Abstract
Hydrology underpins wetland ecology and vegetation characteristics, but there are few detailed studies on the ecohydrology of north-temperate forested wetlands, specifically on water table dynamics and various metrics of vegetation composition and structure. Using regression and redundancy analysis (RDA), we examined how woody- and ground-vegetation attributes are associated with wetland hydroperiod and other parameters of water table dynamics in forested wetlands within Gatineau Park, Canada. Hydroperiod (i.e., wet period duration) was the most important predictor for tree density and regeneration, and ground vegetation diversity. However, it was not associated with differences in tree community (coniferous vs. hardwood). The average water table position (WTP) of the wet period best explained variations in dead tree size and shrub abundance, and the median WTP was the only significant predictor for tree health. The dry period standard deviation of WTP was the best predictor for woody vegetation wetland species abundance. Similarly, the growing season median WTP explained the most variance in tree height, and average WTP was a better predictor of ground vegetation wetland species abundance, whereas the standard deviation was the best predictor of hardwood-coniferous tree proportion. The final RDA model found 62% of the total variance in vegetation variables to be explained by hydrometric variables, and the most important covariates were the growing season average WTP, hydroperiod, and wet period median WTP. Our results show that hydrometric variables of the growing season WTP as well as separate WTP statistics for both wet and dry periods, can help elucidate vegetation-hydrology associations in forested wetlands.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the National Capital Commission for access to Gatineau Park and for providing general information about the park that was useful mainly for wetlands selection. Many thanks to Birendra Sapkota, Makaiba Reid, and Tim Kebbel for their extensive help in the field, as well as Cassandra Michel and Foster Elliott. We would also like to thank Quang Ngo and Dan Bert for their help in arranging field equipment and vehicles. The continuous feedback and advice from Elyn Humphreys have been greatly appreciated. We appreciate Kevin Devito and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback.
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This research was supported by NSERC Discovery Grants to Murray Richardson and Doug King. Carleton University’s Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Geomatics and Landscape Ecology Laboratory (GLEL), and Water and Ice Research Laboratory (WIRL) provided field equipment and data processing infrastructure used in this research.
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Ambika Paudel was involved in conceptualization, planning, field and laboratory studies, and writing the manuscript. Murray Richardson helped in conceptualization, planning, supervision and editing the manuscript. Doug King was involved in conceptualization, planning and supervision.
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We dedicate this paper to the memory of Dr. Doug King—a great professor, researcher, and friend who is hugely missed by us. Ambika Paudel is fortunate to have spent time under his guidance.
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Paudel, A., Richardson, M. & King, D. Vegetation Structure and Composition in Small Forested Wetlands and Their Associations With Water Table Dynamics. Wetlands 43, 82 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-023-01729-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-023-01729-9