Question: How does restoration affect the hydrology and the understorey vegetation of managed pine fens? Location: Oligotrophic pine fens in Natura 2000 areas in Kainuu, eastern Finland. Methods: Eleven managed pine fens and eight pristine reference pine fens were chosen for the study in 2005. The managed fens, which had been drained for forestry during the 1970s and 1980s, were restored in 2007. The water table was monitored in all fens over four growing seasons during 2006 to 2009, and vegetation was surveyed from permanent sample plots in 2006 and 2009. Results: Before restoration in 2006, the water table was at a significantly lower level in the managed fens compared with the pristine fens. Immediately after restoration, the water table rose to the same level as in the pristine fens, and this change was permanent. Forest drainage had had little impact on the understorey vegetation of the managed fens in the three decades before restoration, with species typical of pristine fens still dominating the sites. Forest dwarf shrubs and feather mosses had started to increase in cover, but mire dwarf shrubs and Sphagnum mosses still dominated the managed fens. Only the typical hollow species Sphagnum majus, Sphagnum balticum and Scheuzeria palustris were missing from the managed fens. Two years after restoration, the changes in species composition were also marginal, with increased cover of mire dwarf shrubs and sedges being the only significant change. Conclusions: The success of restoration of oligotrophic pine fens seems likely, given that changes in hydrological functioning occurred rapidly, and since little change has occurred in the vegetation composition after draining. Speeding up the regeneration process in these peatland types by restoration may, therefore, be recommended, especially if the drainage effect extends to nearby pristine mires and influences their biodiversity.

Biomasses of ectomycorrhiza] and saprotrophic fungal communities partitioned into sporophores and nonreproductive structures were estimated in mature Scots pint {Pinus sylvestris L.) stands along an urban nitrogen and sulphur pollution gradient in northern Finland. The average total biomass of fungi varied in the four pollution zones from 14-6 to 202 g d. w t kg"' soil d. wt and from 73'3 to 1080 g d. wi m"^. tht mycelia of both mycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi in the soil comprising 72 8O'\, of the total. The annual carbon allocation to the fungal communities was calculated to vary between 9 and 26 "^ of the estimated annual carbon assimilation at the Scots pine sites. The size of tbe mean fungal biomass fractions decreased in the following sequence: mycelia in the soil > fungal biomass in fine roots estimated in terms of chitin > sclerotia > fungal biomass in fine roots estimated in terms of ergosterol > sporophores of mycorrhiza! fungi > sporopbores of saprotrophic fungi. A positive correlation was obtained between the number of Scots pine mycorrhiza and the a\'erage sporophore yield of mycorrhiziil fungi for three auecesaive yeaTS. The sporophore biomass ot" the mycorrhizal fungi was smaller at the most polluted than at the least polluted sites. The total fungal biomass allocation was not affected by urban pollution.

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