Wetland plant growth under contrasting water regimes associated with river regulation and drought: implications for environmental water management

Vivian, Lyndsey M.; Godfree, Robert C.; Colloff, Matthew J.; Mayence, C. Ellery; Marshall, David J.

doi:10.1007/s11258-014-0357-4

Cited by 34 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…In addition, many floodplain species have sizeable persistent soil seed banks that respond to inundation (Brock & Rogers, 1998;Capon, 2003), possibly contributing to the response. This positive response is consistent with numerous studies on the effects of environmental flows on a range of biota, such as fish (Beesley, Gwinn et al, 2014;King, Tonkin, & Mahoney, 2009), water birds (Kingsford, Lau, & O'Connor, 2014), and riparian vegetation both within Australian systems (Capon, 2003;Kingsford, 2000;Rogers, 2011;Vivian, Godfree, Colloff, Mayence, & Marshal, 2014) and internationally (Katz et al, 2012;Toth & van der Valk, 2012). The short-term nature of the vegetation response in the Hattah Lakes floodplain is highlighted by the fact that 22 out of the 27 plant taxa returned to near pre-watering levels of occurrence by 18 months post flow (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Large‐scale environmental flow results in mixed outcomes with short‐term benefits for a semi‐arid floodplain plant community

et al. 2018

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Demonstrating and predicting the effectiveness of environmental watering to maintain ecosystem health is becoming increasingly important, notably in semi‐arid floodplain ecosystems. Modelling plant floodplain vegetation responses to inform environmental watering outcomes is also challenging. We evaluated the effects of a large‐scale environmental flow event on a semi‐arid floodplain lakeside plant assemblage for meeting the management goal of increasing water‐dependant taxa and functional groups. We developed a multi‐taxon Bayesian hierarchical model to describe temporal and small‐scale spatial patterns in taxonomic occurrences. We then examined community summary metrics (proportion of native taxa, plant functional groups) to evaluate patterns for the entire floodplain lakes system, the scale most relevant to management. Overall, in a system dominated by terrestrial dry plant taxa, 52.9% of terrestrial damp plant taxa showed a short‐term increase in occurrence in response to the environmental flow, which translated into similar responses in some functional groups. However, nearly half of the plant taxa that increased then demonstrated a decline by 18 months after the flow event. Our community summary metrics captured these general results; however, they were disproportionately influenced by a few abundant plant taxa. These results highlight the advantages of multi‐taxon models for interpreting flow responses and developing effective environmental flow management strategies, because they can be used to summarise community responses, while preserving important taxon‐specific information. In semi‐arid systems, where river regulation and climate change have reduced the frequency of flood events, the ability to deliver environmental flows during protracted periods of drought may be a policy option to restore or maintain the natural floodplain vegetation assemblage and prevents the transition to dryland taxa.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Large‐scale environmental flow results in mixed outcomes with short‐term benefits for a semi‐arid floodplain plant community

et al. 2018

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“…() and Vivian et al . () demonstrated that a large portion of native wetland species is preserved through adaptation to extreme flood events. Moreover, the increasing frequency of extreme climatic and weather events, particularly in temperate and Mediterranean areas, suggests that in a few decades artificial aquatic water bodies or wetlands will account for almost all perennial or semi‐perennial aquatic environments in over‐exploited floodplains (Fuentes‐Rodríguez et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of being natural in a human‐altered riverscape: role of wetland type in supporting habitat heterogeneity and the functional diversity of vegetation

Bolpagni

Piotti

2015

Aquatic Conservation

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1. Human activities have dramatically affected the status of river ecosystems, mainly by completely altering their natural dynamics. One of the main questions in this regard is: 'How do the origin (natural or artificial) and hydrology (lentic or lotic) of a riverine wetland influence its heterogeneity and the functional diversity of its vegetation?'2. To answer this question, data from 60 wetlands were collected along the Oglio River (northern Italy), ã 700 km 2 ecosystem that is a typically over-exploited plain. In order to perform a quantitative assessment of habitat heterogeneity and vegetation diversity, a hierarchical approach was applied to sample sites divided into four functional zones (FZs) according to distinct seasonal inundation patterns (persistently aquatic, riparian, seasonally emergent and lateral zones).3. Plant communities were randomly surveyed in each FZ by using five replicates of 4 m 2 plots for aquatic and herbaceous plant communities and five replicates of 64 m 2 plots for woody and shrub communities. Data on species cover were estimated by standard methods (geometric-centered scale) 4. The highest values of heterogeneity (FZs per site) and vegetation diversity (plant communities per site) were found in natural lentic sites, whereas natural lotic sites exhibited the lowest values. A clear dependence of plant community assets on wetland origin was detected, thereby confirming the close relationship between heterogeneity and vegetation diversity. 5. Present results highlight the fundamental role played by natural sites in maintaining aquatic and wetland vegetation diversity in human-altered riverscapes. The pivotal role of water level fluctuations in promoting the diversity and distribution of aquatic and hygrophilous vegetation also clearly emerges.

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“…Other studies have suggested that environmental factors likely to influence reed bed expansion include seasonal fluctuations in water levels and nutrient influxes from the lake bottom and surrounding river systems (Liira et al ; Catford et al ). However, based on the response of other wetland plants and other Schoenoplectus species to seasonal water fluctuations and nutrient increases (Escutia‐Lara & Lindig‐Cisneros ; Vivian et al ), it is likely that planted and remnant S. tabernaemontani stands would increase in size and extent if lake flows were more variable. A study by Catford et al () supports this fact, suggesting that hydrological regulation in the Murray River system limits the establishment of native plants adapted to variable flows while benefiting more invasive species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facilitating the restoration of aquatic plant communities in a Ramsar wetland

Jellinek

Gehrig

et al. 2016

Restoration Ecology

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Human activities such as land clearing and intensive land use around water bodies, particularly wetlands, have a detrimental impact on water quality and quantity, aquatic plant communities, and associated wetland fauna. Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert are internationally significant Ramsar wetlands located at the terminus of the Murray River, Australia's longest river system. Agriculture, water regulation, and extraction and droughts have had a detrimental impact on native plant communities in the lakes. We studied the influence of young (<1-3 years) and old (8-11 years) plantings of a native sedge (bulrush), Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani, to facilitate the establishment of aquatic plant communities in comparison with remnant and control sites. We also measured how planting structure (height, stand width, and stem density) changed with age in comparison with remnant sites. Results suggest that as plantings age they get substantially wider and have a greater maximum height, although do not reach similar stand widths by 11 years when compared to remnant areas. However, old plantings do not differ from remnant habitats in relation to aquatic plant species richness, counts of aquatic plants, and community composition. Young plantings have substantially less abundant and diverse plant communities, but are developing on a similar trajectory to old plantings. It is likely that planting sedges along lake shorelines causes a breakwater effect that facilitates the recolonization of wetland plants between the planted area and the water's edge. Management agencies should consider restoring native sedges to increase aquatic biodiversity, and potentially reduce erosion.

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Wetland plant growth under contrasting water regimes associated with river regulation and drought: implications for environmental water management

Cited by 34 publications

References 43 publications

Large‐scale environmental flow results in mixed outcomes with short‐term benefits for a semi‐arid floodplain plant community

Large‐scale environmental flow results in mixed outcomes with short‐term benefits for a semi‐arid floodplain plant community

The importance of being natural in a human‐altered riverscape: role of wetland type in supporting habitat heterogeneity and the functional diversity of vegetation

Facilitating the restoration of aquatic plant communities in a Ramsar wetland

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