Abstract
Flow regulation impacts on riparian vegetation composition, often increasing the prevalence of exotic and terrestrial plant species. Environmental flows may benefit native riparian vegetation via the promotion of plant recruitment from riparian soil seedbanks, but this is dependent on an intact native seedbank. Thus, we assessed the composition of the soil seedbank of different riverine geomorphic features to determine its potential response to environmental flows. Soil seedbank samples were taken from channel bars, benches and floodplains at six sites along the Campaspe River, Australia, a heavily regulated river that receives environmental flows. These geomorphic features represent a gradient in elevation and thus flooding frequency from frequently flooded (bars) to infrequently flooded (floodplain). Seedbank samples were ‘grown out’ in a glasshouse, and seedlings identified and classified according to taxa, flood tolerance and origin (native or exotic). We identified 6515 seedlings across all geomorphic features and sites, with monocots most abundant. Soil seedbank composition varied between geomorphic features. Overall, seedling abundances were greater for in-channel features (bars and benches) than floodplains, but taxa richness did not vary likewise. Soil seedbanks of in-channel features were dominated by flood tolerant and native taxa, while flood intolerant and exotic taxa were generally associated with floodplains. The dominance of native flood tolerant taxa in the soil seedbanks of in-channel geomorphic features suggest these seedbanks can play an important role in the resilience of native riparian plant communities. Moreover, environmental flows are likely to play a positive role in maintaining native riparian plant communities given such conditions.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Scott McKendrick, Jack Davis and Lyndsey Vivian for their help with seedling identification and counting, Rowan Berry and Brett Hough for their help in the nursery, and Paul Chantler for his support throughout. We would like to thank the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research of the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, and The University of Melbourne for funding this research. Lastly, but not least, we would like to thank our three anonymous reviewers and the Editor in Chief of Environmental Management for their valuable and detailed feedback on this manuscript.
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Pereira, M., Greet, J. & Jones, C.S. Native Riparian Plant Species Dominate the Soil Seedbank of In-channel Geomorphic Features of a Regulated River. Environmental Management 67, 589–599 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01435-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01435-4