We studied the rates of leaf decomposition and loss of leaf constituents (lignin and cellulose) of a native plant species using the litterbag experiment during different seasonal periods (flood and drought) in periodically flooded ecosystems, locally known as “Ipucas”. The effects of flood, edge and fungal colonization on leaf degradation were evaluated. The results show that leaf decomposition is

Understanding montane wetlands and their functioning is essential for biodiversity conservation and sustainable provision of ecosystem services. Plant functional traits represent species adaptations to specific environments and are considered the key mechanism by which individual species contribute to the functioning and subsequent provision of ecosystem services. This study characterises the Afromontane

Wetland conservation increasingly must account for climate change and legacies of previous land-use practices. Playa wetlands provide critical wildlife habitat, but may be impacted by intensifying droughts and previous hydrologic modifications. To inform playa restoration planning, we asked: (1) what are the trends in playa inundation? (2) what are the factors influencing inundation? (3) how is playa

The concentrations of As, Cd, Zn, Cu and Pb were analyzed to assess their pollution levels and toxic risks in different wetlands affected by urbanization. The results showed that As and heavy metals (especially Cd) showed higher concentrations in urban and rural river wetland sediments compared with artificial wetland soils. Comparatively, urban river wetland sediments contained higher Cu, Pb and Zn

The hypersaline wetland of Meighan located in western Iran is an important habitat for Artemia parthenogenetica. The habitat condition of this native zooplankton is facing with various problems in the wetland, so its abundance has been reduced in the wetland in the recent years. The study aimed to optimize decision tree model with an optimizer (greedy stepwise) to predict the species abundance in 10

Common reed (Phragmites australis) is dominant vegetation of temperate coastal wetlands in northeast China. To studying the link between ecosystem respiration (Reco) and its influential factors, a multi-year in-situ experiment was carried out in a newly restored wetland during the growing seasons of 2012 to 2014. Total in-situ Reco was separated into soil microbial and belowground root respiration

As rising sea levels alter coastal ecosystems, there is a pressing need to examine the effects of saltwater intrusion on coastal communities. Using 16S Illumina profiling, we characterized the communities of baldcypress tree (Taxodium distichum) root endosphere and rhizosphere soil bacteria. Our study utilized established sites along salinity and flooding gradients in the United States of Georgia,

Annual wetland hydroperiods, defined here as the number of days per calendar year that water levels exceed a specified depth, were assessed at various depths for 41 cypress dome wetlands in west-central Florida lacking substantial anthropogenic impacts on hydrology. The effects of data sampling frequency and length of data on hydroperiod calculations were also evaluated. On average, the cypress domes

Topographic heterogeneity provides a potential opportunity for seedling recruitment in the disturbance-dynamic ecosystem. Micro-topography manipulation is the typical way to imitate or recover the natural topographic heterogeneity for the degraded salt marsh restoration. However, it is still not clear how different micro-topographic structures work along the lateral gradient of a tidal creek. In this

We quantified nutrient concentrations and water quality parameters in soils and water from a working farm (in operation for over 100 years), through contrasting agricultural wetlands, to their receiving waters. Contrasting wetlands were a forested alluvial swamp and a ditched wetland swale. Our objective was to determine if nutrients diminished in concentration or changed in form as water moved through

This study compared soil organic carbon (SOC) in wetlands dominated by native and one invasive plant specie to better understand how short-term Spartina alterniflora colonization affected carbon circulation in the Yellow River Delta (YRD). Freshwater marsh dominated by Phragmites australis (FM) had the highest SOC, total nitrogen (TN), and water-extractable organic carbon (WEOC) contents, whereas SOC

Sea level rise is reshaping the coasts, allowing coastal habitats such as tidal marshes to migrate inland. To predict where changes will occur, it is critical to understand the factors that influence land cover transition. Here, we test the influence of land cover type on land cover transition. We hypothesized that marsh migration may vary by upland land cover type, due to dominant plant species’ differences

Die-back of Phragmites australis in the Mississippi River Delta (MRD), Louisiana, USA, is associated with large populations of nonnative Roseau Cane Scale (RCS), Nipponaclerda biwakoensis. Initial observations suggested different P. australis phenotypes displayed different susceptibilities to scale infestation and die-back, but the role of scale infestation on die-back was unknown. To understand the

Like many wetlands worldwide, Great Salt Lake (GSL) wetlands have been declining. Yet, little is known about the ecosystem functions provided by the different GSL wetland plant species. This knowledge gap hinders predictions of the effects of species loss and restoration practices on ecosystem functioning. To better understand how the loss of different habitat types affects the provisioning of ecosystem

The study was conducted to characterize previously unexplored wetland vegetation in lower montane areas of the Himalaya (1597–2538 m above sea level) of Jigme Dorji National Park, Gasa District, Northern Bhutan. A random quadrat sampling method was employed to assess percent plant cover and environmental data were collected following standard procedures. Cluster and indicator species analyses using

