Abstract
In riparian ecosystems, river flow is the dominant driver influencing ecological process and pattern, including the recruitment of riparian tree species. In a four-year field study (1997–2000) of seedling recruitment on sandbars in the Wisconsin River, I evaluated the hypothesis that the timing of seed dispersal and river flow interact to determine the annual composition of pioneer tree seedling cohorts. In the final three years of the study (1998–2000), growing season flow pulses strongly influenced the species composition and density of new seedling cohorts. Mortality rates of new seedlings exceeded 90% during the 1998 and 1999 flow pulses, and species composition shifted to dominance by Acer saccharinum following the 1999 flow pulse. Different species dominated the cohort of each year: in 1997, 83% of new seedlings were Betula nigra; in 1998, 63% were Salix spp. (S. nigra 39%, S. exigua ssp. interior 24%); in 1999, 89% were Acer saccharinum; and in 2000, 71% were S. exigua and 23% were Betula nigra. Cohorts retained their initial differences in species composition for at least one year after establishment. The three years (1998–2000) with summer flow pulses produced very low end-of-the-growing-season densities of new seedlings (<0.1 seedlings/m2 on random plots), and subsequent mortality in the first year after establishment further reduced seedling numbers by 53–94% on monitored plots. Thus, although summer flow patterns during the first year of growth strongly influenced species composition of seedling cohorts, low seedling densities and high overwinter mortality likely reduce the long-term impacts of initial cohort differences on successional trajectories.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Amlin, N. A. and S. B. Rood. 2001. Inundation tolerances of riparian willows and cottonwoods. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 37:1709–1720.
Amlin, N. A. and S. B. Rood 2002. Comparative tolerances of riparian willows and cottonwoods to water-table decline. Wetlands 22:338–346.
Argus, G. W. and F. G. Goff. 1964. Preliminary reports on the flora of Wisconsin. No. 51. Salicaceae. The genus Salix—the willows. Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences. Arts and Letters 53:217–272.
Auble, G. T. and M. L. Scott. 1998. Fluvial disturbance patches and cottonwood recruitment along the Upper Missouri River. Montana. Wetlands 18:546–556.
Baker, W. L. 1990. Climatic and hydrologic effects on the regeneration of Populus angustifolia James along the Animas River. Colorado. Journal of Biogeography 17:59–73.
Baker, W. L. and G. M. Walford. 1995. Multiple stable states and models of riparian vegetation succession on the Animas River, Colorado. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 85: 320–338.
Barnes, W. J. 1985. Population dynamics of woody plants on a river island. Canadian Journal of Botany 63:647–655.
Barnes, W. J. 1997. Vegetation dynamics on the floodplain of the lower Chippewa River in Wisconsin. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 124:189–197.
Bradley, C. E. and D. G. Smith. 1986. Plains cottonwood recruitment and survival on a prairie meandering river floodplain. Milk River, southern Alberta and northern Montana. Canadian Journal of Botany 64:1433–1442.
Burns, R. M. and B. H. Honkala (Technical Coordinators). 1990 Silvics of North America, Volume 2, Hardwoods. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Washington, DC, USA. Agriculture Handbook 654.
Clayton, L. and J. W. Attig. 1989. Glacial Lake Wisconsin. Geological Society of America Memoir 173, Boulder, CO, USA.
Cooper, D. J., D. M. Merritt, D. C. Andersen, and R. A. Chimner. 1999. Factors controlling the establishment of Fremont cottonwood seedlings on the upper Green River, USA. Regulated Rivers: Research and Management 15:419–440.
Craig, M. R. and G. P. Malanson. 1993. River flow events and vegetation colonization of point bars in Iowa. Physical Geography 14:436–448.
Decamps, H. 1993. River margins and environmental change. Ecological Applications 3:441–445.
Decamps, H., M. Fortune, F. Gazelle, and G. Pautou. 1988. Historical influence of man on the riparian dynamics of a fluvial landscape. Landscape Ecology 1:163–173.
Dixon, M. D. 2001. Woody vegetation dynamics on Wisconsin River sandbars: spatial and temporal controls on seedling recruitment. Ph.D. Dissertation. Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.
Dixon, M. D., M. G. Turner, and C. Jin. 2002. Distribution of riparian tree seedlings on wisconsin River sandbars: controls at different spatial scales. Ecological Monographs 72:465–485.
Durbin, R. D. 1997. The Wisconsin River: an Odyssey through Time and Space. Spring Freshet Press, Cross Plains, WI, USA.
Fenner, P., W. W. Brady, and D. R. Patton. 1985. Effects of regulated water flows on regeneration of Fremont cottonwood. Journal of Range Management 38:135–138.
