Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Community Structure and Quality After 10 Years in Two Central Ohio Mitigation Bank Wetlands

  • Published:
Environmental Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We evaluate two 10-year-old mitigation bank wetlands in central Ohio, one created and one with restored and enhanced components, by analysis of vegetation characteristics and by comparison of the year-10 vegetation and macroinvertebrate communities with reference wetlands. To assess different measures of wetland development, we compare the prevalence of native hydrophytes with an index of floristic quality and we evaluate the predictability of these parameters in year 10, given 5 years of data. Results show that the mitigation wetlands in this study meet vegetation performance criteria of native hydrophyte establishment by year 5 and maintain these characteristics through year 10. Species richness and floristic quality, as well as vegetative similarity with reference wetlands, differ among mitigation wetlands in year 1 and also in their rate of change during the first 10 years. The prevalence of native hydrophytes is reasonably predictable by year 10, but 5 years of monitoring is not sufficient to predict future trends of floristic quality in either the created or restored wetland. By year 10, macroinvertebrate taxa richness does not statistically differ among these wetlands, but mitigation wetlands differ from reference sites by tolerance index and by trophic guild dominance. The created wetland herbivore biomass is significantly smaller than its reference, whereas detritivore biomass is significantly greater in the created wetland and smaller in the restored wetland as compared with respective reference wetlands. These analyses illustrate differences in measures of wetland performance and contrast the monitoring duration necessary for legal compliance with the duration required for development of more complex indicators of ecosystem integrity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adamus P. R., A. Gonyaw. 2001. National Database of Wetland Invertebrate Sensitivities to Enrichment and Hydrologic Alteration. Prepared for Office of Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/bawwg/publicat.html

  • Andreas B.K., R.W. Lichvar. 1995. Floristic index for establishing assessment standards: a case study for northern Ohio. Wetlands Research Program Technical Report WRP-DE-8. Vicksburg, Mississippi. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experiment Station

  • Andreas B. K., J. J. Mack, J. S. McCormac. 2004. Floristic Quality Assessment Index (FQAI) for vascular plants and mosses for the State of Ohio. Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Division of Surface Water, Wetland Ecology Group, Columbus, Ohio. 219 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Aronson J., E. Le Floc’h. 1996. Vital landscape attributes: missing tools for restoration ecology. Restoration Ecology 4:377–387

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balcombe C. K., J. T. Anderson, R. H. Fortney, J. S. Rentch, W. N. Grafton, W. S. Kordek. 2005a. A comparison of wetland plant communities in mitigation and reference wetlands in the mid-Appalachians. Wetlands 25:130–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balcombe C. K., J. T. Anderson, R. H. Fortney, J. S. Rentch, W. N. Grafton, W. S. Kordek. 2005b. Aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages in mitigated and natural wetlands. Hydrobiologia 541:175–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breaux A., F. Serefiddin. 1999. Validity of performance criteria and a tentative model of regulatory use in compensatory wetland mitigation permitting. Environmental Management 24:327–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brinson M. M., R. Rheinhardt. 1996. The role of reference wetlands in functional assessment and mitigation. Ecological Applications 6:69–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown L. 1979. Grasses: An identification guide. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Massachusetts. 240 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown S. C. 1999. Vegetation similarity and avifaunal food value of restored and natural marshes in northern New York. Restoration Ecology 7:56–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell D. A., C. A. Cole, R. P. Brooks. 2002. A comparison of created and natural wetlands in Pennsylvania, USA. Wetlands Ecology and Management 10:41–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter M. R. (ed.) 1993. Soil sampling and methods of analysis. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, Florida. 823 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Colwell R. K., J. A. Coddington. 1994. Estimating terrestrial biodiversity through extrapolation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Biological Sciences 345:101–118

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Craft C., S. Broome, C. Campbell. 2002. Fifteen years of vegetation and soil development after brackish water marsh creation. Restoration Ecology 10:248–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Craft C., J. Reader, J. N. Sacco, S. W. Broome. 1999. Twenty-five years of ecosystem development of constructed Spartina alterniflora (Loisel) marshes. Ecological Applications 9:1405–1419

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Craft C., P. Megonigal, S. Broome, J. Stevenson, R. Freese, J. Cornell, L. Zheng, J. Sacco. 2003. The pace of ecosystem development of constructed Spartina alterniflora marshes. Ecological Applications 13:1417–1432

    Google Scholar 

  • Crow G. E., C. B. Hellquist. 2000. Aquatic and wetland plants of Northeastern North America, volumes 1 and 2. The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 880 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Danielson T. J. 1998. Indicators for monitoring and assessing biological integrity of inland, freshwater wetlands: a survey of technical literature (1989–1996). Washington, D.C., EPA843-R-98-002. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds

  • Dobson A., A. D. Bradshaw, A. J. M. Baker. 1997. Hopes for the future: restoration ecology and conservation biology. Science 277:515–522

