Dale H. Vitt

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor Emeritus at Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Detailed descriptions of three patterned rich fens, located along the Hyland River, approximately 155 km north of the town of Watson Lake, are reported for the first time. Similar to rich fens farther south in boreal and montane Alberta, these fens are characterized by high species richness and a ground layer dominated by Scorpidium scorpioides and...

Peatlands represent an important part of the landscape of boreal western Canada, occupying some 365,157 km². Sixty-three percent of these are minerogenous fens. Scattered among these fens are landscape features that have unique and distinctive patterns—pools and carpets (flarks) separated by raised linear ‘strings’. These patterned fens harbor rare...

A dichotomous key is provided to the 130 genera of liverworts currently recognized as occurring in North America north of Mexico, including Greenland.

The Sandhill Wetland (SW) and Nikanotee Fen (NF) are two wetland research projects designed to test the viability of peatland reclamation in the Alberta oil sands post‐mining landscape. To identify effective approaches for establishing peat‐forming vegetation in reclaimed wetlands, we evaluated how plant introduction approaches and water level grad...

Patterned rich fens have a diverse flora and are maintained by unidirectional inflowing water with high concentrations of base cations, along with high pH and limited nutrients. Rich fens are among the most threatened ecosystems in Europe, but are not uncommon across the western boreal forest zone of Canada. Utilizing 10 radiocarbon dated cores ext...

AgsrRAcr. Consuhation with elders from the Wet'suwet'en and Giiksan peoples of nortlu,estern British Columbia, Canada, revealed that morphological altributes o/Spbagnrm are used to select proper moss material for use as diapers. Long, pink (non-red) material o/S. nragollanicum was considered as coruect for diapers while several other mosses, as wel...

Dryptodon patens is a monotypic genus belonging in the Grimmiaceae. Historically it has been placed in Gimmia, uzually by European bryologistg where it,s correct name must be Gn'rzmia cumata (Brid.) De Sloover (Crundrell 1971), or inRacomirtwn, usually by North Americans, where it's name is Racomitrium patens (H&*.) Hueben. Drytptodon patens superf...

In North America there are 36 species of Orthotrichum north of Mexico' The Morican flora has four additional qpecies, bringing the total number of species on the continent to 40. The genus is characterized by acrocarpic plants that generally have numerous sub'apical branches' Almost ah*'ays! the leaves have revolute margins and lack hyaline awns. T...

Minerogenous peatlands that accumulate deep deposits of organic matter (fens) were an important part of the pre-disturbance landscape across Alberta's oil sands mining area. Bryophytes occupy 80-100% of the ground layer in these site types and form an important part of the accumulated organic matter. Bryophytes are small plants that occur in microh...

Andean peatlands are important carbon reservoirs for countries in the northern Andes and have a unique diversity. Peatland plant diversity is generally related to hydrology and water chemistry, and the response of the vegetation in tropical high-elevation peatlands to changes in elevation, climate, and disturbance is poorly understood. Here, we add...

Minerogenous peatlands that accumulate deep deposits of organic matter (fens) were an important part of the pre-disturbance landscape across Alberta’s oil sand mining area. Bryophytes occupy 80–100% of the ground layer in these site types and form an important part of the accumulated organic matter. Bryophytes are small plants that occur in microha...

Surface mining for oil sand results in the formation of large pits that must be reclaimed. Some of these pits are backfilled with a myriad of substrates, including tailings rich in cations and anions, to form a solid surface. Experimental reclamation of the East in-pit located on the Syncrude Canada Ltd. mine lease was initiated in 2011 with Sandhi...

Study region The 140,329 km² Athabasca Oil Sands Administrative Area (OSAA), which contains 8982 km² of bogs. Since the late 1970s, N emissions from oil sands development in the OSAA have steadily increased, reaching over 80,000 metric tonnes yr⁻¹ in 2017. Study focus If oil sands N emissions have distinct stable isotopic signatures, it may be pos...

Study region Across northern Alberta Canada, patterned rich fens, with high concentrations of base cations, high pH, and high species richness, are important landscape features. McClelland Wetland is one of the largest representatives of this peatland type. Study focus We explored the surficial water chemistry and plant community patterns through...

Background and aims – The past two decades, the non-marine diatom flora in the sub-Aantarctic region has been intensively revised. Historic collections provide excellent tools for answering taxonomic, community-related, and biogeographical questions. This study analysed the moss-inhabiting diatom flora from sub-Antarctic Campbell Island in samples...

