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2075889 
Technical Report 
Acidification and eutrophication of fen meadows (Cirsio-Molinietum vegetations) 
Lamers, L; De Graaf, M; Bobbink, R; Roelofs, J 
1997 
BIOSIS/98/06193 
98 
7 
246-252 
dut 
BIOSIS COPYRIGHT: BIOL ABS. Fen meadows (litter fens), characterised by mesotrophic Cirsio-Molinietum communities, were once very common in The Netherlands. They develop in slightly acidic wet hayfields, with sufficiently high groundwater tables in the winter to restore base saturation in the rhizosphere, and slight desiccation of the soil in the summer. During this century, fen meadows have severely declined because of changes in land use, desiccation and eutrophication. The present paper describes the effects of acidification (mainly as a result of water shortage) and eutrophication on these wet meadow vegetations. It focusses on the biogeochemical changes related to hydrological and hydrochemical alterations, and on the mechanisms involved with the decline of characteristic plant species. When base saturation is no longer restored due to shortage of groundwater, several acidification related factors like calcium shortage, aluminium dissolution, and an increased ammonium to nitrate ratio, threat