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Ecosystem response to site restoration depends in part on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils. Soil properties are influenced by the factors and processes of soil formation that determine soil profile characteristics and pedogenic pathways for soils. Loss of integrity of the original soil profiles or disruption of a past pedogenic pathway from site disturbance may limit the success of restoration if assessment is based on comparisons to previous ecosystems or mature reference systems. New profile characteristics and a pedogenic pathway will emerge over time if materials are used to construct soil profiles or if topsoil or organic matter amendments are added to enhance ecosystem development during site restoration. Ecosystem restoration should include the following pedogenic evaluation of soils: 1) the integrity of existing soil profiles of a degraded site; 2) the soil types (based on soil orders) and past pedogenic pathways for sites of intact soil profiles or sites that require only surface horizon modification; 3) the relative contributions of soil forming factors and processes on future pedogenesis; 4) the conditions that promote or hinder horizon development; and 5) predictions of pedogenic pathways and potential soil types after site restoration. Understanding pedogenesis as a component of ecosystem restoration will improve our understanding of how soils influence ecosystem development, as well as our ability to predict potential success of ecosystem restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microtopography, which is known to play a key role in the structure and function of wetland communities, is receiving increasing attention in wetland restoration projects. One goal of the Tulula Wetlands Mitigation Bank, which was the first large-scale wetland restoration project in the Blue Ridge Province, was to restore the microtopography in a degraded swamp forest–bog complex. This wetland type has become increasingly rare in the southern Appalachians and is characterized by a distinct microtopography of depressions and low ridges. We examined vegetation and soils in depression and ridge plots over a 6-year period, during which the hydrology and microtopography of the floodplain were restored. Our results showed that the flora of the depression and ridge plots differed, with greater coverage by obligate wetland species in the depression plots but greater overall taxonomic richness in the ridge plots. The edaphic characteristics that we measured varied very little during the study period. Creating microtopographic relief during the restoration of this wetland seems to have provided a variety of niches and may have increased the likelihood that the site will succeed back to a swamp forest–bog complex, rather than as a forested terrace of Tulula Creek. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]