Fens play an important role in the global nitrogen cycle due to the anaerobic conditions found in their soils, which facilitate the oxidation or reduction of one form of nitrogen to another. [11] Most nitrogen arrives in wetlands as nitrate from runoff , in organic matter from other areas, or by nitrogen fixation in the wetland. [ 11 ]

Fens are peat-forming wetlands that rely on groundwater input and require thousands of years to develop and cannot easily be restored once destroyed. Fens are also hotspots of biodiversity. They often are home to rare plants, insects, and small mammals.

The Fens or Fenlands in eastern England is an area of former marshland of low-lying land supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a system of drainage channels and man-made rivers (dykes and drains) and automated pumping ...

Fenland SOIL is a not for profit organisation that aims to inform and develop ‘whole farm’ land use policies, to achieve climate change mitigation and biodiversity enhancement in the Fens.

Calcareous fens develop under very restricted conditions, where cool, mineral-rich groundwater keeps the soil surface continuously moist and allows peat to form, a combination that provides habitat for species typical of rich fens and wet meadows, and also for a distinctive group of rare wetland plants, including sterile sedge (Carex sterilis ...

Fens sequester carbon by accumulating undecomposed plant material, referred to as peat, in the soil. Globally, fens store more than 30% of soil carbon, representing a Carbon stock of 400–550 Gt (gigatons) which equates to: the equivalent of between 67-92 billion car emissions annually.

Fens, a type of wetland ecosystem, depend on groundwater sources to wet soil at or just below the soil surface. Fens typically feature plant communities dominated by mosses and sedge like plant species growing over peat. Fens comprise a very …

Soils. There are two types of soils that are common in prairie fens, peat, and marl. Peat is a spongy mat that will have some give when walked on or jumped on – it is partially decomposed plant matter built up over thousands of years.

The Landscape Mapping Workstream, led by Ian Holman (Cranfield University) is designed to understand the Fens soils to allow better estimates of emissions to be made. The soils of the Fens are highly variable from mineral soils (on higher ground, roddams, in the Silt Fens etc), to organo-mineral soils (that were formerly peat soils) and ...

Dec 14, 2021 · Fens are palustrine wetlands characterized by alkaline, often mineral-rich soils, though fens can also be somewhat acidic depending on the type of soil or rock that the groundwater comes into contact with.