Restoration of brook valley meadows in the Netherlands.

Focuses on restoration measures in Dutch brook valley meadows consisting of re-introducing traditional management techniques and rewetting and sod cutting, which are now carried out on a large scale to combat negative influences of drainage and acidifying influences by atmospheric deposition. Analysis of successful and unsuccessful projects; How large-scale topsoil removal in former agricultural fields that had been used intensively for several decades is often unsuccessful since seed banks are depleted, while hydrological conditions and seed dispersal mechanisms are sub-optimal; Characteristics of successful site including regular discharge of calcareous groundwater provided by local or regional hydrological systems; Why sod removal in established nature reserves was a successful measure to increase the number of endangered fen meadow species.