A water and vegetation sampling program including peat coring was carried out within the McClelland Wetland, a boreal peatland complex situated within the rapidly developing oil sands mining region of northeastern Alberta, Canada. This study investigated both the current and past hydrology of the site to improve understanding of the spatiotemporal...

Plant communities and water chemistry properties were characterized at Sandhill Wetland; an experimental reclamation site constructed above a backfilled open pit mine in northeastern Alberta, Canada. Observations from the reclamation site were compared to 12 mature reference wetlands (10 fens and 2 marshes) to determine the type of natural wetland...

The variation in sodium concentrations in waters of natural fens and marshes on the western Canadian landscape provides a background for choosing the appropriate plants for wetland reclamation. Broad tolerances to salinity are especially important for reclamation trials on saline-rich ‘in-pits’ that were left from open-pit oil sands mining. One suc...

Bryophytes play a number of important roles in the functioning and structure of northern peatlands where they form the ground layer of fens and bogs. Sphagnum, dominant in bogs and poor fens, and brown mosses, dominant in rich fens, make up a large percentage of the organic matter that is stored as deep deposits of peat. In this paper we review the...

Increasing gaseous emissions of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) associated with oil sands development in northern Alberta (Canada) has led to changing regional wet and dry N and S deposition regimes. We assessed the potential for using bog plant/lichen tissue chemistry (N and S concentrations, C:N and C:S ratios, in 10 plant/lichen species) to monitor...

The experimental Sandhill Wetland is the first permanent reclamation of a composite tailings deposit, and annual water quality monitoring is of specific interest for evaluating and predicting long-term reclamation performance. Here, we present water chemistry monitoring data obtained from Sandhill Wetland (years 2009–2019) and compare results to tw...

Orthotrichum, sensu stricto, is a genus of about 90 species that are mostly adapted to xerophytic environments, occurring on a variety of substrate types, including tree trunks and rock surfaces. However, three species-O. euryphyllum, O. rivulare, and O. sprucei-inhabit seasonally submerged substrates along streams and other water bodies. The morph...

Bogs are nutrient poor, acidic ecosystems that receive their water and nutrients entirely from precipitation (= ombrogenous) and as a result are sensitive to nutrient loading from atmospheric sources. Bogs occur frequently on the northern Alberta landscape, estimated to cover 6% of the Athabasca Oil Sands Area. As a result of oil sand extraction an...

Bogs are nutrient poor, acidic ecosystems that receive their water and nutrients entirely from precipitation (= ombrogenous) and as a result are sensitive to nutrient loading from atmospheric sources. Bogs occur frequently on the northern Alberta landscape, estimated to cover 6% of the Athabasca Oil Sands Area. As a result of oil sand extraction an...

Carex aquatilis is a widespread boreal species that is abundant in open fens and marshes. The species has broad natural tolerances to differing water levels and ion concentrations including occurrences in brackish marshes but not sodic wetlands. Sandhill Wetland, constructed on Syncrude Canada Ltd. mineral surface lease in the Athabasca Oil Sands R...

Bogs and fens cover 6 and 21%, respectively, of the 140,329 km² Oil Sands Administrative Area in northern Alberta. Regional background atmospheric N deposition is low (<2 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), but oil sands development has led to increasing N deposition (as high as 17 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹). To examine responses to N deposition, over five years, we experimenta...

My discovery of peatlands and their ecology has been a lifelong endeavor. I think like many ecologists, my first love and professional training was in a group of organisms, for me it was bryophytes. Then as one moves along in an academic career, instead of asking what the species are, one becomes more interested in why they occur where they do and...

Using Plant Root Simulator (PRS®) probes, we evaluate nutrient supply rates at the Sandhill Fen reclamation watershed across a gradient of increasing water table position and compare observations with three reference fens (a poor, moderate‐rich, and saline fen). Our objectives were threefold: (a) determine the behavior of PRS probes across multiple...

Terrestrial mosses dominate the ground in many vegetation types and most are long-lived perennials with highly complex canopies. Long-term population health continues through numerous wetting and drying cycles; however, extreme drought or extended wet periods may create conditions that cause some parts of the population to die or remain inactive. I...

Bogs and fens cover 6% and 21%, respectively, of the 140,329 km² Oil Sands Administrative Area in northern Alberta. Development of the oil sands has led to increasing atmospheric N deposition, with values as high as 17 kg N·ha⁻¹·yr⁻¹; regional background deposition is <2 kg N·ha⁻¹·yr⁻¹. Bogs, being ombrotrophic, may be especially susceptible to inc...