Friedman, J. M., W. R. Osterkamp, and W. M. Lewis, Jr. 1996a. Channel narrowing and vegetation development following a Great Plains flood. Ecology 77:2167–2181.
Friedman, J. M., W. R. Osterkamp, and W. M. Lewis, Jr. 1996b. The role of vegetation and bed-level fluctuations in the process of channel narrowing. Geomorphology 14:341–351.
Friedman, J. M., W. R. Osterkamp, M. L. Scott, and G. T. Auble. 1998. Downstream effects of dams on channel geometry and bottomland vegetation: regional patterns in the Great Plains. Wetlands 18:619–633.
Friedman, J. M. and G. T. Auble. 1999. Mortality of riparian box elder from sediment mobilization and extended inundation. Regulated Rivers: Research and Management 15:463–476.
Gergel, S. E., M. D. Dixon, and M. G. Turner. 2002. Effects of altered disturbance regimes: levees, floods and floodplain forests along the Wisconsin River. Ecological Applications 12:1755–1770.
Gladwin, D. N. and J. E. Roelle. 1998. Survival of plains cottonwood (Populus deltoides, subsp. monilifera) and saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima) seedlings in response to flooding. Wetlands 18:669–674.
Grubb, P. J. 1977. The maintenance of species richness in plant communities: the importance of the regeneration niche. Biological Review 52:107–145.
Horton, J. L. and J. L. Clark. 2001. Water table decline alters growth and survival of Salix gooddingii and Tamarix chinensis seedlings. Forest Ecology and Management 140:239–247.
Hosner, J. F. 1960. Relative tolerance to complete inundation of fourteen bottomland tree species. Forest Science 6:246–251.
Hosner, J. F. and L. S. Minckler. 1963. Bottomland hardwood forests of southern Illinois—regeneration and succession. Ecology 44:29–41.
Hydrologic Engineering Center. 1998. HEC-RAS river analysis system, user’s manual, version 2.2. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Davis, CA, USA.
Hynes, H. B. N. 1975. The stream and its valley. Verhandlungen. Internationale Vereinigung fur theoretische und angewandte Limnologie 19:1–15.
Johnson, W. C. 1992. Dams and riparian forests: case study from the upper Missouri River. Rivers 3:229–242.
Johnson, W. C. 1994. Woodland expansion in the Platte River, Nebraska: patterns and causes. Ecological Monographs 64:45–84.
Johnson, W. C. 1997. Equilibrium response of riparian vegetation to flow regulation in the Platte River, Nebraska. Regulated Rivers 13:403–415.
Johnson, W. C. 1998. Adjustment of riparian vegetation to river regulation in the Great Plains, USA. Wetlands 18:608–618.
Johnson, W. C. 2000. Tree recruitment and survival in rivers: influence of hydrological processes. Hydrological Processes 14:3051–3074.
Johnson, W. C., R. L. Burgess, and W. R. Keammerer. 1976. Forest overstory vegetation and environment on the Missouri River floodplain in North Dakota. Ecological Monographs 46:59–84.
Jones, R. H., R. R. Sharitz, P. M. Dixon, D. S. Segal, and R. L. Schmeider. 1994. Woody plant regeneration in four floodplain forests. Ecological Monographs 64:345–367.
Kalischuk, A. R., S. B. Rood, and J. M. Mahoney. 2001. Environmental influences on seedling growth of cottonwood species following a major flood. Forest Ecology and Management 144:75–89.
Karrenberg, S., P. J. Edwards, and J. Kollmann. 2002. The life history of Salicaceae living in the active zone of floodplains. Freshwater Biology 47:733–748.
Knighton, D. 1998. Fluvial Forms and Processes, a New Perspective. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, NY, USA.
Knox, J. C. 2000. Sensitivity of modern and Holocene floods to climate change. Quaternary Science Riviews 19:439–457.
Knox, J. C. 2001. Agricultural influence on landscape sensitivity in the Upper Mississippi River Valley. Catena 42:193–224.
Knutson, M. G. and E. E. Klaas. 1998. Floodplain forest loss and changes in forest community composition and structure in the upper Mississippi River: a wildlife habitat at risk. Natural Areas Journal 18:138–150.
Kollmann, J. and D. Goetze. 1998. Notes on seed traps in terrestrial plant communities. Flora 193:31–40.
Koevenig, J. L. 1976. Effects of climate, soil physiography and seed germination on the distribution of river birch (Betula nigra). Rhodora 78:420–437.
Krasny, M. E., K. A. Vogt, and J. C. Zasada. 1988. Establishment of four Salicaceae species on river bars in interior Alaska. Holarctic Ecology 11:210–219.
Krug, W. R. and L. B. House. 1980. Streamflow model of Wisconsin River for estimating flow frequency and volume. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Open-File Report 80-1103.
