Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Assessing wetland mitigation efforts using standing vegetation and seed bank community structure in neighboring natural and compensatory wetlands in north-central Texas

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Wetlands Ecology and Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

It is often presumed plant recruitment from the soil seed bank and nearby wetlands will be sufficient to establish a wetland plant community following the restoration or creation of wetland hydrology. This approach to wetland restoration was examined in four compensatory wetlands and a natural oxbow wetland (Oxbow) in a floodplain of the West Fork Trinity River in north-central Texas. We assessed: (1) similarities in vegetation and seed bank composition among natural and compensatory wetlands, (2) within site similarity of vegetation relative to its seed bank community, and (3) the effects of hydrology (Wet vs. Drained soil) on the germination of seeds from the seed bank. Species richness of the standing vegetation was variable across sites and years, however when pooled across years (2008–2009) vegetation and seed banks showed similar species richness (66 vs. 70 species). Fewer wetland species (i.e., species occurring in wetlands >50 % of the time) were observed in the vegetation relative to the seed bank (25 vs. 41 species), and seed banks of compensatory wetlands were more similar to the natural wetland than was the standing vegetation. In the seed bank study, location (i.e., site) significantly affected total species richness, wetland species richness, diversity, and germinated seeds m−2, however no significant effect of hydrology was detected. These results suggest hydrology alone is not sufficient to establish a desired wetland plant community in a created wetland and the inclusion of seed bank surveys with field vegetation surveys provides a more complete assessment of wetland creation and restoration.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aronson MFJ, Galatowitsch S (2008) Long-term vegetation development of restored prairie pothole wetlands. Wetlands 28:883–895

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin AH, DeRico EF (1999) The seed bank of a restored tidal freshwater marsh in Washington, D.C. Urban Ecosystems 3:5–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin AH, Egnotovich MS, Clarke E (2001) Hydrological change and vegetation of tidal freshwater marshes: field, greenhouse, and seed-bank experiments. Wetlands 21:519–531

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brinson MM, Rheinhardt R (1996) The role of reference wetlands in functional assessment and mitigation. Ecol Appl 6:69–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown SC (1995) Wetland restoration: factors controlling plant community response and avifaunal habitat value. Dissertation, Cornell University

  • Brown SC (1998) Remnant seed banks and vegetation as predictors of restored marsh vegetation. Can J Botany 76:620–629

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown SC, Bedford BL (1997) Restoration of wetland vegetation with transplanted wetland soil: an experimental study. Wetlands 17:424–437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins DP, Conway WC, Mason CD, Gunnels JW (2013) Seed bank potential of moist-soil managed wetlands in east-central Texas. Wetlands Ecol Manage 21:353–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dahl TE (1990) Wetland losses in the United States 1780’s to 1980’s. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC, 13 pp

  • De Steven D, Sharitz RR, Singer JH, Barton CD (2006) Testing a passive revegetation approach for restoring coastal plain depression wetlands. Restor Ecol 14:452–460

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diggs GM, Lipscomb BL, O’Kennon RJ (1999) Shinner and Mahler’s illustrated Flora of North Central Texas. Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Fort Worth

    Google Scholar 

  • Enwright N, Hudak PF, Hatley D (2011) Estimating inundation patterns in detention wetlands: methodology and application to North-Central Texas. Int J Environ Stud 68:61–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ficken CD, Menges E (2013) Seasonal wetlands on the Lake Wales Ridge, Florida: does a relict seed bank persist despite long term disturbance? Wetlands Ecol Manage 21:373–385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fraser LH, Karnezis JP (2005) A comparative assessment of seedling survival and biomass accumulation for fourteen wetland plant species grown under minor water-depth differences. Wetlands 25:520–530

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fredrickson LH, Taylor TS (1982) Management of seasonally flooded impoundments for wildlife. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Resource Publication 148

  • Galatowitsch SM (2006) Restoring prairie pothole wetlands: does the species pool concept offer decision-making guidance for re-vegetation. Appl Veg Sci 9:261–270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galatowitsch SM, van der Valk AG (1996) The vegetation of restored and natural prairie wetlands. Ecol Appl 6:102–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greet J, Cousens RD, Webb JA (2013) Flow regulation is associated with riverine soil seed bank composition within an agricultural landscape: potential implications for restoration. J Veg Sci 24:157–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haukos DA, Smith LM (1993) Moist-soil management of playa lakes for migrating and wintering ducks. Wildl Soc Bull 21:288–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobbs RJ, Mooney HA (1995) Spatial and temporal variability in California annual grassland: results from a long-term study. J Veg Sci 6:43–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • La Grange TG, Dinsmore JJ (1989) Plant and animal community responses to restored Iowa wetlands. Prairie Naturalist 21:39–48

