellow wagtail and the common reed bunting have gone down in Finland by a third or more since 1981," states Academy Research Fellow Aleksi Lehikoinen from Luomus, the Finnish Museum of Natural History, part of the University of Helsinki.

The only peatland bird to become more common in all of the countries mentioned is the crane, which has tripled its populations over the three decades. This is probably due to the reduced hunting of the species in areas where it winters and along its migration route.

Draining and the peat industry to blame

The poor situation of peatland birds can be attributed particularly to the diminishing natural peatlands resulting from decades of wetland draining and peat production.

"In general, peatland birds are much more plentiful on high, open fens and undrained swamps," explains Andreas Lindén, senior researcher from Novia University of Applied Sciences.

In many areas, there have been efforts to transform wetlands into forests through draining. Finland has the most drained wetlands in all of northern Europe. Only 14% of Finnish peatlands are protected, most comprehensively in northern Lapland.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-peatlands-bird-diversity.html#jCp