Wetlands are very sensitive ecosystems, functioning as a habitat for many organisms. Protection and regeneration of wetlands are of great importance in ecological research and in nature conservation. A huge amount of research has been done on the hydrology, plants and animals in wetlands. Knowledge about soil organisms and soil ecological processes of wetlands is still lacking. This knowledge is a prerequisite for landscape planning purposes or climate change predictions. In the case of climate change, trace gas emissions from wetlands are of great interest. The authors provide an overview of the state-of-the-art on soil ecology in wetlands. The book is divided into the following main chapters: "Wetlands as habitats for soil organisms", "Soil ecological processes in fens and floodplains", "Carbon and nitrogen dynamics in soils with different water regimes" and "Trace gas emissions".

Inhalt

1. Annelid coenoses of wtlands representing different decomposer communities,- 2. Earthworm coenoses in wet grassland of Northwest Germany. Effects of restoration management on a histosol and a gleysol,- 3. Reactions of soil Collembolan communities to inundation in floodplain ecosystems in th Upper Rhine Valley,- 4. Management of moist grassland in a fresh-water marsh of the Weser River. effects on soil, vegetation and fauna,- 5. N-,P-und DOC-dynamics in soil and groundwater after restoration of intensively cultivated fens,- 6. Interaction between hydrology, pedology and vegetation at three minerothropic peatland ecosystems,- 7. Variability of decomposition and nitrogen turnover in Scots pine ecosystems in Northwest Germay under the influence of groundwater lowering,- 8. Carbon and nitrogen mineralisation rates of fens in Germany used for agriculture,- 9. In situ measurement of denitrification and N20 production in the saturated zone of three eurtric histosols and a mollic gleysol,- 10. Methane emissions from wetland soils in southwest Germany,- 11. Methane dynamics of saltmarsh soils built up from marine and peat material at the German North Sea coast,- 12. The greenhouse gas exchange of a pond margin in South Germany,- 13. Trace gas emissions from riparian areas of small euthrophic inland waters in Northeast Germany.