Abstract: Peatlands are one of the major carbon sinks in global terrestrial ecosystems, where Sphagnum is the most important contributor to carbon sequestration, but are faced with degradation over large parts of the world. In this study, an experimental restoration was performed in a drained and degraded part of Baijianghe peatland, Changbai Mountains, which had seen a recent dramatic loss of Sphagnum with the cover of Potentilla fruticosa reaching almost 100%. Experimental treatments included rewetting by ditch blocking (three water table depths), dwarf shrub removal (0, 50% or 90% removed) and Sphagnumpropagule spreading (three densities). The results showed that Sphagnum cover increased with increasing water table. When transplantation density (ratio of surface collected to surface restored) was no more than 1∶10, the cover of Sphagnum increased with transplantation density. Only at a high water table (5-30 cm), a high dwarf shrub cover led to an increase in Sphagnum cover. Results from this shortterm study suggests that the restoration efficiency of drained peatlands will be enhanced when sufficient amounts of Sphagnum propagule are transplanted and appropriate removal of dwarf shrubs are performed on the basis of raising water level.

Key words: soil-landscape model, simulated annealing, multilayer perception, sampling layout optimization.