Threshold effects of flood duration on the vegetation and soils of the Upper Mississippi River floodplain, USA

Jager, Nathan R. De; Thomsen, Meredith; Yin, Yao

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2012.01.023

Cited by 65 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…rugosa (Du Roi) R.T. These thresholds are generally consistent with the results of two local studies at an individual site (Metzler and Damman, 1985) and two sites (Nislow et al, 2002), as well as in other studies in similar systems in the northeastern and northcentral U.S. (De Jager et al, 2012). For example, on a high gradient stream in Virginia, flood-dependent trees like P. deltoides and S. nigra were largely absent in the active floodplain that flooded with a recurrence interval of once every 1.5 years, whereas these species did occur on the channel shelf which experienced a flood duration of 13% of the time (47 d/y) (Hupp and Ostercamp, 1985).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Quantifying flooding regime in floodplain forests to guide river restoration

Marks

Nislow

2014

Elem. Sci. Anth.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Determining the flooding regime needed to support distinctive floodplain forests is essential for effective river conservation under the ubiquitous human alteration of river flows characteristic of the Anthropocene Era. At over 100 sites throughout the Connecticut River basin, the largest river system in New England, we characterized species composition, valley and channel morphology, and hydrologic regime to define conditions promoting distinct floodplain forest assemblages. Species assemblages were dominated by floodplain-associated trees on surfaces experiencing flood durations between 4.5 and 91 days/year, which were generally well below the stage of the two-year recurrence interval flood, a widely-used benchmark for floodplain restoration. These tree species rarely occurred on surfaces that flooded less than 1 day/year. By contrast abundance of most woody invasive species decreased with flooding. Such flood-prone surfaces were jointly determined by characteristics of the hydrograph (high discharges of long duration) and topography (low gradient and reduced valley constraint), resulting in increased availability of floodplain habitat with increasing watershed area and/or decreasing stream gradient. Downstream mainstem reaches provided the most floodplain habitat, largely associated with low-energy features such as back swamps and point bars, and were dominated by silver maple (Acer saccharinum). However, we were able to identify a number of suitable sites in the upper part of the basin and in large tributaries, often associated with in-channel islands and bars and frequently dominated by sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) and flood disturbance-dependent species. Our results imply that restoring flows by modifying dam operations to benefit floodplain forests on existing surfaces need not conflict with flood protection in some regional settings. These results underscore the need to understand how flow, geomorphology, and species traits interact to produce characteristic patterns of floodplain vegetation, and that these interactions should form the basis of effective river restoration and conservation.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Quantifying flooding regime in floodplain forests to guide river restoration

Marks

Nislow

2014

Elem. Sci. Anth.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Both natural and anthropogenic disturbances play an important role in riparian zones and strongly influence the composition, structure, and dynamics of riparian vegetation through interface exchange processes (Auble et al, 1994;van Coller et al, 2000;De Jager et al, 2012;Politti et al, 2014). We outlined a framework revolving around the processes between disturbances and riparian vegetation (Fig.…”

Section: An Interaction Framework Of Disturbances-riparian Vegetationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The magnitude of the responses to flow regime is also related to the location or elevation of vegetation. For example, sites lower in elevation, which tend to have their vegetation be inundated for a longer period, have fine grained sediment with more organic matter and lower species diversity (De Jager et al, 2012). With the upstream water levels increased after dam operation, the larger inundated zone had a negative impact on the vegetation cover at lower elevations (Kellogg and Zhou, 2014).…”

Section: Physical Processes That Influence Riparian Vegetationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a key element of a riparian ecosystem, riparian vegetation is affected both directly and indirectly by anthropogenic disturbances (e.g., dam construction or changes in land use) and natural disturbances (e.g., climate change) (Auble et al, 1994;Toner and Keddy, 1997;De Jager et al, 2012), as shown in Fig. 1.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are either static (Franz and Bazzaz, 1977) or dynamic (Egger et al, 2012;Hickler et al, 2012;Chang et al, 2014) and either qualitative (Bertoldi et al, 2011) or quantitative (Benjankar, 2009) at different levels of riparian vegetation from the individual (Cooper et al, 1999(Cooper et al, , 2003Scott et al, 1999) to the population (Phipps, 1979;Clipperton et al, 2003), to the community Tealdi et al, 2011;Egger et al, 2012), as presented in Table 1. A general As a key element of a riparian ecosystem, riparian vegetation is affected both directly and indirectly by anthropogenic disturbances (e.g., dam construction or changes in land use) and natural disturbances (e.g., climate change) (Auble et al, 1994;Toner and Keddy, 1997;De Jager et al, 2012). Camporeale and Ridolfi (2006) trend of modeling evolution exists, from static to dynamic, from qualitative to quantitative, and from structural to integrated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Ecological modeling of riparian vegetation under disturbances: A review

You

Liu

Zhang

2015

Ecological Modelling

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Contrasting influences of inundation and land use on the rate of floodplain restoration

Dawson

Berney

Catford

et al. 2017

Aquatic Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

1. This study examined the assisted natural restoration of native vegetation in an Australian floodplain wetland where flows were reinstated and the river was reconnected to the floodplain, following cessation of agricultural cultivation. Extant vegetation was surveyed three times during an inundation event at plots with differentland-use histories.3. Restoration rate was more influenced by past land use than long-term inundation frequency and success decreased with antecedent land-use intensity. Prolonged land-use history (>3 years cultivation) restricted restoration success. Sites with longer cultivation histories tended to have fewer aquatic species, more terrestrial species and exotic species. For example, amphibious responders with floating leaves were found only in reference plots and less frequently in farmed treatment plots. In this scenario, increased persistence of exotics and dryland species suggested alternative trajectories. Fields with a short land-use history (1-3 years of clearing and cultivation) resembled undisturbed floodplain communities, consistent with a 'field of dreams' hypothesis.4. Although river-floodplain reconnections can restore wetlands, legacy effects of past land use may limit the pace and outcomes of restoration.

show abstract

Threshold effects of flood duration on the vegetation and soils of the Upper Mississippi River floodplain, USA

Cited by 65 publications

References 58 publications

Quantifying flooding regime in floodplain forests to guide river restoration

Quantifying flooding regime in floodplain forests to guide river restoration

Ecological modeling of riparian vegetation under disturbances: A review

Contrasting influences of inundation and land use on the rate of floodplain restoration

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About