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A Floodplain Continuum for Atlantic Coast Rivers of the Southeastern US: Predictable Changes in Floodplain Biota along a River’s Length

  • Mark Brinson Review
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Abstract

Floodplains are among the world’s economically-most-valuable, environmentally-most-threatened, and yet conceptually-least-understood ecosystems. Drawing on concepts from existing riverine and wetland models, and empirical data from floodplains of Atlantic Coast rivers in the Southeastern US (and elsewhere when possible), we introduce a conceptual model to explain a continuum of longitudinal variation in floodplain ecosystem functions with a particular focus on biotic change. Our hypothesis maintains that major controls on floodplain ecology are either external (ecotonal interactions with uplands or stream/river channels) or internal (wetland-specific functions), and the relative importance of these controls changes progressively from headwater to mid-river to lower-river floodplains. Inputs of water, sediments, nutrients, flora, and fauna from uplands-to-floodplains decrease, while the impacts of wetland biogeochemistry and obligate wetland plants and animals within-floodplains increase, along the length of a river floodplain. Inputs of water, sediment, nutrients, and fauna from river/stream channels to floodplains are greatest mid-river, and lower either up- or down-stream. While the floodplain continuum we develop is regional in scope, we review how aspects may apply more broadly. Management of coupled floodplain-river ecosystems would be improved by accounting for how factors controlling the floodplain ecosystem progressively change along longitudinal riverine gradients.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Darold P. Batzer

  2. Hydrological-Ecological Interactions Branch, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, USA

    Gregory B. Noe

  3. University of Georgia Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, SC, USA

    Linda Lee

  4. Biology Department, Centre College, Danville, KY, USA

    Mark Galatowitsch

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  1. Darold P. Batzer
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  2. Gregory B. Noe
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  3. Linda Lee
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  4. Mark Galatowitsch
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Correspondence to Darold P. Batzer.

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Batzer, D.P., Noe, G.B., Lee, L. et al. A Floodplain Continuum for Atlantic Coast Rivers of the Southeastern US: Predictable Changes in Floodplain Biota along a River’s Length. Wetlands 38, 1–13 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-017-0983-4

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