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Wetlands of the Attawapiskat River mouth, James Bay, Ontario, Canada

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Abstract

The Attawapiskat River is one of the major rivers entering James Bay, Canada. Wetlands of the lower 12 km portion of the river were studied between the Cree Indian village of Attawapiskat and James Bay. This portion contains both freshwater, freshwater tidal and brackish/saline wetlands along a gradient downstream to the river mouth. Due to the high flow of fresh river water, salt marshes did not occur directly at the river mouth where the submergentPotamogeton richardsonii and emergentSagittaria latifolia occurred. This association gave way inland from the river bank to a complex association ofHippuris tetraphylla,Eleocharis palustris, andCarex paleacea, all indicative of brackish conditions. Further inland, a salt marsh community occurred mainly withPuccinellia phryganodes,P. lucida,Triglochin maritima, andScirpus maritimus. The freshwater tidal portion of the river was characterized by the following sequence from the river:Potamogeton richardsonii →Sagittaria latifolia →Eleocharis,Hippuris,Carex spp. complex. In better drained areas on levees,Equisetum spp. were present giving way to aSalix —Alnus zone, and eventual boreal forest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aquatic Ecology Division, National Water Research Institute, L7R 4A6, Burlington, Ontario, Canada

    Walter A. Glooschenko

  2. Department of Land Resource Science, University of Guelph, N1G 2W1, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

    I. Peter Martini

Authors
  1. Walter A. Glooschenko
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  2. I. Peter Martini
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Glooschenko, W.A., Martini, I.P. Wetlands of the Attawapiskat River mouth, James Bay, Ontario, Canada. Wetlands 3, 64–76 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03160731

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