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards K. R., C. E. Proffitt. 2003. Comparison of wetland structural characteristics between created and natural salt marshes in southwest Louisiana, USA. Wetlands 23:344–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ELI (Environmental Law Institute). 2002. Banks and fees: the status of off-site wetland mitigation in the United States. Washington, DC, USA

  • Envirotech Consultants, Inc. 1995a. A monitoring and management report, year 1, for the Ohio Wetlands Foundation’s Hebron Fish Hatchery Mitigation Wetland in Union Township, Licking County, Ohio. Prepared by Envirotech Consultants, Inc., 85 East Gay St., Suite 710, Columbus, Ohio

  • Envirotech Consultants, Inc. 1995b. A pre-construction monitoring and management report for the Ohio Wetlands Foundation’s Wetland Mitigation Site at the Big Island Wildlife Area in Big Island Township, Marion County, Ohio. Prepared by Envirotech Consultants, Inc., 85 East Gay St., Suite 710, Columbus, Ohio

  • Erwin K. L., G. R. Best, W. J. Dunn, P. M. Wallace. 1985. Marsh community development in a central Florida phosphate surface mined reclaimed wetland. Wetlands 5:155–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Federal guidance for the establishment, use, and operation of mitigation banks. 1995. Federal Register 60(228):58605–58614.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fennessy M.S., R. Geho B. Elifritz R. Lopez. 1998a. Testing the Floristic Quality Assessment Index as an indicator of riparian wetland disturbance. Final report to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Division of Surface Water, Columbus, Ohio

  • Fennessy M. S., M. A. Gray, R. D. Lopez, J. Mack. 1998b. An ecological assessment of wetlands using reference sites. Ohio Environmental Protection Agency final report to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. 153 pp

  • Karr J. R. 1991. Biological integrity: a long-neglected aspect of water resource management. Ecological Applications 1:66–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karr J. R., D. R. Dudley. 1981. Ecological perspective on water quality goals. Environmental Management 5:55–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kartesz J. T., C. A. Meacham. 1999. Synthesis of the North American flora, version 1.0. North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

  • Kashian D. R., T. M. Burton. 2000. A comparison of macroinvertebrates of two Great Lakes coastal wetlands: Testing potential metrics for an Index of Ecological Integrity. Journal of Great Lakes Research 26:460–481

    Google Scholar 

  • Knobel E. 1980. Field guide to the grasses, sedges and rushes of the United States. Dover Publications, Inc., New York, New York, 83 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Krebs C. J. 1989. Ecological methodology. Harper and Row, New York, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Levin L. A., D. Talley, G. Thayer. 1996. Succession of macrobenthos in a created salt marsh. Marine Ecology Progress Series 141:67–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Lopez R. D., M. S. Fennessy. 2002. Testing the floristic quality assessment index as an indicator of wetland condition. Ecological Applications 12:487–497

    Google Scholar 

  • Mack J. J. 2001. Ohio rapid assessment method for wetlands, manual for using version 5.0. Ohio EPA Technical Bulletin Wetland/2001-1-1. Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Division of Surface Water, 401 Wetland Ecology Unit, Columbus, Ohio

  • Merritt R. W., K. W. Cummins. 1996. An introduction to the aquatic insects of North America, third edition. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, Iowa, 862 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Micacchion M. 2002. Amphibian Index of Biotic Integrity (AmphIBI) for Wetlands. Final report to U.S. EPA. Grant no. CD985875-01. Testing biological metrics and development of wetland assessment techniques using reference sites, Vol. 3, 45 pp

  • Mitsch W. J., X. Wu, R. W. Nairn, P. E. Weihe, N. Wang, R. Deal, C. E. Boucher. 1998. Creating and restoring wetlands: A whole-ecosystem experiment in self-design. BioScience 48:1019–1030

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitsch W. J., R. F. Wilson. 1996. Improving the success of wetland creation and restoration with know-how, time, and self-design. Ecological Applications 6:77–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan K. L., T. H. Roberts. 1999. An assessment of wetland mitigation in Tennessee. Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Nashville, Tennessee

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulhouse J. M., S. M. Galatowitsch. 2003. Revegetation of prairie pothole wetlands in the mid-continental US: twelve years post-reflooding. Plant Ecology 169:143–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nair V. D., D. A. Graetz, K. R. Reddy, O. G. Olila. 2001. Soil development in phosphate-mined created wetlands of Florida, USA. Wetlands 21:232–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council (NRC). 2001. Compensating for wetland losses under the Clean Water Act. National Academy Press, Washington, DC

  • Odum H. T. 1989. Ecological engineering and self-organization. In W. J. Mitsch, S. E. Jorgensen (eds), Ecological engineering: an introduction to ecotechnology. John Wiley & Sons, New York, New York. pp 79–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmer M. W. 1990. The estimation of species richness by extrapolation. Ecology 71:1195–1198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Race M. S., M. S. Fonseca. 1996. Fixing compensatory mitigation: what will it take? Ecological Applications 6:94–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed P. B. 1988. National list of plant species that occur in wetlands: 1988 national summary. United States Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC. Biological report 88 (24)

