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

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Abstract

An important characteristic of many wetland plants in semi-arid regions is their capacity to withstand fluctuations between extended dry phases and floods. However, anthropogenic river regulation can reduce natural flow variability in riverine wetlands, causing a decline in the frequency and duration of deep flooding as well as extended droughts, and an increase in shallow flooding and soil saturation. Our aim in this paper was to use an experimental approach to examine whether reductions in flooding and drought disadvantage species adapted to both these extremes, and favours those with water requirements that match the new regime of frequent low-level flooding. We compared the growth characteristics and biomass allocation of three native Australian aquatic macrophytes (Pseudoraphis spinescens, Juncus ingens and Typha domingensis), which co-occur at Barmah Forest, south-eastern Australia, under three water treatments: drought, soil saturation and deep flooding. The responses of species to the treatments largely reflected changes in their relative abundance at Barmah Forest since river regulation. Typha domingensis, which has remained uncommon, performed relatively poorly in all treatments, while J. ingens, which has increased its range, exhibited more vigorous growth under soil saturation. Pseudoraphis spinescens, which was once widespread but has declined markedly in its distribution, grew strongly under all water treatments. These findings suggest that a return to more natural, variable river flow regimes can potentially be an important conservation and restoration strategy in ecosystems characterised by species that have adaptations to extreme hydrological growing conditions.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country National Research Flagship. We thank Keith Ward (Goulburn-Broken Catchment Management Authority) for advice and assistance and staff of Parks Victoria and Department of Sustainability and Environment Victoria for research permits. We also thank four anonymous reviewers for providing feedback on earlier versions of the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. C. Ellery Mayence

    Present address: School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Plant Industry, GPO Box 1600, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Lyndsey M. Vivian, Robert C. Godfree, C. Ellery Mayence & David J. Marshall

  2. CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Matthew J. Colloff

  3. Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority, Kings Park and Botanic Garden, West Perth, WA, 6005, Australia

    C. Ellery Mayence

Authors
  1. Lyndsey M. Vivian
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  2. Robert C. Godfree
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  3. Matthew J. Colloff
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  4. C. Ellery Mayence
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  5. David J. Marshall
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lyndsey M. Vivian.

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Communicated by R. Froend.

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Vivian, L.M., Godfree, R.C., Colloff, M.J. et al. Wetland plant growth under contrasting water regimes associated with river regulation and drought: implications for environmental water management. Plant Ecol 215, 997–1011 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-014-0357-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-014-0357-4

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