The main purpose of this study is to assess if wetland restoration is associated with a directional shift in soil element concentration toward the original prefarming status in the peatlands of northeastern China. The concentrations of 55 soil elements and related environmental factors including organic matter content, electrical conductivity, and pH were investigated in natural, restored, and farmed wetlands in the Xingkai Lake Watershed of northeastern China. All but four of the soil element concentrations varied by wetland type (natural, restored, and farmed wetlands), and the soil concentrations of 41 elements increased from natural to restored to farmed wetlands. Soil organic matter and electrical conductivity explained 87.8% and 3.3% of the variation in element concentration based on ordination analysis using redundancy analysis. Both nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis and cluster analysis indicated that the restored wetlands had a higher similarity with the farmed wetlands than the natural wetlands. Our findings suggest that restoration led to an increase in soil organic matter content and shifts in level of element concentration that was more similar to natural wetlands. However, differences remained so that the biogeochemistry of restored wetlands was not the same as the original prefarming level. This information is very important for wetland restoration, because to be successful, not only biodiversity and hydrology, but also the soil element composition and biogeochemistry need to be restored. Our approach can be used to assess the success of wetland restoration.

The main purpose of this study is to assess if wetland restoration is associated with a directional shift in soil element concentration toward the original prefarming status in the peatlands of northeastern China. The concentrations of 55 soil elements and related environmental factors including organic matter content, electrical conductivity, and pH were investigated in natural, restored, and farmed wetlands in the Xingkai Lake Watershed of northeastern China. All but four of the soil element concentrations varied by wetland type (natural, restored, and farmed wetlands), and the soil concentrations of 41 elements increased from natural to restored to farmed wetlands. Soil organic matter and electrical conductivity explained 87.8% and 3.3% of the variation in element concentration based on ordination analysis using redundancy analysis. Both nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis and cluster analysis indicated that the restored wetlands had a higher similarity with the farmed wetlands than the natural wetlands. Our findings suggest that restoration led to an increase in soil organic matter content and shifts in level of element concentration that was more similar to natural wetlands. However, differences remained so that the biogeochemistry of restored wetlands was not the same as the original prefarming level. This information is very important for wetland restoration, because to be successful, not only biodiversity and hydrology, but also the soil element composition and biogeochemistry need to be restored. Our approach can be used to assess the success of wetland restoration.