    Google Scholar 

  • Reinartz J. A., E. L. Warne. 1993. Development of vegetation in small created wetlands in southeastern Wisconsin. Wetlands 13:153–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson C. J. 1994. Ecological functions and human values in wetlands: a framework for assessing forestry impacts. Wetlands 14:1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Rolband M. S., A. L. Pepin, C. Athanas, I. Dickman. 1999. Wetlands banking for sound mitigation? Yes, Virginia. National Wetlands Newsletter 21:4–5

    Google Scholar 

  • Simenstad C. A., R. M. Thom. 1996. Functional equivalency trajectories of the restored Gog-Le-Hi-Te estuarine wetland. Ecological Applications 6:38–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simon T. P. 1998. Modification of an index of biotic integrity and development of reference condition expectations or dunal, palustrine wetland fish communities along the southern shore of Lake Michigan. Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management: 1:49–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson E. H. 1949. Measurement of diversity. Nature 163:688

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith D. G. 2001. Pennak’s freshwater invertebrates of the United States: Porifera to crustacea, 4th ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, New York. 638 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Spieles D. J. 2005. Vegetation development in created, restored, and enhanced mitigation wetland banks of the United States. Wetlands 25:51–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spieles D. J., W. J. Mitsch. 2000. Macroinvertebrate community structure in high and low nutrient constructed wetlands. Wetlands 20:716–729

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Streever W. J. 1999. Performance standards for wetland creation and restoration under section 404. National Wetlands Newsletter 21:10–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Streever W. J. 2000. Spartina alterniflora marshes on dredged material: a critical review of the ongoing debate over success. Wetlands Ecology and Management 8:295–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tabatabai F., R. Brumbaugh. 1998. National wetland mitigation banking study: the early mitigation banks, a follow-up review. Water Resources Support Center, United States Army Corps of Engineers, Alexandria, Virginia. Institute for Water Resources report 98-WMB

  • Thorp J. H., A. P. Covich (eds), 1991. Ecology and classification of North American freshwater invertebrates. Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, California, 911 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner R. E., A. M. Redmond, J. B. Zedler. 2001. Count it by acre or function—mitigation adds up to net loss of wetlands. National Wetlands Newsletter 23:5–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Ugland K. I., J. S. Gray, K. E. Ellingsen. 2003. The species-accumulation curve and estimation of species richness. Journal of Animal Ecology 72:888–897

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2002. Methods for evaluating wetland condition: Biological assessment methods for birds. Office of Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA-822-R-02-023, 22 pp

  • VanRees-Siewert K. L., J. J. Dinsmore. 1996. Influence of wetland age on bird use of restored wetlands in Iowa. Wetlands 16:577–582

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wentworth T. R., G. P. Johnson, R. L. Kologiski. 1988. Designation of wetlands by weighted averages of vegetation data: a preliminary evaluation. Water Resources Bulletin 24:389–396

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilcox D. A. 1995. Wetland and aquatic macrophytes as indicators of anthropogenic hydrologic disturbance. Natural Areas Journal 15:240–248

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilhelm G., D. Ladd. 1988. Natural area assessment in the Chicago region. Trans. 53rd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference. Chicago, Illinois, pp 361–375

  • Wilson R. F., W. J. Mitsch. 1996. Functional assessment of five wetlands constructed to mitigate wetland loss in Ohio, USA. Wetlands 16:436-451

    Google Scholar 

  • Zedler J. B. 2004. Compensating for wetland losses in the United States. Ibis 146(Suppl 1):92–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zedler J. B., J. C. Callaway. 1999. Tracking wetland restoration: do mitigation sites follow desired trajectories? Restoration Ecology 7:69–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Winston Bibee, Santiago Espinosa, and Will Fortin for their assistance in the field. Mark Dilley, Jordan Mora, Joy Zedler, and three anonymous reviewers provided valuable comments on earlier versions of this manuscript, and their efforts are gratefully acknowledged. Funding was provided by Denison University and the Howard Hughes Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. McPhail Center for Environmental Studies, Denison University, Granville, Ohio, 43023, USA

    Douglas J. Spieles, Meagan Coneybeer & Jonathan Horn

Authors
  1. Douglas J. Spieles
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Meagan Coneybeer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jonathan Horn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Douglas J. Spieles.

Appendixes

Appendixes

Table A1 Plant species of restored, enhanced, and created mitigation bank wetlands in central Ohio, along with two reference wetlands—Buttonbush Swamp (BB) and Gahanna Woods (GW)
Full size table
Table A2 Macroinvertebrate taxa collected in created and restored/enhanced mitigation wetlands and two reference wetlands—Buttonbush Swamp (BB) and Gahanna Woods (GW)—in the summer of 2004
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Spieles, D.J., Coneybeer, M. & Horn, J. Community Structure and Quality After 10 Years in Two Central Ohio Mitigation Bank Wetlands. Environmental Management 38, 837–852 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-005-0294-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-005-0294-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation