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The rise and fall of the Lower Mississippi: effects of hydrologic connection on floodplain backwaters

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Abstract

In the last 150 years, the Lower Mississippi River (LMR) floodplain was extensively reduced in area with conversion of once regularly inundated floodplain wetlands to dry land. Yet, between the present levees, there remain substantial remnants of the historical floodplain, including various types of permanent backwater habitats. We hypothesized that degree and timing of hydrologic connection with the river main channel drives variation in physical and chemical properties, and phytoplankton community dynamics, in backwaters. Over 23 months, measurements were made in several sites varying in connection with the main channel. At high stages, the channel and backwaters converged in having elevated turbidity, suspended solids and dissolved nutrient concentrations, reduced algal biomass and production, a seston C:N ratio indicating predominantly allochthonous organic matter sources, and a diatom-dominated community. When connection was reduced, backwaters declined in suspended sediments and nutrients, surged in production and biomass, had a seston C:N ratio reflecting autochthonous production, and switched to a community dominated by cryptomonad algae. With prolonged isolation, biomass-specific production became nitrogen limited and declined. By a conceptual model, we illustrate the seasonally variable role of permanent floodplain backwaters as major sources of algal organic matter, and potentially for nutrient sequestration, within the Lower Mississippi system.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to B. Munxayaphom for assistance in the field and in the lab. We thank H. Capello, and J. Ruskey who facilitated initiation of the study. L. Brooks, J. Hill, S. Knight, M. Moore, S. Morgan, L. Summerhill, and S. Testa provided critical technical assistance. Insightful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript were provided by S. Brewer, M. Jekabsons, J. Murdock, D. Nagle, D. Reed, F.D. Shields, and P. Zimba. Funding for this study was provided by The University of Mississippi Graduate Student Council and UM Graduate School.

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  1. Orathai Pongruktham

    Present address: World Wildlife Fund, Samsen Nai, Phayathai, Bangkok, Thailand

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  1. Department of Biology, The University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, USA

    Orathai Pongruktham & Clifford Ochs

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  1. Orathai Pongruktham
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Correspondence to Clifford Ochs.

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Pongruktham, O., Ochs, C. The rise and fall of the Lower Mississippi: effects of hydrologic connection on floodplain backwaters. Hydrobiologia 742, 169–183 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-014-1983-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-014-1983-5

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