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Foliar Nutrients Reflect Variation in Floristic Quality and Hydrology of Calcareous Fens

  • Wetland Biogeochemistry
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Abstract

Calcareous fens are a rare type of groundwater dependent wetland with plant communities adapted to environmental stressors that include low nutrient availability, low oxygen availability, and various chemical toxicities. The conservation status/integrity of these plant communities is often quantified through floristic quality metrics that depend on intensive floristic inventories. Here we examine relationships between floristic quality, foliar chemistry, hydrology, and soil chemistry descriptors of six calcareous fens in southern Wisconsin in various states of degradation. Through examination of site descriptor correlations, Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR), variation partitioning, and predictor variable stability analysis, we found foliar nutrient levels (e.g., foliar nitrogen and phosphorus) to be the strongest and most consistent predictors of floristic quality in these fens. Relationships between foliar nutrient levels, hydrology, and soil chemistry suggest water saturation is strongly linked to foliar nitrogen, phosphorus, and manganese. Since foliar nutrients are readily measurable both remotely and in-situ, our finding that foliar nutrients are strong predictors of floristic quality could have implications regarding monitoring the ecological integrity of these imperiled ecosystems.

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Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Arthur C. Ryzak, David Bart, Eric G.Booth, and Steven P. Loheide II. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Arthur C. Ryzak and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments, Philip Townsend for his guidance on foliar nutrients and statistical modeling, Corey Poland for his field assistance, Rachell Dirstine and Jasmine Wyant for data collection, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Dane County Parks, and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 8483 for facilitating access to the study sites. This material is based upon work supported by the Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 Wetland Program Development Grant (CD 00E01575) and the Wisconsin Water Resources Institute (WR17R001).

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  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Engineering Hall, 1415 Engineering Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Arthur C. Ryzak & Steven P. Loheide II

  2. Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    David Bart

  3. Departments of Agronomy and Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Eric G. Booth

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  1. Arthur C. Ryzak
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Table

Table 3 List of species considered rare / specialists in Wisconsin, with coeficient of conservatism shown for all, and state element rank shown for rare species, with (S1) defined as critically imperiled and (S2) Imperiled
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Ryzak, A.C., Bart, D., Booth, E.G. et al. Foliar Nutrients Reflect Variation in Floristic Quality and Hydrology of Calcareous Fens. Wetlands 42, 60 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-022-01574-2

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