Abstract
A fen has vegetation that is actively forming peat and is fed by ground-or sur- face water (Joosten and Clarke 2002). In Europe a “fen meadow” is a ground- or surface water-fed mown grassland that does not form peat, since it was formed after modest drainage of a fen or it developed on a predominantly moist soil (Grootjans and Van Diggelen 1995). Therefore, fens and fen mead- ows are considered to be different ecosystems by most European authors. Others do not make a distinction between fens and fen meadows because the species composition of both ecosystems may overlap considerably (Wheeler et al.1995). In North America, fens dominated by tussock-forming sedges are referred to as ‘sedge meadows’, which are often grazed. Since there is not yet scientific agreement on whether sedge meadows are fens or fen meadows, we will refer to them as fens in this chapter.
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Middleton, B., Grootjans, A., Jensen, K., Venterink, H.O., Margóczi, K. (2006). Fen Management and Research Perspectives: An Overview. In: Bobbink, R., Beltman, B., Verhoeven, J.T.A., Whigham, D.F. (eds) Wetlands: Functioning, Biodiversity Conservation, and Restoration. Ecological Studies, vol 191. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-33189-6_11
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