Managed disturbance enhances biodiversity of restored wetlands in the agricultural Midwest
نویسنده
چکیده
We compared plant diversity in four restored and four natural wetlands in the glaciated interior plains to evaluate how quickly plant biodiversity develops following cessation of agriculture and reintroduction of wetland hydrology. After approximately ten years, restored wetlands had plot and site richness comparable to natural wetlands; 6.2 + 0.5 species per plot and 33.8 + 2.3 species per site for restored wetlands versus 5.5 + 1.3 species per plot and 27 + 6.4 species per site for natural wetlands. The natural wetlands, however, contained higher quality plant communities based on greater abundance of hydrophytic plant species (OBL, FACW, and FAC) and species with higher Coefficients of Conservatism (C of C). There was no difference in the Floristic Quality Assessment Index (FQAI) values for natural and restored wetlands. laciated Interior Plains
منابع مشابه
Functional Differences between Natural and Restored Wetlands in the Glaciated Interior Plains.
We measured soil properties, carbon and nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus) pools, ambient and potential denitrification, and phosphorus sorption index (PSI) in natural depressional wetlands and depressional wetlands restored through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wetland Reserve Program. We measured the same suite of variables in natural and USDA Conservation Reserve Program-restored ri...
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