    Google Scholar 

  • Leck MA, Leck CF (2005) Vascular plants of a Delaware River tidal freshwater wetland and adjacent terrestrial areas: Seed bank and vegetation comparisons of reference and constructed marshes and annotated species list. J Torrey Bot Soc 132:323–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leck MA, Simpson RL (1987) Seed bank of a freshwater tidal wetland: turnover and relationship to vegetation change. Am J Bot 74:360–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madsen C (1986) Wetland restoration: a pilot project. J Soil Water Conserv 41:159–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitsch WJ, Gosselink JG (2000) The value of wetlands: importance of scale and landscape setting. Ecol Econ 35:25–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitsch WJ, Wu X, Nairn RW, Weihe PE, Want N, Deal R, Boucher CE (1998) Creating and restoring wetlands. Bioscience 48:1019–1029

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (2013) Monthly station normals of temperature, precipitation, and heating and cooling degree days. 1971–2012. http://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov. Accessed 8 August 2013

  • Peterson JE, Baldwin AH (2004) Seedling emergence from seed banks of tidal freshwater wetlands: response to inundation and sedimentation. Aquat Bot 78:243–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith LM, Kadlec JA (1983) Seed banks and their role during drawdown of a North American marsh. J Appl Ecol 20:673–684

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith SM, McCormick PV, Leeds JA, Garrett PB (2002) Constraints of seed bank species composition and water depth for restoring vegetation in the Florida Everglades, USA. Restor Ecol 10:138–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen T (1948) A method for establishing groups of equal amplitude in plant sociology based on similarity of species content and its application to analyses of the vegetation on Danish commons. Biologiske Skrifter/Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab 5:1–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson K, Grime JP (1979) Seasonal variation in the seed banks of herbaceous species in ten contrasting habitats. J Ecol 67:893–921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) (2002) National wetlands mitigation action plan, 5 pp

  • United States Army Corps of Engineers Environmental Laboratory (USACE) (1987) Corps of Engineers wetlands delineation manual. Technical report Y-87-1. United States Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg

  • United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Resource Conservation Service plant database (2010) National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge. http://plants.usda.gov. Accessed 25 October 2010

  • van der Valk AG (1981) Succession in wetlands: a Gleasonian approach. Ecology 62:688–696

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van der Valk AG (2013) Seed banks of drained floodplain, drained palustrine, and undrained wetlands in Iowa, USA. Wetlands 33:183–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van der Valk AG, Davis CB (1978) The role of seed banks in the vegetation dynamics of prairie glacial marshes. Ecology 59:332–335

    Google Scholar 

  • van der Valk AG, Penderson RL (1989) Seed banks and the management and restoration of natural vegetation. In: Leck MA, Parker VT, Simpson RL (eds) Ecology of soil seed banks. Academic Press Inc, San Diego, pp 329–346

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • van der Valk AG, Rosburg TR (1997) Seed bank composition along a phosphorous gradient in the northern Florida Everglades. Wetlands 17:228–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whigham D, Pittek M, Hofmockel KH, Jordan T, Pepin AL (2002) Biomass and nutrient dynamics in restored wetlands on the coastal plain of Maryland, USA. Wetlands 22:562–574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zedler JB (2000) Progress in wetland restoration ecology. Trends Ecol Evol 10:402–407

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank T. Green, B. Hunter, R. Marusak, J. Snow, A. Turley, M. J-T. Wall and M. L. Wall, M. Wellner, P. Curry, N. Enwright, P. Redfearn and D. Wilson at the City of Grand Prairie, Texas, and the University of North Texas Institute of Applied Science, and two anonymous reviewers that provided comments which improved an earlier draft of this paper. Funding was provided by the city of Grand Prairie, Texas.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Biology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Christopher B. Wall

  2. Department of Biology, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3C5, Canada

    Kevin J. Stevens

Authors
  1. Christopher B. Wall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kevin J. Stevens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher B. Wall.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wall, C.B., Stevens, K.J. Assessing wetland mitigation efforts using standing vegetation and seed bank community structure in neighboring natural and compensatory wetlands in north-central Texas. Wetlands Ecol Manage 23, 149–166 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-014-9366-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-014-9366-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation