Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Plant biomass and species composition along an environmental gradient in montane riparian meadows

  • Community Ecology
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In riparian meadows, narrow zonation of the dominant vegetation frequently occurs along the elevational gradient from the stream edge to the floodplain terrace. We measured plant species composition and above- and belowground biomass in three riparian plant communities—a priori defined as wet, moist, and dry meadow—along short streamside topographic gradients in two montane meadows in northeast Oregon. The objectives were to: (1) compare above- and belowground biomass in the three meadow communities; (2) examine relations among plant species richness, biomass distribution, water table depth, and soil redox potential along the streamside elevational gradients. We installed wells and platinum electrodes along transects (perpendicular to the stream; n=5 per site) through the three plant communities, and monitored water table depth and soil redox potential (10 and 25 cm depth) from July 1997 to August 1999. Mean water table depth and soil redox potential differed significantly along the transects, and characterized a strong environmental gradient. Community differences in plant species composition were reflected in biomass distribution. Highest total biomass (live+dead) occurred in the sedge-dominated wet meadows (4,311±289 g/m2), intermediate biomass (2,236±221 g/m2) was seen in the moist meadow communities, dominated by grasses and sedges, and lowest biomass (1,403±113 g/m2) was observed in the more diverse dry meadows, dominated by grasses and forbs. In the wet and moist communities, belowground biomass (live+dead) comprised 68–81% of the totals. Rhizome-to-root ratios and distinctive vertical profiles of belowground biomass reflected characteristics of the dominant graminoid species within each community. Total biomass was positively correlated with mean water table depth, and negatively correlated with mean redox potential (10 cm and 25 cm depths; P <0.01) and species richness (P <0.05), indicating that the distribution of biomass coincided with the streamside edaphic gradient in these riparian meadows.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aerts RH, Berendse F, Klerk NM, Bakker C (1989) Root production and root turnover in two dominant species of wet heathlands. Oecologia 81:374–378

    Google Scholar 

  • Aerts RH, De Caluwe H, Konings H (1992) Seasonal allocation of biomass and nitrogen in four Carex species from mesotrophic and eutrophic fens as affected by nitrogen supply. J Ecol 80:653–664

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen-Diaz BH (1991) Water table and plant species relationships in Sierra Nevada meadows. Am Midl Nat 126:30–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Auble GT, Scott, ML (1998) Fluvial disturbance patches and cottonwood recruitment along the Upper Missouri River, Montana. Wetlands 18:546–556

    Google Scholar 

  • Auble GT, Doff DA, Scott ML (1994) Relating riparian vegetation to present and future streamflow. Ecol Appl 4:544–554

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker MA, Dahm CN, Valett HM (2000) Anoxia, anaerobic metabolism, and biogeochemistry of the stream-water-ground-water interface. In: Jones JB, Mulholland PJ (eds) Streams and ground waters. Academic Press, London, pp 259–283

  • Bennett SJ, Pirim T, Barkdoll BD (2002) Using simulated emergent vegetation to alter stream flow direction within a straight experimental channel. Geomorphology 44:115–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernard JM (1990) Life history and vegetative reproduction in Carex. Can J Bot 68:1441–1448

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernard JM, Hankinson G (1979) Seasonal changes in standing crop, primary production, and nutrient levels in a Carex rostrata wetland. Oikos 32:328–336

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernard JM, Solander D, Kvet J (1988) Production and nutrient dynamics in Carex wetlands. Aquat Bot 30:127–147

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohn HL (1971) Redox potentials. Soil Sci 112:39–45

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Böhn W (1979) Methods of studying root systems. In: Billings WD, Golley F, Lange OL, Olson JS (eds) Ecological studies, vol 33. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York

  • Brinson MM, Lugo AE, Brown S (1981) Primary production, decomposition and consumer activity in freshwater wetlands. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 12:123–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brix H, Sorrell BK (1996) Oxygen stress in wetland plants: comparisons of de-oxygenated and reducing root environments. Funct Ecol 10:521–526

    Google Scholar 

  • Brookshire ENJ, Dwire KA (2003) Controls on patterns of coarse organic particle retention in headwater streams. J North Am Benthol Soc 22:17–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Castelli, RM, Chambers JC, Tausch RJ (2000) Soil-plant relations along a soil-water gradient in Great Basin riparian meadows. Wetlands 20:251–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke SE, Garner MW, McIntosh BA, Sedell JR (1997) Landscape-level ecoregions for seven contiguous watersheds, northeast Oregon and southeast Washington. In: Clarke SE, Bryce SA (eds) Hierarchical subdivisions of the Columbia Plateau and Blue Mountains ecoregions, Oregon and Washington. General Technical Report PNW-GTR-395. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland, Oreg., pp 53–113

  • Cogger CG, Kennedy PE, Carlson D (1992) Seasonally saturated soils in the Puget Lowland. II. Measuring and interpreting redox potentials. Soil Sci 154:50–57

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crowe EA, Clausnitzer RR (1997) Mid-montane wetland plant associations of the Malhuer, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests. R6-NR-ECOL-TP-22–97. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland, Oreg.