Pinus contorta-dominated montane forests of western Canada with relatively dense tree canopies have ground layers with abundant bryophytes, especially the feather mosses (Pleurozium schreberi and Hylocomium splendens), while those with more open canopies are dominated by species of reindeer lichens, especially Cladonia arbuscula s.l. and C. rangife...

In continental western Canada, discontinuous permafrost is almost always restricted to ombrotrophic peatlands (bogs). Bogs occur mostly as islands or peninsulas in large, often complex fens or are confined to small basins. Permafrost may be present in extensive peat plateaus (or more locally as palsas) and was preceded by a well-developed layer of...

The occurrence of terrestrial mosses in temperate deciduous forests is limited by abundant leaf litter that covers almost all of the soil, except along stream banks where mineral substrates are exposed by wind. However, stream banks are also subject to erosion that is a major disturbance for moss populations. Utilizing transplants and observations...

Sphagnum compactum DC is rare in southern Illinois with five known locations some 400 km south of sites in northern Illinois. We examined habitat preferences of this species in southern Illinois, where it occurs exclusively on shaded, north-facing sandstone cliff faces and canyons, all just south of the maximum extent of Illinoian glaciation. We co...

Basic characteristics and definitions of peatland types in the boreal region, includes information about Sphagnum and its importance for peatland development.

Orthotrichum fenestratum Card. & Thér, described from St. Paul Island and reported only from a few small islands in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Chain, was considered unique because of perforations in the exostome. Comparisons with the uncommon, but widespread, arctic-montane species, O. pylaisii Brid., indicates that like O. fenestratum, O. pylaisi...

We are very happy to dedicate this book to Janice M. Glime, Professor Emerita at Michigan Technological University. Her name is probably familiar to more bryologists around the world that any other. This is largely a result of her management (since 1996) of Bryonet (bryonet-L@mtu.edu), a wonderful bryophyte email discussion and news blog. Under Jan...

Orthotrichum lyellii, O. papillosum, and O. pylaisii are reported new to Arizona based on specimens collected in Yavapai County. Orthotrichum lyellii is confirmed for Nevada from three counties along the California border. Orthotrichum papillosum also is confirmed from Nevada from one location near Lake Tahoe. Whether or not O. lyellii (sterile pla...

Oil extraction and development activities in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of northern Alberta, Canada release NOx, SOx, and NHx to the atmosphere, ultimately resulting in increasing N and S inputs to surrounding ecosystems through atmospheric deposition. Peatlands are a major feature of the northern Alberta landscape, with bogs covering 6-10% of...

Associated with the development of the oil sands resource in northern Alberta, Canada are elevated emissions of NOx and SOx from diesel-fueled vehicle and upgrader stack emissions. Ultimately these emissions are returned to regional terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the form of elevated atmospheric N and S deposition. About 30 % of the regional...

The boreal zone of North America is a mosaic of peatlands, lakes, and upland forests all adapted to exist in a climate characterized by long, cold winters and short, cool summers. Precipitation falls mostly as snow in the winter and through localized thunderstorms during the summer. Peatlands, consisting of minerogenous fens and ombrogenous bogs, a...

Background and aims Boreal peatlands are projected to face numerous stressors in the future, including changes in precipitation and nitrogen cycle perturbations. Nitrogen is currently believed to be the limiting factor to peatlands of western Canada, including to Sphagnum, however new insights suggest the possibility of multiple limiting factors. M...

The Sandhill Fen reclamation watershed, commissioned by Syncrude Canada Ltd., is the first attempt to reclaim a self-sustaining peat-forming wetland on a previously mined area. Here, we quantified net nitrogen mineralization rates at Sandhill Fen in the first and second years since initiation (2013–2014). Our main objective was to determine whether...

Open-pit mining of oil sands removes wetland plant communities from the landscape. Sandhill Watershed, located on Syncrude Canada’s oil sands lease, is the first reclamation of a complex watershed that includes a 17 ha central wetland designed to develop into a rich fen. Here we sample the vegetation after three years. Of the 124 plant species reco...

Here we examine the arrangement of plant species across an oligotrophic bog/poor fen peatland complex in the North American boreal plain and the relationships of these species to their physical and chemical environment. A semi-uniform spatial sampling approach was utilized to describe the species assemblages, pore-water chemistry and physical condi...

