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Hydrology Drives Vegetation Succession in a Tidal Freshwater Wetland of Subtropical Taiwan

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Abstract

The relationships between vegetation communities and environmental variables in tropical/subtropical tidal freshwater wetlands are poorly understood. We tracked the vegetation succession of the Huajiang wetland in northern Taiwan for 10 years since its emergence in 2000, likely due to massive sediment deposition caused by typhoon floods. The aquatic plant Phragmites australis expanded and dominated the wetland within the first four years, after which terrestrial herbaceous plants appeared. In 2007, woody plants were found scattered in the wetland. In 2010, the vegetation communities became more diverse. Along the gradient of increasing elevation with decreasing soil water content, three vegetation zones were distinguished: aquatic, terrestrial, and transitional. Along the second gradient of distances from the nearest tidal creek, the transitional zone could be further differentiated into more aquatic and more terrestrial zones. Our results indicate that hydrology engaging soil moisture and sedimentation was the major force driving the vegetation succession in the tidal freshwater wetland. These findings suggest that the vegetation community in tidal freshwater wetlands can be used as an indicator to monitor management measures and assess the impacts within the wetland and catchment.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from the National Science Council, Taiwan (NSC97-2627-B-001-002, NSC 97-2627-B-002-011, NSC 98-2627-B-001-001, NSC 98-2627-B-002-008, NSC 99-2627-B-001-001 and NSC 99-2627-B-002-001). This study complies with the current laws of Taiwan, where it was performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences and Research Center for Global Change Biology, National Chung Hsing University, 145, Xingda Rd., South Dist., Taichung, 402, Taiwan

    Hsing-Juh Lin

  2. Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd., Nankang Dist., Taipei, 115, Taiwan

    Hsing-Juh Lin, Chun-Han Huang, Chang-Po Chen & Hwey-Lian Hsieh

  3. Hydrotech Research Institute, National Taiwan University, 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei, 106, Taiwan

    Gwo-Wen Hwang

  4. Department of Ecological Humanities, Providence University, 200, Sec. 7, Taiwan Blvd., Shalu Dist, Taichung, 433, Taiwan

    Chorng-Bin Hsu

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  1. Hsing-Juh Lin
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  2. Chun-Han Huang
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  3. Gwo-Wen Hwang
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  4. Chorng-Bin Hsu
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  5. Chang-Po Chen
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  6. Hwey-Lian Hsieh
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Correspondence to Hwey-Lian Hsieh.

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Lin, HJ., Huang, CH., Hwang, GW. et al. Hydrology Drives Vegetation Succession in a Tidal Freshwater Wetland of Subtropical Taiwan. Wetlands 36, 1109–1117 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-016-0828-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-016-0828-6

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