A conceptual model of volume-change controls on the hydrology of cutover peats

The greater volumetric response to a change in water storage of the more porous and less decomposed peat at H97 indicates a long-term decreasing trend in peat compressibility due to irreversible losses in pore volume. Deterioration of high water storage and low water retention properties at H92 suggests that cutover sites abandoned for longer periods will become increasingly hostile to Sphagnum recolonization despite the blockage of drainage ditches.