Liegel, K. 1988. Land use and vegetational change on the Aldo Leopold Memorial Reserve. Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Arts and Letters 76:47–68.
Loucks, W. L. 1987. Flood-tolerant trees. Journal of Forestry 85: 36–40.
Mahoney, J. M. and S. B. Rood. 1998. Streamflow requirements for cottonwood seedling recruitment—an integrative model. Wetlands 18:634–645.
Nelson, J. C., A. Redmond, and R. E. Sparks. 1994. Impacts of settlement on floodplain vegetation at the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science 87:117–133
Niiyama, K. 1990. The role of seed dispersal and seedling traits in colonization and coexistence of Salix species in a seasonally flooded habitat. Ecological Research 5:317–331.
Nilsson, C. and K. Berggren. 2000. Alteration of riparian ecosystems caused by river regulation. BioScience 50:783–792.
Noble, M. G. 1979. The origin of Populus deltoides and Salix interior zones on point bars along the Minnesota River. American Midland Naturalist 102:59–67.
Poff, N. L., J. D. Allan, M. B. Bain, J. R. Karr, K. L. Prestegaard, B. D. Richter, R. E. Sparks, and J. C. Stromberg. 1997. The natural flow regime. a paradigm for river conservation and restoration. BioScience 47:769–784.
Richter, B. D. and H. E. Richter. 2000. Prescribing flood regimes to sustain riparian ecosystems along meandering rivers. Conservation Biology 14:1467–1478.
Rood, S. B., A. R. Kalischuk, and J. M. Mahoney. 1998. Initial cottonwood seedling recruitment following the flood of the century on the Oldman River, Alberta, Canada. Wetlands 18:557–570.
Rood, S. B. and J. M. Mahoney. 1990. Collapse of riparian poplar forests downstream from dams in western prairies: probable causes and prospects for mitigation. Environmental Management 14: 451–464.
Rood, S. B. and J. M. Mahoney. 2000. Revised instream flow regulation enables cottonwood recruitment along the St. Mary River, Alberta, Canada. Rivers 7:109–125.
SAS Institute, Inc. 1990. SAS/STAT® User’s Guide, Version 6, Fourth Edition, Volumes 1 and 2. SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC, USA
Schmidt, J. C., R. H. Webb, R. A. Valdez, G. R. Marzolf, and L. E. Stevens. 1998. Science and values in river restoration in the Grand Canyon. BioScience 48:735–747.
Schopmeyer, C. S. (Technical Coordinator). 1974. Seeds of Woody Plants in the United States. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, DC, USA. Agricultural Handbook No. 450.
Schumm, S. A. 1985. Patterns of alluvial rivers. Annual Riview of Earth and Planetary Sciences 13:5–27.
Scott, M. L., J. M. Friedman, and G. T. Auble. 1996. Fluvial process and the establishment of bottomland trees. Geomorphology 14: 327–339.
Scott, M. L., G. T. Auble, and J. M. Friedman. 1997. Flood dependency of cottonwood establishment along the Missouri River, Montana, USA. Ecological Applications 7:677–690.
Shafroth, P. B., G. T. Auble, J. C. Stromberg, and D. T. Patten. 1998. Establishment of woody riparian vegetation in relation to annual patterns of streamflow, Bill Williams River, Arizona. Wetlands 18:577–590.
Streng, D. R., J. S. Glitzenstein, and P. A. Harcombe. 1989. Woody seedling dynamics in an East Texas floodplain forest. Ecological Monographs 59:177–204.
Stromberg, J. C., D. T. Patten, and B. D. Richter. 1991. Flood flows and dynamics of Sonoran riparian forests. Rivers 2:221–235.
Stromberg, J. C., B. D. Richter, D. T. Patten, and L. G. Wolden. 1993. Response of a Sonoran riparian forest to a 10-year return flood. Great Basin Naturalist 53:118–130.
Stromberg, J. C. 1997. Growth and survivorship of Fremont cottonwood, Goodding willow, and salt cedar seedlings after large floods in central Arizona. Great Basin Naturalist 57:198–208.
Walker, L. A., J. C. Zasada, and F. S. Chapin III. 1986. The role of life history processes in primary succession on an Alaskan floodplain. Ecology 67:1243–1253.
Yin, Y., J. C. Nelson, and K. S. Lubinski. 1997. Bottomland hardwood forest along the upper Mississippi River. Natural Areas Journal 17:164–173.
Zar, J. H. 1984. Biostatistical Analysis. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dixon, M.D. Effects of flow pattern on riparian seedling recruitment on sandbars in the Wisconsin River, Wisconsin, USA. Wetlands 23, 125–139 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2003)023[0125:EOFPOR]2.0.CO;2
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2003)023[0125:EOFPOR]2.0.CO;2