Anna-Helena Purre

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Steiger Engineering LLC

This handbook presents the summary of the results of GHG assessment of the project LIFE Peat Restore ("Reduction of CO2 emissions by restoring degraded peatlands in Northern European Lowland") and provides an overview of possible ways how evaluate GHG emissions from peatlands. Additionally the handbook includes an Updated GEST catalogue (Annex 3) a...

There are several possibilities for rehabilitating quarries after mineral resource excavation. In Estonia, creating forest, water body, meadow, arable land or recreational area are main reuse alternatives to rehabilitate sand, gravel, clay, limestone, dolomite and oil shale quarries. Rehabilitation decisions are currently being made inconsistently...

Rewetting is the most common restoration approach for milled peatlands in Europe, with the aim of creating suitable conditions for the development of peatland specific plant cover and carbon accumulation. Therefore, it is important to determine if milled peatlands become functionally and structurally similar to their undisturbed counterparts. We me...

The book was prepared and printed with the financial support of the European Commission’s LIFE programme within the project “Reduction of CO2 emissions by restoring degraded peatlands in Northern European Lowland” (LIFE15 CCM/DE/000138, LIFE Peat Restore). It reflects the experiences of the implementing organizations about the peatland restoration...

Surface water quality impacted by the drainage from peatlands with anthropogenic impacts such as peat milling or forestry is one of the main concerns related to peat production. Several mitigation measures such as sedimentary ponds or constructed treatment wetland for water cleaning can be used to reduce the impact of peatland drainage on the quali...

Intact peatlands have distinct environmental conditions and therefore specific vegetation supporting their function of sequestering large quantities of carbon. Vast peatland areas have been affected by anthropogenic disturbances such as drainage and peat excavation, thereby turning those areas from carbon sinks to sources. To support the recovery o...

Surface water quality impacted by the drainage from peatlands with anthropogenic impacts such as peat milling or forestry are one of the main concerns related to peat production. In Estonia, about 20 000 ha are covered by active milled peatlands, making up 0,5 % of land area, so milled peatlands make up significant area of drainage basins of many r...

In Northern Hemisphere anthropogenic influences like drainage and peat milling are affecting CO2 emissions from large peatland areas. To mitigate the negative climate impact of such activities, activities are carried out in increasing rate, which intend to restore biodiversity and carbon accumulation on such areas so that these sites again become s...

The northeastern European countries as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have huge peatland areas, which partly reach several meters in depth. Due to peat excavating and the intensification of agriculture and forestry, peatlands were increasingly drained, leading to an accelerated peat mineralization and consequently to high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissi...

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is a widely used multispectral vegetation index to estimate vegetation health and its abundance. NDVI is based on the ratio of the red light and near infrared light that is reflected from the surface. Plants absorb red and reflect infrared light, so NDVI reflects density of vegetation. We aimed at relat...

Rewetting is the most common restoration approach for milled peatlands in Europe, with the aim of creating suitable conditions for the development of peatland specific plant cover and carbon accumulation. Therefore, it is important to determine if time since rewetting is pivotal for milled peatlands to become functionally and structurally similar t...

Milled peatlands in the Northern Hemisphere are frequently restored in order to mitigate negative effects of climate change and to benefit biodiversity. The aims of this study are to analyse the development of vegetation on milled peatlands in Estonia after restoration using the moss layer transfer technique (MLTT), relate the plant functional type...

The number and the area of former milled peatlands under restoration have increased rapidly in the Northern Hemisphere in recent decades with the primary aim of promoting peat accumulation. However, the application of similar restoration techniques across different sites does not always lead to desired results, and some site‐specific modifications...

Vast areas of peatlands have been drained for forestry endangering their carbon sink function. Peatland rewetting aims at mitigating the situation through restoring the hydrology and vegetation of these areas. We compared the carbon dioxide (CO 2) fluxes and phy-tomass on four pairs of rewetted and pristine peatland sites in Finland and Estonia, an...

Peat excavation has altered carbon balance in large areas in the Northern Hemisphere and turned peatlands from CO 2 sinks to CO 2 sources. Peatland restoration aims at mitigating that situation by supporting CO 2 uptake in these areas through raising the water table, in this way creating conditions for vegetation development and organic matter accu...

The relationship between the small-scale distribution pattern of bryophyte biomass on restored milled peatlands and substrate properties (e.g. moisture, pH, nutrients, and their ratios) was studied. Substrate properties may determine the species composition of bryophyte communities that have developed in such areas. Two experimental sites were esta...

The main aim of our work is to analyse the correlations between vegetation and carbon fluxes on peatlands with various human impact to see, if these areas are carbon sinks or sources and how it is connected with vegetation and environmental factors.