Abstract
We investigated the effects of river floodpulses on the water chemistry and diatom assemblages in a floodplain wetland. During the two year study period (November 2003–September 2005), the river and wetland exhibited three periods of surface hydrologic connectivity. The impacts of flooding depended on flood magnitude and duration. Both the long/high magnitude and short/high magnitude floods thoroughly mixed river and wetland waters, with conductivity, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus in the wetland decreasing to levels similar to the river. In contrast, the short/low magnitude flood did not mix water chemistry. Wetland conductivity, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus remained elevated. Changes in algal biomass followed changes in water chemistry with the high magnitude floods producing conditions unfavorable for algal growth. Algal biomass decreased in the wetland coinciding with the two high magnitude floods. Increases in algal biomass coincided with the short/low magnitude flood. Wetland and river water column diatom assemblages were dominated by periphytic taxa. The diatom assemblage in the river and wetland were distinct, except during the short/high magnitude flood. During this period, floodwaters brought diatoms into the wetland and both systems were dominated by planktonic centric taxa. Similar diatom taxa were observed in the wetland water column assemblage and the assemblage collected in settling chambers, although their relative abundances varied. Shifts in the settling diatom assemblage coincided with periods of flooding, indicating that river floodwaters leave a discernable signal within this assemblage. Our findings indicate that caution should be exercised when using diatom-based bioassessment in frequently flooded wetlands as the wetland diatom assemblage is influenced by river floodwaters and changes may depend on the duration and magnitude of flooding.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Agostinho, A. A., S. M. Thomaz, C. V. Minte-Vera, and K. O. Winemiller. 2000. Biodiversity in the high Parana River floodplain. p. 89–118. In B. Gopal, W. J. Junk, and J. A. Davis (eds.) Biodiversity in Wetlands: Assessment, Function and Conservation, Volume 1. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Ameel, J. J., R. P. Axler, and C. J. Owen. 1993. Persulfate digestion for determination of total nitrogen and phosphorus in low-nutrient waters. American Environmental Laboratories 5: 1–11.
Arar, E. J. 1997. In vitro determination of chlorophylls a, b, c1 and c2 and phaeopigments in marine and freshwater algae by visible spectrophotometry. Method 446.0. p. 446.0–46.0-26. In Methods for the Determination of Chemical Substances in Marine and Estuarine Environmental Matrices, second edition. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC, USA. EPA 600/R-97/072.
Benke, A. C. 1990. A perspective on North America’s vanishing streams. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 9: 77–88.
Brinson, M. M., A. E. Lugo, and S. Brown. 1981. Primary productivity, decomposition and consumer activity in freshwater wetlands. Annual Review of Ecological Systems 12: 123–61.
Burkholder, J. M. and B. E. Cuker. 1991. Response of periphyton communities to clay and phosphate loading in a shallow reservoir. Journal of Phycology 27: 373–84.
Dixit, A. S., S. S. Dixit, and J. P. Smol. 1992. Long-term trends in lake water pH and metal concentrations inferred from diatoms and chrysophytes in three lakes near Sudbury, Ontario. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 49: 17–24.
Engle, D. L. and J. M. Melack. 1993. Consequences of riverine flooding for seston and the periphyton of floating meadows in an Amazon floodplain lake. Limnology and Oceanography 38: 1500–20.
Garcia de Emiliani, M. O. 1993. Seasonal succession of phytoplankton in a lake of the Parana River floodplain, Argentina. Hydrobiologia 264: 101–14.
Gell, P. A., I. R. Sluiter, and J. Fluin. 2002. Seasonal and interannual variations in diatom assemblages in Murray River connected wetlands in north-west Victoria, Australia. Marine and Freshwater Research 53: 981–92.
Goldsborough, L. G. and G. G. C. Robinson. 1996. Pattern in wetlands. p. 78–117. In R. J. Stevenson, M. L. Bothwell, and R. L. Lowe (eds.) Algal Ecology: Freshwater Benthic Ecosystems. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, USA.
Hamilton, S. K. and W. M. Lewis, Jr. 1987. Causes of seasonality in chemistry of a lake on the Orinoco River floodplain, Venezuela. Limnology and Oceanography 32: 1277–90.
Hawksworth, J. T. 2001. Middle Tualatin-Rock Creek Watershed Analysis. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Tillamook, OR, USA. BLM/OR/WA/PT-00/ 015+1792.
Haworth, E. Y. 1980. Comparison of continuous phytoplankton records with the diatom stratigraphy in the recent sediments of Bleham Tarn. Limnology and Oceanography 25: 1093–1103.
Hay, M. B., N. Michelutti, and J. P. Smol. 2000. Ecological patterns of diatom assemblages from Mackenzie Delta lakes, Northwest Territories, Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 78: 19–33.
Hay, M. B., J. P. Smol, K. J. Pipke, and L. F. W. Lesack. 1997. A diatom-based paleohydrological model for the Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada. Arctic and Alpine Research 29: 430–44.
Ibanez, M. S. R. 1998. Phytoplankton composition and abundance of a central Amazonian floodplain lake. Hydrobiologia 362: 79–83.
Junk, W. J., P. B. Bayley, and R. E. Sparks. 1989. The flood pulse concept in river-floodplain systems. Canadian Special Publication of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Proceedings of the International Large River Symposium 106: 110–27.