  • Daubenmire R (1959) A canopy-coverage method of vegetation analysis. Northwest Sci 33:43–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Drew MC (1992) Soil aeration and plant root metabolism. Soil Sci 154:259–268

    Google Scholar 

  • Dwire KA (2001) Relations among hydrology, soils, and vegetation in riparian meadows: Influence on organic matter distribution and storage. PhD thesis. Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oreg.

  • Dwire KA, Kauffman JB, Baham J (2000) Relations among redox potentials, water levels, and riparian vegetation. In: Wigington PJ, Beschta RL (eds) Riparian ecology and management in multi-land use watersheds. TPS-00–2. American Water Resources Association, Middleburg, Va., pp 23–28

  • Eissenstat DM, Yanai RD (1997) The ecology of root life span. Adv Ecol Res 27:1–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Fagerstedt K (1992) Development of aerenchyma in roots and rhizomes of Carex rostrata (Cyperaceae). Nord J Bot 12:115–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Faulkner SP, Patrick WH Jr (1992) Redox processes and diagnostic wetland soil indicators in bottomland forests. Soil Sci Soc Am J 56:856–865

    Google Scholar 

  • Faulkner SP, Patrick WH Jr, Gambrell RP (1989) Field techniques for measuring wetland soil parameters. Soil Sci Soc Am J 53:883–890

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ferns ML (1998) Geology of the Fly Valley Quadrangle, Union County, Oregon. (Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries Resources geological map series GMS-113) Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries Resources, Oreg.

  • Ferns ML, Taubeneck WH (1994) Geology and mineral resources map of the Limber Jim Creek quadrangle, Union County, Oregon. (Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Resources geological map series GMS-82) Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries Resources, Oreg.

  • Fiala K (1993) Underground biomass in meadow stands. In: Rychnovská M (ed) Structure and functioning of seminatural meadows. (Developments in Agricultural and Managed-Forest Ecology 27) Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 133–153

  • Fisk MC, Schmidt SK, Seastedt TR (1998) Topographic patterns of above-and-below-ground production and nitrogen cycling in alpine tundra. Ecology 79:2253–2266

    Google Scholar 

  • Gambrell RP, DeLaune RD, Patrick WH Jr (1991) Redox processes in soils following oxygen depletion. In: Jackson MB, Davies DD, Lambers H (eds) Plant life under oxygen deprivation: ecology, physiology and biochemistry. Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp 101–117

  • Garcia LV, Maranon T, Moreno A, Clemente L (1993) Above-ground biomass and species richness in a Mediterranean salt marsh. J Veg Sci 4:417–424

    Google Scholar 

  • Gough L, Grace JB, Taylor KL (1994) The relationship between species richness and community biomass: the importance of environmental variables. Oikos 70:271–279

    Google Scholar 

  • Grace JB (1999) The factors controlling species density in herbaceous plant communities: an assessment. Perspect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 2:1–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Gregory SV, Swanson FJ, McKee WA, Cummins KW (1991) An ecosystem perspective of riparian zones. BioScience 41:540–551

    Google Scholar 

  • Grime JP (1979) Plant strategies and vegetation processes. Wiley, Chichester

  • Henry GHR, Svoboda J, Freedman B (1990) Standing crop and net production of sedge meadows of an ungrazed polar desert oasis. Can J Bot 68:2660–2667

    Google Scholar 

  • Hickman JC (ed) (1993) The Jepson manual of higher plants of California. University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif.

  • Hitchcock CL, Cronquist A (1973) Flora of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press, Seattle, Wash.

  • Hochberg Y, Tamhane AC (1987) Multiple comparison procedures. Wiley, New York

  • Hultgren ABC (1989) Growth length of Carex rostrata Stokes shoots in relation to water level. Aquat Bot 34:353–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jakrlová J (1993) Primary producers of the natural stand. In: Rychnovská M (ed) Structure and functioning of seminatural meadows. (Developments in Agricultural and Managed-Forest Ecology 27) Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 99–132

  • Kauffman JB, Beschta RL, Otting N, Lytjen D (1997) An ecological perspective of riparian and stream restoration in the western United States. Fisheries 22:12–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Kauffman JB, Marht M, Marht LA, Edge WD (2001) Wildlife of riparian habitats. In: Johnson DH, O’Neil TA (eds) Wildlife-habitat relationships in Oregon and Washington: building a common understanding for management. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, Oreg., pp 361–388

  • Keddy PA (1992) Assembly and response rules: two goals for predictive community ecology. J Veg Sci 3:157–264

    Google Scholar 

  • Maarel E van der, Tityanova AA (1989) Above-ground and below-ground biomass relations in steppes under different grazing conditions. Oikos 56:364–370

    Google Scholar 

  • Manning ME, Swanson SR, Svejcar T, Trent J (1989) Rooting characteristics of four intermountain meadow community types. J Range Manage 42:309–312

