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Response of Aquatic Invertebrates to Ecological Rehabilitation of Southeastern USA Depressional Wetlands

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Abstract

We assessed aquatic invertebrate response to ecological rehabilitation treatment in 20 depression wetlands on the Savannah River Site, South Carolina, USA. All wetlands had been ditched for 50+ years. Sixteen of the 20 wetlands received rehabilitation treatment, and four wetlands remained untreated as a control group. Treatment included logging of all trees, plugging drainage ditches, and planting wetland trees and grasses. Hydroperiods were consequently extended in most of the treatment wetlands. As part a larger study, we sampled macroinvertebrates and microcrustaceans during the pre-habilitation (1998–2000) and rehabilitation (2001–2003) phases. Our study spanned 2 years of high rainfall (1998 and 2003) and 4 years of low rainfall (1999–2002). Samples were collected bimonthly from any wetlands holding water. Macroinvertebrate assemblages in treatment wetlands in 2003 had changed from previous years (1998–2002) and compared to control wetlands (1998–2003), with abundances of Baetidae, Coenagrionidae, Dytiscidae, Chironomidae, and Chaoboridae driving variation. For microcrustaceans (Copepoda and Branchiopoda, including Cladocera, Anostraca and Laevicaudata), assemblage composition and species richness responded mainly to hydrologic conditions. Rehabilitation efforts in these wetlands induced diverse and abundant invertebrate communities to develop, but some responses appeared opportunistic; several taxa that benefitted were not typical residents of depressional wetlands in the region.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory through Financial Assistance Award DE-FC09-96SR18546 from the U. S. Department of Energy to the University of Georgia Research Foundation, by a contract to BET and DPB from the USDA Forest Service Center for Forested Wetland Research (Charleston, SC), by a fellowship to SEDB from the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory Graduate Education Program, and by the USDA Hatch Program. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources generously provided resources to support manuscript preparation. We thank Randy Kolka and Chris Barton for their support and assistance as (successive) project coordinators. We thank Doug Leeper, Amy Bergstedt, Amy Braccia, Sally Entrekin, Roy Fenoff, Jennifer Fox, Alani Taylor, and others for their help in the field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Darold P. Batzer & Richard Schultheis

  2. South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Eastover, SC, 29044, USA

    Barbara E. Taylor

  3. Savannah River Ecology Laboratory Aiken, Aiken, SC, 29802, USA

    Barbara E. Taylor & Adrienne E. DeBiase

  4. Department of Biology, University of North Georgia-Oconee, Watkinsville, GA, 30677, USA

    Susan E. Brantley

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  1. Darold P. Batzer
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  2. Barbara E. Taylor
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  3. Adrienne E. DeBiase
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  4. Susan E. Brantley
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  5. Richard Schultheis
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Correspondence to Darold P. Batzer.

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Batzer, D.P., Taylor, B.E., DeBiase, A.E. et al. Response of Aquatic Invertebrates to Ecological Rehabilitation of Southeastern USA Depressional Wetlands. Wetlands 35, 803–813 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-015-0671-1

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