Kadlec, J. A. 1986. Effects of flooding on dissolved and suspended nutrients in small diked marshes. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 43: 1999–2008.
Krammer, K. and H. Lange-Bertalot. 1986. Bacillariophyceae, Teil 1. Naviculaceae. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany.
Krammer, K. and H. Lange-Bertalot. 1988. Bacillariophyceae, Teil 2. Epithemiaceae, Bacillariophyceae, Surirellaceae. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany.
Krammer, K. and H. Lange-Bertalot. 1991a. Bacillariophyceae, Teil 3. Centrales, Fragilariaceae, Eunotiaceae, Achnanthaceae. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany.
Krammer, K. and H. Lange-Bertalot. 1991b. Bacillariophyceae, Teil 4. Achnanthaceae, Kritische Erganzungen zu Navicula (Lineolate) und Gomphonema. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany.
Krammer, K. and H. Lange-Bertalot. 2000. Bacillariophyceae, Part 5. English and French Translation of the Keys. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany.
Liboriussen, L. and E. Jeppesen. 2003. Temporal dynamics in epipelic, pelagic, and epiphytic algal production in a clear, and a turbid shallow lake. Freshwater Biology 48: 418–31.
McCune, B. and M. J. Mefford. 1999. Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data v. 4.14. MjM Software, Gleneden Beach, OR, USA.
McDougal, R. L., L. G. Goldsborough, and B. J. Hann. 1997. Responses of a prairie wetland to press and pulse additions of inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus: production by plankton and benthic algae. Archiv für Hydrobiologie 140: 145–67.
Medioli, B. E. and G. R. Brooks. 2003. Diatom and theocamoebian signatures of Red River (Manitoba and North Dakota) floods: data collected from the 1997 and 1999 spring freshets. Journal of Paleolimnology 29: 353–86.
Osborne, P. L., G. S. Humphreys, and N. V. C. Polunin. 1993. Sediment deposition and late Holocene environmental change in a tropical lowland basin: Waigani Lake, Papua New Guinea. Journal of Biogeography 20: 599–613.
Pan, Y. and R. J. Stevenson. 1996. Gradient analysis of diatom assemblages in western Kentucky wetlands. Journal of Phycology 32: 222–32.
Patrick, R. and C. W. Reimer. 1966. The Diatoms of the United States. Volume 1, Monographs of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia No. 13, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Patrick, R. and C. W. Reimer. 1975. The Diatoms of the United States. Volume 2, Monographs of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia No. 13, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Robertson, A. I., S. E. Bunn, P. I. Boon, and K. F. Walker. 1999. Sources, sinks and transformations of organic carbon in Australian floodplain rivers. Marine and Freshwater Research 50: 813–29.
Robinson, G. G. C, S. E. Gurney, and L. G. Goldsborough. 1997a. Response of benthic and planktonic algal biomass to experimental water-level manipulation in a prairie lakeshore wetland. Wetlands 17: 167–81.
Robinson, G. G. C., S. E. Gurney, and L. G. Goldsborough. 1997b. The primary productivity of benthic and planktonic algae in a prairie wetland under controlled water-level regimes. Wetlands 17: 182–94.
Scheffer, M. 1990. Multiplicity of stable states in freshwater systems. Hydrobiologia 200/201: 475–86.
Squires, M. M. and L. F. W. Lesack. 2001. Benthic algal response to pulsed versus distributed inputs of sediments and nutrients in a Mackenzie Delta lake. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 20: 369–84.
Stevenson, R. J. and Y. Pan. 1999. Assessing environmental conditions in rivers and streams with diatoms. p. 11–40. In E. F. Stoermer and J. P. Smol (eds.) The Diatoms: Applications for the Environmental and Earth Sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Stromberg, J. C., J. Fry, and D. T. Patten. 1997. Marsh development after large floods in an alluvial, arid-land river. Wetlands 17: 292–300.
Thorns, M. C., R. W. Odgen, and M. A. Reid. 1999. Establishing the condition of lowland floodplain rivers: a palaeo-ecological approach. Freshwater Biology 41: 407–23.
Van den Brink, F. W. B., J. P. H. M. De Leeuw, G. Van der Velde, and G. M. Verheggen. 1993. Impact of hydrology on the chemistry and phytoplankton development in floodplain lakes along the Lower Rhine and Muese. Biogeochemistry 19: 103–28.
Vitousek, P. M., H. A. Mooney, J. Lubchenco, and J. M. Melillo. 1997. Human domination of earth’s ecosystems. Science 277: 494–99.
Weilhoefer, C. L. and Y. Pan. 2007. Relationships between diatoms and environmental variables in wetlands in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA. Wetlands 27: 668–82.
Wilcox, D. A., J. E. Meeker, P. L. Hudson, B. J. Armitage, M. G. Black, and D. G. Uzarski. 2002. Hydrologic variability and the application of index of biotic integrity metrics to wetlands: a Great Lakes evaluation. Wetlands 22: 588–615.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Weilhoefer, C.L., Pan, Y. & Eppard, S. The effects of river floodwaters on floodplain wetland water quality and diatom assemblages. Wetlands 28, 473–486 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1672/07-114.1
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1672/07-114.1