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittelbach GG, Steiner CF, Scheiner SM, Gross KL, Reynolds HL, Waide RB, Willig MR, Dodson SI, Gough L (2001) What is the observed relationship between species richness and productivity? Ecology 82:2381–2396

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore DR, Keddy PA (1989) The relationship between species richness and standing crop in wetlands: the importance of scale. Vegetatio 79:99–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Mueller SC, Stolzy LH, Fick GW (1985) Constructing and screening platinum microelectrodes for measuring soil redox potential. Soil Sci 139:558–560

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Naiman RJ, Decamps H (1997) The ecology of interfaces: riparian zones. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 28:621–658

    Google Scholar 

  • Otting NJ (1998) Ecological characteristics of montane floodplain plant communities in the Upper Grande Ronde River Basin, Oregon. MS thesis. Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oreg.

  • Perata P, Alpi A (1993) Plant responses to anaerobiosis. Plant Sci 93:1–17

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts J, Ludwig JA (1991) Riparian vegetation along current-exposure gradients in floodplain wetlands of the River Murray, Australia. J Ecol 79:117–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Saarinen T (1996) Biomass and production of two vascular plants ina boreal mesotrophic fen. Can J Bot 74:934–938

    Google Scholar 

  • SAS Institute (1990) SAS/STAT user’s guide, Release 6.14 edn. SAS Institute, Cary, N.C.

  • Schipper LA, Cooper AB, Harfoot CG, Dyck WJ (1993) Regulators of denitrification in an organic soil. Soil Bio Biochem 25:925–933

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shafroth PB, Stromberg JC, Patten DT (2000) Woody riparian vegetation response to different alluvial water table regimes. North Am Nat 60:6–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon A, Collison AJC (2002) Quantifying the mechanical and hydrologic effects of riparian vegetation on streambank stability. Earth Surf Proc Landforms 27:527–546

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stromberg JC, Tiller R, Richter B (1996) Effects of groundwater decline on riparian vegetation of semiarid regions: the San Pedro River, Arizona. Ecol Appl 6:113–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Tabacchi E, Correll DL, Hauer R, Pinay G, Planty-Tabacchi A, Wissmar RC (1998) Development, maintenance and role of riparian vegetation in the river landscape. Freshwater Biol 40:497–516

    Google Scholar 

  • Thormann MN, Bayley S (1997) Aboveground net primary productivity along a bog-fen-marsh gradient in southern boreal Alberta, Canada. Ecoscience 4:374–384

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D, Wedin D (1991) Plant traits and resource reduction for five grasses growing on a nitrogen gradient. Ecology 72:685–700

    Google Scholar 

  • Titlyanova AA, Romanova IP, Kosykh NP, Mironycheva-Tokareva NP (1999) Pattern and process in above-ground and below-ground components of grassland ecosystems. J Veg Sci 10:307–320

    Google Scholar 

  • Toledo ZO, Kauffman, JB (2001) Root biomass in relation to channel morphology of headwater streams. J Am Water Resour Assoc 37:1653–1663

    Google Scholar 

  • Van der Krift TAJ, Berendse F (2002) Root life spans of four grass species from habitats differing in nutrient availability. Funct Ecol 16:198–203

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We appreciate the careful reviews by Robert Jackson, Rudy King, Gregg Riegel, Bob Beschta, and two anonymous reviewers, and comments on earlier drafts provided by Jim Wigington and Judy Li. We thank the USDA Forest Service, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, La Grande, Oregon—particularly Paul Boehne, Kari Grover-Weir, Gail Lee and Al Hasel—for logistical support, field housing, and monitoring discharge at the study streams. We are grateful to Johanna Barron, Chris Heider, and Matt and Laura Mahrt for assistance in the field; Doug Royce and Marc Seronowski for assistance in sorting biomass and cleaning belowground samples in the laboratory. Thanks to Tony Svejcar for the loan of the root corer. The Oregon Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit and Oregon Cooperative Fisheries Research Unit provided computer support. We are grateful to Rudy King, Barbara Peniston, and Ted Ernst for statistical advice. Funding was provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation (Science to Achieve Results grant R624773–01).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331–3803, USA

    Kathleen A. Dwire, J. Boone Kauffman & E. N. Jack Brookshire

  2. Rocky Mountain Research Station, U.S.D.A. Forest Service, 222 South 22nd Street, Laramie, WY 82070, USA

    Kathleen A. Dwire

  3. Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, Pacific Southwest Research Station, 1151 Punchbowl Street, Suite 320, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA

    J. Boone Kauffman

  4. Department of Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061–0406, USA

    E. N. Jack Brookshire

  5. Department of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331–3803, USA

    John E. Baham

Authors
  1. Kathleen A. Dwire
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. Boone Kauffman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. E. N. Jack Brookshire
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. John E. Baham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kathleen A. Dwire.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dwire, K.A., Kauffman, J.B., Brookshire, E.N.J. et al. Plant biomass and species composition along an environmental gradient in montane riparian meadows. Oecologia 139, 309–317 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-004-1498-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-004-1498-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation