A plant‐based index of biological integrity in permanent marsh wetlands yields consistent scores in dry and wet years

Abstract

ABSTRACT1. Plant-based assessments can contribute to wetland conservation and management by providing a standardized method to monitor biological communities in relation to human activity. One major challenge, however, is that their measurements must be fairly insensitive to temporal variation in community composition, which can be difficult since marsh plant communities are known to be influenced by natural climatic cycles.2. Variation in the scores for an index of biological integrity (IBI) was evaluated in relation to plant community changes that occurred between years with differing precipitation inputs throughout the growing season (dry: 240 mm in 2008, 198 mm in 2009; wet: 324 mm in 2010, 329 mm in 2011). Species composition and IBI scores were measured by sampling macrophytes in the centre of the wet meadow zone at 47 semi-permanent to permanent natural and constructed marshes.3. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS) ordinations revealed that although plant community composition shifted between dry and wet years, IBI scores were sensitive to only 21% of the total inter-annual variation in species composition. The first NMS axis was positively correlated with IBI scores (r = 0.85) as well as several environmental parameters (r 2 > 0.2), including dissolved organic carbon, total nitrogen, potassium, shoreline slope, and salinity.4. The wet meadow IBI also yielded consistent scores between dry and wet years (Spearman's rho = 0.82; Wilcoxon z-score = 0.53, P-value = 0.60) and was able to distinguish a change in biological condition among sites against a backdrop of natural variation (F-test = 3.0, P < 0.001).5. These findings provide support for the continued use of plants as indicators of wetland condition in permanent northern prairie marshes, providing that the range in water levels is moderate.

A method for alpine wetland delineation and features of border: Zoigê Plateau, China

“…The vegetation in the wet meadow zone is a strong indicator of environmental stress (Wilson and Bayley, 2012). The wet meadow zone is defined as the zone between the emergent zone and the upland area (Wilson et al, 2013). Characterized by sedges and hydrophytic grasses, it is also normally the dominant marsh zone in natural wetlands (Wilson et al, 2013).…”

“…The wet meadow zone is defined as the zone between the emergent zone and the upland area (Wilson et al, 2013). Characterized by sedges and hydrophytic grasses, it is also normally the dominant marsh zone in natural wetlands (Wilson et al, 2013). Wetlands in the 1987 Manual are vegetated, and unvegetated special aquatic sites (e.g., mudflats lacking macrophytic vegetation) are not covered.…”

“…Plant Indicator Status Categories were developed from the 1987 Manual, and the '50/20 rule' was used for selecting dominant species from a plant community when quantitative data were available (Environmental Laboratory, 1987). The percentage cover of each species was estimated based on the following increments: 1.0%, 2.5%, 5.0%, 10.0%, 15.0%, 20.0%, 30.0%, 40.0%, 50.0%, 60.0%, 70.0%, 80.0%, 90.0%, 100.0% (Wilson et al, 2013). Hydrophytic vegetation is distributed in the open water zone, located in the center of wetlands, surrounded by a marsh fringe comprising a marshland zone and a wet meadow zone (Fig.…”

A national-scale vegetation multimetric index (VMMI) as an indicator of wetland condition across the conterminous United States

“…Many disturbances are reflected in shifts in the presence or abundance of particular plant species (Magee and Kentula 2005; Johnston et al 2008), plant functional or trait groups (Lopez and Fennessy 2002; Quétier et al 2007), plant assemblages (Galatowitsch et al 1999; Magee et al 1999; DeKeyser et al 2009; Johnston et al 2009), or vegetation structural elements (Mack 2007), making vegetation a powerful indicator of wetland condition (Mack and Kentula 2010). Existing VMMIs or VIBIs have proven useful for monitoring condition and prioritizing conservation or management actions for specific wetland types at local or regional scales within the United States and elsewhere (e.g., DeKeyser et al 2003; Miller et al 2006; Reiss 2006; Mack 2007; Hargiss et al 2008; Rothrock et al 2008; Lemly and Rocchio 2009; Mack 2009; Veselka et al 2010; Euliss and Mushet 2011; Genet 2012; Rooney and Bayley 2012; Deimeke et al 2013; Wilson et al 2013; Hernandez et al 2015; Savage et al 2015; Jones et al 2016; Miller et al 2016).…”

Presence of riparian vegetation increases biotic condition of fish assemblages in two Brazilian reservoirs

“…1984; Hughes et al, 2010) and incorporates attributes from the biota that are sensitive to habitat degradation (Angermeier & Karr, 1994). MIs was largely adapted to streams and rivers (Lyons et al, 1995;Ganasan & Hughes, 1998;Araújo et al, 2003;Bozzetti & Schulz, 2004;Pinto et al, 2006;Ferreira et al, 2007;Whittier et al, 2007;Zhu & Chang, 2008;Casatti et al, 2009;Hermoso et al, 2010), lakes and wetlands (Gassner et al, 2003;Irz et al, 2008;Wilson et al, 2013), and reservoirs (Jennings et al, 1995;McDonough & Hickman, 1999;Petesse et al, 2007a;Terra & Araújo, 2010).…”