Insect herbivory on an inland brackish wetland

Foote, A. Lee; Kadlec, John A.; Campbell, Barbara K.

doi:10.1007/bf03160809

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Thus, fall burning on a larger scale may provide suitable habitat for grazing geese during their spring migration. Because herbivores directly influence wetland plant communities (Bakker 1985, Fuller et al 1985, Bazely and Jefferies 1986, Foote et al 1988, burning may affect the interaction between the herbivore and its food supply, although evidence for such an interaction between fire and herbi-vory is currently lacking for wetlands (Taylor et al 1994, Miller et al 1997 but not for other systems (e.g., grasslands [Hobbs et al 1991]). If more geese had fed in the experimental blocks during our study, then preferential grazing by geese may have affected the wetland plant community along with burning.…”

Section: Does Fall Burning Enhance the Use Of Wetlands By Migratingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Prescribed Fall Burning on a Wetland Plant Community, With Implications for Management of Plants and Herbivores

McWilliams¹,

Sloat

Toft³

et al. 2007

Western North American Naturalist

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An important contemporary challenge for adaptive resource management is assessing both the direct and indirect effects of management activities by designing appropriate monitoring programs and sound analysis methods. Here we evaluate the effects of prescribed fall burning on a wetland plant community that is managed primarily for spring-migrating geese. During late fall in 2 consecutive years, we burned vegetation in 4 replicate blocks (2.3 ha each) that traversed a natural moisture and associated vegetation gradient. We used ordination, gradient analysis, and contingency table analysis to evaluate how annual changes in relative abundance of plants were affected by burning as well as other important ecological factors. Burning increased species diversity of plants, especially in the 2 wetter vegetation zones, but had no effect on species richness or on the proportion of native plant species. Wetland plant species responded to prescribed burning independently, and their response often differed by vegetation zone and with annual variation in flooding. Burning enhanced the abundance of native foxtail barley (Hordeum jubatum) and reduced the abundance of introduced swamp timothy (Crypsis shoenoides). Saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), a native plant species, was usually less abundant following burning, although the level of response was different for each of the 3 vegetation zones. Two other introduced plant species, quackgrass (Elytrigia repens) and reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinaceae), were less abundant after fall burning, especially when spring flooding was more extensive. Wild geese using the experimental blocks for feeding clearly preferred burned sites, suggesting that fall burning can enhance wetland use by geese during spring. Given that simple manipulations such as burning and flooding of a wetland system may often produce complex results, we suggest that ongoing management schemes be regularly evaluated with field experiments such as those conducted in this study.

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Section: Does Fall Burning Enhance the Use Of Wetlands By Migratingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Prescribed Fall Burning on a Wetland Plant Community, With Implications for Management of Plants and Herbivores

McWilliams¹,

Sloat

Toft³

et al. 2007

Western North American Naturalist

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“…Characteristics of an ideal biological indicator species are: (i) practical to monitor, (ii) sensitive to the stressor of interest, (iii) ubiquitous, (iv) short generation times and (v) play a key role in the functioning of the community (Parker et al , 1999). Moths exhibit the first four of these traits and arguably the fifth (Foote et al , 1988; Goyer et al , 1990). Moths are efficiently sampled by light traps; and, as consumers of living plants, they are likely to be sensitive to the vegetation changes caused by plant invaders (Janzen, 1987; Pinheiro & Ortiz, 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative per capita effects of two invasive plants, Lythrum salicaria and Phalaris arundinacea, on the moth diversity of wetland communities

Schooler

McEvoy

Hammond

et al. 2008

Bull. Entomol. Res.

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Invasive plants have been shown to negatively affect the diversity of plant communities. However, little is known about the effect of invasive plants on the diversity at other trophic levels. In this study, we examine the per capita effects of two invasive plants, purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) and reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), on moth diversity in wetland communities at 20 sites in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Prior studies document that increasing abundance of these two plant species decreases the diversity of plant communities. We predicted that this reduction in plant diversity would result in reduced herbivore diversity. Four measurements were used to quantify diversity: species richness (S), community evenness (J), Brillouin's index (H) and Simpson's index (D). We identified 162 plant species and 156 moth species across the 20 wetland sites. The number of moth species was positively correlated with the number of plant species. In addition, invasive plant abundance was negatively correlated with species richness of the moth community (linear relationship), and the effect was similar for both invasive plant species. However, no relationship was found between invasive plant abundance and the three other measures of moth diversity (J, H, D) which included moth abundance in their calculation. We conclude that species richness within, and among, trophic levels is adversely affected by these two invasive wetland plant species.

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Ecotoxicology and wetland ecosystems: Current understanding and future needs

Catallo

1993

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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The term wetlands refers to a mosaic of important ecosystems that typically form transition zones between uplands and aquatic environments. These areas provide support functions for natural and living resources and mediate biogeochemical transformations of global significance. It is becoming clear that the introduction of toxic and other contaminants to large wetland areas has contributed to a series of undesirable trends in habitat quality; availability of valuable fish and wildlife; and quality of associated resources, including surface and ground waters. The purpose of this review is to indicate the importance of wetlands to regional and global ecology and discusses research on the effects of contaminants in wetland ecosystems. Areas of needed future research also are suggested.

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Insect herbivory on an inland brackish wetland

Cited by 8 publications

References 20 publications

Effects of Prescribed Fall Burning on a Wetland Plant Community, With Implications for Management of Plants and Herbivores

Effects of Prescribed Fall Burning on a Wetland Plant Community, With Implications for Management of Plants and Herbivores

Negative per capita effects of two invasive plants, Lythrum salicaria and Phalaris arundinacea, on the moth diversity of wetland communities

Ecotoxicology and wetland ecosystems: Current understanding and future needs

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