Detecting the effects of water regime on wetland plant communities: Which plant indicator groups perform best?

Abstract

Detecting the effects of water regime on wetland plant communities: Which plant indicator groups perform best?.Aquatic Botany http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/j.aquabot.2015.02.002 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

Testing the Power of a Wetland Vegetation Monitoring Survey Design to Detect Change Based on Visual Cover Estimates

“…Here we assessed vegetation cover by growth form, to determine if the extent of observer variability differed between shrubs and shorter vegetation types. We also aggregated species cover scores by water plant functional group (amphibious or terrestrial) and species origin (native or exotic); variables that are useful for monitoring changes in wetland vegetation composition associated with changes in hydrology or disturbance (Casanova 2011;Campbell et al 2014;Johns et al 2015). Unlike growth form classification, consistency in cover estimates between observers at the water plant functional group or species origin category level required plants to be identified to species.…”

“…Using changes in the cover or abundance of plant functional groups that respond to the drivers of interest (e.g. changes in water availability and disturbance) as monitoring variables, rather than species, can help to overcome these issues (Casanova 2011;Campbell et al 2014;Johns et al 2015). We also considered this approach appropriate for the monitoring program discussed here because earlier work had identified substantial heterogeneity in species composition and relative abundance, both within and between Newnes Plateau shrub swamps (Benson and Baird 2012;Brownstein et al 2015;Johns et al 2015;Tierney et al 2015).…”

Hydrological‐niche models predict water plant functional group distributions in diverse wetland types

“…, Casanova , Johns et al. ). To date, however, the use of water plant functional groups has been largely deductive, where the presence of functional groups with a generally understood depth–duration preference has been used to identify the water regime needed to maintain a specific community (e.g., Casanova , Johns et al.…”

“…The water plant functional group classification introduced by Brock and Casanova (1997) and Casanova and Brock (2000) has already proven effective in a range of environmental water applications (Raulings et al 2010, Casanova 2011, Johns et al 2015. To date, however, the use of water plant functional groups has been largely FiG.…”

“…Adapted from Casanova (2011). [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] deductive, where the presence of functional groups with a generally understood depth-duration preference has been used to identify the water regime needed to maintain a specific community (e.g., Casanova 2011, Johns et al 2015. However, local-scale validation of hydrological niche model predictions (Booth and Loheide 2012b) suggest it could be possible to build probabilistic models based on functional groups that could make more generally applicable predictions of response under change scenarios (Auble et al 2005, Merritt et al 2010.…”