Plant and soil responses to salvaged marsh surface and organic matter amendments at a created wetland in central Pennsylvania

Stauffer, Aura L.; Brooks, Robert

doi:10.1007/bf03160721

Cited by 59 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(19 reference statements)

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“…When impact or destruction of a natural wetland is unavoidable, we suggest at minimum amending the replacement wetland with salvaged natural wetland soil (Stauffer and Brooks 1997), or with other organic-based materials ). Poorly developed soil (e.g., low C and N, high q b ) limited CNP-related functional capacity among the created wetlands of this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No-net-loss not met for nutrient function in freshwater marshes: recommendations for wetland mitigation policies

et al. 2011

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Abstract. Wetlands provide many important services throughout the world, with an estimated economic value that, in comparison to other ecosystems, far exceeds their relatively small global extent. In recognition of their importance, both national and international regulations exist to protect the world's remaining wetlands. Of growing interest is the ''no-net-loss'' policy which permits unavoidable destruction of wetlands if compensated by restoration of degraded wetlands or creation of new wetlands. The fundamental assumption of no-net-loss is that wetlands can be created which function equivalently to natural wetlands. One integral function that wetlands perform is cycling of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. Here we demonstrate that loss of this nutrient-related function is not being mitigated by creation or restoration of wetlands. We compare indicators of plant-and microbial-mediated functions, as well as abiotic (e.g., soil character, hydrology) and biotic (e.g., plant community composition) structure, between 10 created or restored and 5 natural freshwater depressional wetlands in central Ohio, USA. Nutrient stocks were generally smaller and transformations slower in created wetlands than in natural wetlands, with little development over time. Of particular concern were differences in C-and N-related function. Created wetlands stored 90% less C within litter and 80% less C within soil and processed 60% less N through denitrification, on average compared to natural wetlands. Our study suggests that subversion of natural wetlands into restored or created wetlands could have large-scale environmental consequences such as reduced capacity for nitrate removal and C sequestration.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No-net-loss not met for nutrient function in freshwater marshes: recommendations for wetland mitigation policies

et al. 2011

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“…While soil organic carbon is often low at the time of wetland creation, hydric soil indicators such as this often can begin to show signs of development within as few as 5-10 years post-creation (Vespraskas et al 1999;Anderson et al 2005). Some studies have even demonstrated that organic matter amendments to created or restored wetland soils can stimulate microbial communities and accelerate the development of this soil component (Stauffer and Brooks 1997;Sutton-Grier et al 2009). These findings indicate that understanding temporal development of wetland mitigation projects is important in tracking restoration trajectories and, ultimately, in predicting outcomes of these efforts (Zedler and Callaway 1999;Zedler 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Wetland development in a previously mined landscape of East Texas, USA

Hart

Davis

2011

Wetlands Ecol Manage

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We studied wetland development in a chronosequence of created wetlands in a reclaimed landscape in east Texas seasonally for 1 year. The purpose of the study was to identify features (i.e., indicators) that best reflected changes in wetland ecosystem state through time and could serve as indicators of ''maturity'' for bond-release. Features considered included surface water nutrients, soil nutrients, soil redox potential, vegetative biomass and diversity, and benthic invertebrate biomass and diversity. Our sampling focused on nine wetlands representing three different-age classes (n = 3 for each) as a surrogate for time. All wetland sites were created with the same homogenized mine spoil and had similar hydrology and climate. Age-specific changes in all parameters were observed, except for surface water nutrients. The oldest wetlands (i.e., ''mature'') exhibited highest soil concentrations of N, C, K, P, and Ca. Soil redox potential was significantly lower in the mature wetlands, in addition to withinwetland (lowest in deepest sampling zones) and intraannual variability (i.e., lowest during the summer). Mature created wetlands supported the highest vegetative biomass and species richness and highest densities of invertebrates; however, taxa richness was similar across all age groups. Of all parameters we measured, vegetation metrics were among the simplest and most cost-effective measures used to track the early development of mitigated wetlands. This study provides the basis from which to track the development of these reclaimed ecosystems in a more rigorous and easily replicated manner. With further validation, select use of these parameter sets in east Texas and other similar landscapes could aid both in determining compliance for regulatory purposes as well as tracking success of ecological mitigation.