The Canadian oil sands industry is actively engaged in the revegetation and reclamation of sites associated with bitumen mining. One current reclamation research effort sponsored by Syncrude Canada Ltd., referred to as the Sandhill Fen Research Watershed (SFRW) project, is taking place on a former open pit mine in northern Alberta. One aspect of th...

Reclaiming Alberta's oil sands landscape has many challenges including designing and engineering totally new landscapes, as well as developing unique plant establishment regimes. Fens are a particular concern as no one has attempted to create minerogenous peat-forming wetlands. Key to the success of these peat-forming wetlands is the establishment...

Stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen were measured in water samples collected annually from a representative suite of 50 lakes in northeastern Alberta over a nine-year period, and are interpreted using a steady-state isotope mass balance model to determine water yield and runoff ratios for the lake watersheds, and residence time of the lakes. Thi...

Northern peatlands are dominated by bryophytes that are sensitive to chemical and physical disturbances. Disturbances to peatlands may therefore result in changes to ecosystem processes such as net primary production (NPP), autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration and decomposition. These processes, in turn, are closely tied to the carbon (C) cycl...

Peatlands are ecosystems that have a ground layer dominated by bryophytes. Bryophytes act as foundational species in both bogs and fens and largely control many ecosystem functions as well as form the majority of organic matter sequestered in many of these systems. Here, a key is presented to 65 bryophyte species that represent most of the species...

Peatlands, with organic soils, are usually dominated by one or a few species. Above and belowground ecological processes are regulated by the characteristics of the dominant species in the peat. Understanding how these species relate to climatic or water chemistry gradients will help to predict the fate of those ecosystems under current climate cha...

Symbiotic relationships between N-2-fixing prokaryotes and their autotrophic hosts are essential in nitrogen (N)-limited ecosystems, yet the importance of this association in pristine boreal peatlands, which store 25 % of the world's soil (C), has been overlooked. External inputs of N to bogs are predominantly atmospheric, and given that regions of...

Here, we present results of Holocene carbon accumulation from seven new peat cores at four fen sites from Alberta, western Canada. Along with two other published fen records in the same region, we provide a regional synthesis of carbon accumulation patterns, as well as peat property data in this continental climate. On the basis of >3000 peat sampl...

Here, we present results from the most comprehensive compilation of Holocene peat soil properties with associated carbon and nitrogen accumulation rates for northern peatlands. Our database consists of 268 peat cores from 215 sites located north of 45 degrees N. It encompasses regions within which peat carbon data have only recently become availabl...

Drought provides a major stress in the lives of many plants, especially those with limited abilities to retain water for long periods of time for physiological processes. Mosses, liverworts, and hornworts are among plants that are poikilohydric, yet many species within these three lineages occupy drought-prone habitats and in fact can occur in some...

Peatlands, or mires, are ecosystems that contain deep accumulations of decomposed organic material, or peat. In general, peat forms when the amount of photosythetically produced organic matter exceeds the loss of organic matter through decomposition. About 30% of the world’s terrestrial soil carbon is found in peatland ecosystems. Peatlands are mos...

[1] Extensive cushions of Distichia muscoides found at high elevations in the Andes form deep deposits of peat and function as peatland. The location of Distichia peatlands at the highest elevations makes them susceptible to the effects of global change including global warming. Accumulation rates of organic matter are the key function of peatland...

Dominican amber is an important source for Early Miocene bryophytes. We report the moss Macromitrium richardii Schwägr., an extant representative of the Orthotrichaceae, from the Dominican amber collection of the American Museum of Natural History. This species is currently a widespread Neotropical epiphyte. The specimen includes several gametophyt...

Peatlands are a major terrestrial carbon store and a persistent natural carbon sink during the Holocene, but there is considerable uncertainty over the fate of peatland carbon in a changing climate. It is generally assumed that higher temperatures will increase peat decay, causing a positive feedback to climate warming and contributing to the globa...

Peatlands are a major terrestrial carbon store and a persistent natural carbon sink during the Holocene, but there is considerable uncertainty over the fate of peatland carbon in a changing climate. It is generally assumed that higher temperatures will increase peat decay, causing a positive feedback to climate warming and contributing to the globa...

Peatlands are a major terrestrial carbon store and a persistent natural carbon sink during the Holocene, but there is considerable uncertainty over the fate of peatland carbon in a changing climate. It is generally assumed that higher temperatures will increase peat decay, causing a positive feedback to climate warming and contributing to the globa...

