 may have misclassified small areas, we believe that the sum of the land classes ‘mires’, ‘mire meadows’, and ‘peat pits’, as we have defined them from the enclosure map of 1880, gives the best possible representation of the total mire area as it was before any intensive human intervention began in the study area.
We have identified the various types of historical land use in mires, quantified the proportion of mires concerned, established a timeline of impact, and discussed possible legacy effects, in particular with respect to climate change. We have shown that the former use of mires can be mapped in detail through an interdisciplinary analysis involving sources and methods ranging from historical maps to state-of-the-art remote-sensing analysis. Our mapping shows that although mires have not been subjected to any active use for more than 30 years, legacy effects are still substantial, most importantly through the conversion of mires into forest. In addition, many open mires continue to change, due to both previous ditching and the abandonment of management. Therefore, it can be difficult to separate these two factors and predict how mire habitats will develop in the future. Such factors should be taken into account to achieve a predictable outcome of mire management aimed at the improvement of important ecosystem services such as biodiversity, water regulation, and carbon sequestration.
The authors are grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their many useful comments on the manuscript.
The research was supported by SITES funded by the Swedish Research Council and FORMAS grants to Eliza Maher Hasselquist and Hjalmar Laudon.
The authors have no competing interests to declare.
GN designed the study, and digitized and processed the data. The results were discussed and analyzed jointly by all authors, and conclusions were drafted during these discussions. GN and EMH wrote the manuscript with important contributions from HJ.
Arrhenius, J. P. (1884). Om mossar och andra vattendränkta marker: deras odling och vidare behandling: meddelanden (Vol. 24). Stockholm: J. Arrhenii förl. [On bogs and other waterlogged lands: Their cultivation and further treatment: Communications].
Asmala, E., Carstensen, J., & Räike, A. (2019). Multiple anthropogenic drivers behind upward trends in organic carbon concentrations in boreal rivers. Environmental Research Letters, 14(12), 1–10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab4fa9
Berg, Å., Ehnström, B., Gustafsson, L., Hallingback, T., Jonsell, M., & Weslien, J. (1994). Threatened plant, animal, and fungus species in Swedish forests – Distribution and habitat associations. Conservation Biology, 8(3), 718–731. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.1994.08030718.x
Björck, T. (1851). Samling af alla gällande K:gl. förordningar, instruktioner, författningar och reskripter m.m., samt Kammarkollegii och Direktörsembetets wid Landtmäteriet och Justeringswerket i riket utfärdade cirkulärbref och föreskrifter rörande landtmäteriet och dermed sammanhang egande ämnen. Stockholm. [Collection of all existing regulations, instructions, laws and letters etc., as well as communications and provisions concerning mapping and cadastral matters, issued by various State Agencies].
Blind, A.-C., Kuoljok, K., Axelsson Linkowski, W., & Tunón, H. (2015). Myrens betydelse för renen och renskötseln: biologisk mångfald på myrar i renskötselland. Uppsala: Naptek. [The importance of mires for reindeer and reindeer husbandry: Biodiversity on mires in reindeer-herding areas]. Retrieved from http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-3424
Bosin, A. (1901). Hvilken betydelse har mosskulturen i de norrländska länen och i hvilken riktning bör den utvecklas? Västerbottens län. Svenska mosskulturföreningen tidskrift (pp. 177–182). [What is the present and future importance of mire cultivation in the counties of northern Sweden? Västerbotten county].
Bunte, R., Borgegård, L.-E., & Gaunitz, S. (1982). Vindeln: en norrländsk kommuns ekonomiska utveckling 1800–1980. Lund: Selector. [Vindeln: The economic development