Effect of canal blocking on biodiversity of degraded peatlands: Insight from West Kalimantan
Large‑scale peatland disturbance threatens wildlife, prompting restoration efforts such as canal blocking to rewet degraded areas. Surveys across wet and dry seasons in West Kalimantan assessed wildlife diversity using transects, point counts and acoustic monitoring in four habitat types. Forested peat habitats—both less disturbed and disturbed—showed higher Shannon, Simpson and acoustic diversity than open shrub and estate‑crop areas. However, results provided insufficient evidence that canal blocking itself increased wildlife diversity across rewetting sites. Aligning restoration with the Natural Climate Solutions hierarchy—protect, manage and restore—offers a more effective pathway for recovering peatland biodiversity.
Subject Tags
- Biodiversity
- Natural climate solutions
- Wildlife
Abstract
Large-scale disturbance in peatland areas causes many wildlife species to suffer due to limited resources or habitat loss. Following the high attention to peatlands, some restoration efforts, such as canal blocking, have been undertaken to restore the hydrological condition of peatlands. Nonetheless, our understanding of peatland biodiversity post-canal blocking is still limited. Thus, we conducted a study in West Kalimantan to assess wildlife diversity in peatland rewetting areas and understand the canal blocking’s impact on peatland biodiversity. Surveys were conducted during both the wet and dry seasons using line transects and point counts, along with deploying autonomous recording units in four habitat types: less disturbed peat forest, disturbed peat forest, estate crop and disturbed wet shrub. Shannon and Simpson diversity indices suggest that habitats with complex structures (i.e., forested habitat) support higher diversity compared to those with open and uniform vegetation (i.e., non-forested habitat). This notion is also supported by acoustic indices calculations, which indicate that forested areas show higher acoustic diversity (biophony), and thus higher biodiversity compared to non-forested areas. However, our results indicate that there is insufficient evidence to suggest the effect of canal blocking on wildlife diversity in all rewetting sites. Aligning biodiversity conservation efforts with the natural climate solutions hierarchy, which is part of nature-based solutions and consists of protect, manage and restore, could offer promising solutions for recovering the sites.
Citation
Imron, M. A., Rachmawati, F. D., Dewi, T., Albihad, D., Simanullang, G. M. I., & Poor, E. E. (2025). Effect of canal blocking on biodiversity of degraded peatlands: Insight from West Kalimantan. PloS one, 20(10), e0334014. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0334014
TNC Authors
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Erin E. Poor
Landscape Ecologist
The Nature Conservancy