Boreal ecosystems contain one-third of the world's forests and stored carbon, but these regions are under increasing threat from both natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Written by leaders from the forefront of private, public and academic sectors, Restoration and Reclamation of Boreal Ecosystems emphasises a broad, conceptual approach to the s...

Boreal ecosystems contain one-third of the world's forests and stored carbon, but these regions are under increasing threat from both natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Written by leaders from the forefront of private, public and academic sectors, Restoration and Reclamation of Boreal Ecosystems emphasises a broad, conceptual approach to the s...

Boreal ecosystems contain one-third of the world's forests and stored carbon, but these regions are under increasing threat from both natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Written by leaders from the forefront of private, public and academic sectors, Restoration and Reclamation of Boreal Ecosystems emphasises a broad, conceptual approach to the s...

Boreal ecosystems contain one-third of the world's forests and stored carbon, but these regions are under increasing threat from both natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Written by leaders from the forefront of private, public and academic sectors, Restoration and Reclamation of Boreal Ecosystems emphasises a broad, conceptual approach to the s...

Boreal ecosystems contain one-third of the world's forests and stored carbon, but these regions are under increasing threat from both natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Written by leaders from the forefront of private, public and academic sectors, Restoration and Reclamation of Boreal Ecosystems emphasises a broad, conceptual approach to the s...

Peatland ecosystems are characterized by a substantial accumulation of organic matter in soil (peat), resulting from long-term excess of net primary production at the surface compared to decomposition throughout the peat column. Globally, peatlands cover 3–4 percent of the earth’s land surface, yet they store 25–30 percent of the world’s soil carbo...

History of Sandhill Wetland on Syncrude Canad'as oilsands lease

Oil sands surface mining operations in northeastern Alberta have created a substantial area of land needing to be reclaimed. Historically, these lands were a mosaic of uplands and boreal wetlands, particularly peatlands. While protocols for upland reclamation are well-defined, protocols for peatland reclamation are still in development. Two major c...

Nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide emission from ongoing development of oil sands in northern Alberta results in regionally elevated atmospheric deposition of N and S in an area where background deposition of both N and S is exceptionally low (less than 1 kg/ha/yr). Because bogs, which represent major landforms in the Alberta oil sands region, are bel...

Bauer, I. E. & Vitt, D. H. 2011: Peatland dynamics in a complex landscape: Development of a fen-bog complex in the Sporadic Discontinuous Permafrost zone of northern Alberta, Canada. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502-3885.2011.00210.x. ISSN 0300-9483.The development of a peatland complex in the Sporadic Discontinuous Permafrost zone of northwestern Alberta, C...

Bryophytes, especially mosses, represent a largely untapped resource for monitoring and indicating effects of climate change on the living environment. They are tied very closely to the external environment and have been likened to 'canaries in the coal mine'. Bryophyte Ecology and Climate Change is the first book to bring together a diverse array...

In northern Alberta where peatland ecosystems are a dominant landscape feature, construction of oil drilling pads and access roads is a major disturbance. Reclamation of decommissioned oil pads has been hampered by the lack of research. At two decommissioned oil pads at Shell Oil's Peace River Complex (northeastern Alberta), initially constructed i...

Recent surveys of peatland initiation during the past 10,000 years in northeastern Alberta have revealed that nearly all peatlands, regardless of whether they are currently bogs and fens, were initiated by paludification, or swamping of upland soils. Terrestrialization (or infilling of water bodies) rarely if ever was involved in the initiation of...

Water table position (WT) is an important factor in peatland ecosystem structure and function. The relationship between WT and net ecosystem production (NEP) is recognized, but poorly described, especially on a microscale level where factors such as vegetation and microhabitat may influence this relationship. Over two growing seasons, fluxes of CO2...

Bogs of Alberta, Canada are peatlands that are both Sphagnum-moss dominated and nutrient limited. Due to their ombrotrophic nature, nitrogen (N) is deposited only via atmospheric deposition (wet/dry) and biological N2 fixation. Historically, bogs of Alberta are unpolluted with low rates of atmospheric N deposition (15 kg ha-1 yr-1). Due to the exte...

Peatlands of boreal Canada represent large reservoirs of sequestered carbon (C) and nitrogen (N). Cycling of C and N in peatlands is intrinsically linked, especially in bogs - peatlands isolated from ground- and surface-water inputs, receiving nutrients exclusively from the atmosphere, which in the absence of N pollution, ensures an N-limited, nutr...