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“…Even at created wetlands lacking seed banks, vegetation usually establishes through water inflows, vertebrate transport, or wind dispersal (deVlaming and Proctor 1968;Nawrot and Klimstra 1989;Reinartz and Warne 1993;VivianSmith and Stiles 1994;Kaplan et al 1998;Mitsch et al 1998). Transplanted wetland soil was proposed as a method to increase wetland plant composition in the prairie potholes (van der Valk and Pederson 1989;van der Valk et al 1992) and has been used to increase plant diversity and coverage at created and restored wetlands (Dunn and Best 1983;Vivian-Smith and Handel 1996;Brown and Bedford 1997;Burke 1997;Stauffer and Brooks 1997;Weinstein and Weishar 2002). However plants may not establish in created wetlands that are isolated from natural wetlands and their seed sources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Salvaged-Wetland Soil as a Technique to Improve Aquatic Vegetation at Created Wetlands in Wyoming, USA

McKinstry

2005

Wetlands Ecol Manage

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Aquatic plants usually establish following wetland creation from a variety of mechanisms including animal transport, inflows from nearby wetlands, wind dispersal, and seed banks if they are available. However, at created wetlands that are isolated from natural wetlands, aquatic plant communities may not establish even after 10 or more years. One method of improving the establishment of aquatic plants is through the use of salvaged-marsh soils. Using this method, wetland soil from a donor site is collected and spread across the basin of the created wetland. When the proper hydrologic regime is reached at the created site, the seed bank from the donor soil is then present to take advantage of the uncolonized site. Over 1500 wetlands have been created in northeast Wyoming, USA from bentonite mining and most of them have not developed submersed and emergent plant communities due to isolation from plant sources. Our goal was to evaluate the effectiveness of using salvaged-wetland soil as a tool for improving plant growth at created wetlands. Our study took place at 12 newly created wetlands that were isolated from other wetlands by >5 km. Six wetlands were treated as reference wetlands, with no introductions of seeds or propagules. At the other six wetlands we spread %10-15 cm of salvaged soil from a donor wetland during the winter of 1999-2000. To identify the potential plants in donor soil, we collected 10 random samples from the donor wetlands and placed them within wetland microcosms in a greenhouse where they were treated to either moist-soil conditions (water at or just below the soil line) or submersed conditions (water levels maintained at 15-30 cm). Treatment wetlands were evaluated for plant growth during the fall of 2000 and 2001, whereas the greenhouse samples were grown for two growing seasons then harvested. Our results show that using salvaged wetland soil increases: (1) the number of plant species present at a wetland over time, (2) the total vegetation coverage in a treated wetland over time, and (3) the total plant biomass in a treated wetland. The species pool available in the salvaged wetland soil was limited to 10 obligate wetland species, but several of them are considered valuable to waterfowl and other wildlife. Furthermore, salvaged-wetland soil could be useful for ameliorating poor substrate conditions (i.e., bentonite) and improving conditions for the establishment of additional species. One concern with this technique is the introduction of invasive or exotic species that could form monocultures of undesirable plants (e.g., cattail [Typha spp.]); introducing more desirable species during the application of salvaged soil could reduce this probability. We believe incorporating salvaged-wetland soil during basin construction could be used to increase the value and productivity of created wetlands in this region.

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Plant and soil responses to salvaged marsh surface and organic matter amendments at a created wetland in central Pennsylvania

Cited by 59 publications

References 17 publications

No-net-loss not met for nutrient function in freshwater marshes: recommendations for wetland mitigation policies

No-net-loss not met for nutrient function in freshwater marshes: recommendations for wetland mitigation policies

Wetland development in a previously mined landscape of East Texas, USA

Salvaged-Wetland Soil as a Technique to Improve Aquatic Vegetation at Created Wetlands in Wyoming, USA

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