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Impacts of Changing Hydrology and Hurricanes on Forest Structure and Growth Along a Flooding/Elevation Gradient in a South Louisiana Forested Wetland from 1986 to 2009

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Abstract

Alterations to Louisiana’s coastal landscape during the last 200 years have resulted in major changes to the natural hydrologic regime. Hurricane and tornado winds further impact coastal forests by exacerbating conditions that affect community structure, growth, and regeneration. Twenty-three years of study of forested wetlands in the Lake Verret watershed provide an opportunity to relate changes in forest communities to precipitation, drought, storms, and rising water levels. The area had two communities in 1986, but four communities were present by 2009. A major change in community composition occurred in drier sites after Hurricane Andrew (1992), when Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera) became established. Swamp plots were generally not affected by hurricanes, but composition continued to change as a result of flooding. After Hurricane Andrew, net primary productivity (NPP) declined dramatically until 2001. Subsequent hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 also caused reductions in NPP, but recovery was rapid. Low-lying and transition areas are trending from bottomland communities toward more of a deepwater swamp as baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) and water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) increase their stature, likely due to the system-wide flooding. Natural ridges are flooded less often and have remained primarily bottomland, though Chinese tallow (Triadica sebiferum) numbers increased following Hurricane Andrew.

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Acknowledgments

Funds for the initial set-up of this project were provided in part by funds from Louisiana’s State Board of Regents, the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program, part of the National Sea Grant Program maintained by NOAA, U. S. Department of Commerce, and NERP Contract DE-AC09-76SR00-819 between the U.S. Department of Energy and the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Continued support of this research was supported by the USGS Climate and Land Use Change Research and Development Program and by NIFA/USDA, under project number SC-1700424. Technical Contribution No. 6187 of the Clemson University Experiment Station. In an extended study such as this, many people have helped in the field through the years. Special thanks go to Irene Hesse, Wayne Slater, and Steve Pierce who waded though many miles of water in the early years of this project. However, there is one particularly dedicated person I would like to remember and that is L. Wayne Inabinette, my technician for many years who loved the annual trips to LA to remeasure these plots and eat as much crawfish as he could. This manuscript is dedicated to his memory.

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  1. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, Box 596, Georgetown, SC, 29442, USA

    William H. Conner, Jamie A. Duberstein & Stephen Hutchinson

  2. Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    John W. Day Jr.

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  1. William H. Conner
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  2. Jamie A. Duberstein
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  3. John W. Day Jr.
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  4. Stephen Hutchinson
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Correspondence to William H. Conner.

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Conner, W.H., Duberstein, J.A., Day, J.W. et al. Impacts of Changing Hydrology and Hurricanes on Forest Structure and Growth Along a Flooding/Elevation Gradient in a South Louisiana Forested Wetland from 1986 to 2009. Wetlands 34, 803–814 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-014-0543-0

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