Drainage of peatlands causes severe environmental damage, including high greenhouse gas emissions. Peatland rewetting substantially lowers these emissions. After rewetting, paludiculture (i.e. agriculture and forestry on wet peatlands) is a promising land use option. In Northeast Germany (291,361 ha of peatland) a multi-stakeholder discussion process about the implementation of paludiculture took place

The bud bank plays an important role in the regeneration of clonal plants after disturbance. However, specific effects of clipping disturbance on the bud bank and population characteristics of clonal plants remain unclear. Here, no-clipping (CK), low-intensity continuous clipping (LCC), and high-intensity single clipping (HSC) were tested on Triarrhena lutarioriparia, a typical rhizomatous clonal plant

Upstream agriculture and infrastructure development can greatly alter downstream hydrology, cutting off water sources and modifying connectivity that is critical for wetland survival. For tracts within the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) located on the Texas Gulf Coast, our overall objective was to identify how much freshwater was needed to offset these processes. We sought to examine the historical

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of land use change, from rice paddy to natural wetland, on soil organic matter dynamics 12 years after the former was abandoned. Cold water extracted organic carbon (CWEOC) and hot water extracted organic carbon (HWEOC) obtained from surface and subsurface soil layers were measured as important indexes, reflecting organic matter dynamics. The

Coastal marsh loss, combined with expected sea-level rise, will cause inundation and extensive shifts to vegetation and salinity regimes that may affect bird species dependent on coastal ecosystems worldwide. Within coastal-marsh habitats, birds provide key targets for coastal management goals. However, limited information on bird-habitat relationships within coastal marshes inhibits the development

Tamarix chinensis is a dominant species in both the Yellow River Delta Natural Reserve and Changyi National Marine Specific Protection Area, Laizhou Bay, China, and plays an important role in wetland ecosystems. We investigated the relationship between T. chinensis and environmental factors, and the influences of T. chinensis on understory plants. We selected four T. chinensis communities with different

The Mississippi River experienced historic flooding during 2019, inducing >150 days of floodplain wetland inundation. We evaluated flood effects using repeated measures of hydrogeomorphic (HGM) wetland assessment variables prior to the flood (October 2018), immediately post-flood (August 2019) and one year after initial assessment (October 2019). The flood had little/no impact on 11 of 13 assessment

This study defines the cultural and ecological significance of white root (Carex barbarae Dewey; Cyperaceae), and presents a template for eco-cultural restoration, drawing from both Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Scientific Ecological Knowledge. Carex barbarae is an herbaceous perennial understory plant in valley oak riparian woodlands, endemic to California and southern Oregon. Referred to as

It is well-documented that marsh periwinkles (Littoraria irrorata) consume and inhabit smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), but their interactions with big cordgrass (Spartina cynosuroides) remain unknown. Plant communities in mesohaline marshes will change as sea-level rise shifts species from salt-intolerant (e.g., S. cynosuroides) plants to salt-tolerant (e.g., S. alterniflora) ones. Therefore

The abundant estuarine wetlands supported by the complex river network in the Pearl River Delta are under intense anthropogenic influence, which threatens the local ecosystem. This paper examines the benthic macroinvertebrate diversity and abundance within the Pearl River Estuary through a field study. Fieldwork, based on the integral index of connectivity (IIC) of the wetland network, was carried

Large peatland complexes at the boreal-temperate ecotone are essential habitats for boreal species at their southern range limits where they are threatened by tree encroachment accelerated by climate change and nitrogen deposition. To inform vascular plant and biodiversity conservation, we studied tree encroachment patterns in a large (> 400 ha) boreal peatland complex in the northeastern United States

Changes in land cover are the main threats to integrity and biodiversity of wetlands. Here, we evaluated the effects of agriculture and urbanization on the functional traits (FT) of aquatic invertebrate. We evaluated 30 wetlands distributed among agricultural, urban and natural landscapes on the south of Brazil. We selected eight FT that encompassed aspects of life history, morphology and behavioral

Hurricanes Irma and Maria ravaged the mangroves of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, in 2017. Basal area losses were large (63–100%) and storm losses of carbon associated with aboveground biomass amounted to 11.9–43.5 Mg C/ha. Carbon biomass of dead standing trees increased 8.1–18.3 Mg C/ha among sites, and carbon in coarse woody debris on the forest floor increased 1.9–18.2 Mg C/ha, with effects varying

This study was aimed at exploring the durability of concrete revetment materials at the water-level-fluctuations zone of the Yellow River Delta Wetlands. The simultaneous effect of mineral admixtures (i.e., fly ash, slag, and silica fume) and polypropylene fiber on the resistance of concrete revetment materials to chloride erosion, was presented. Under the artificial simulation environment of dry-wet

Trajectories of vegetative change in wetlands can be influenced strongly by shifts in water-table elevation driven by evapotranspiration and spatial-temporal variability in groundwater. The specific dynamics of such interactions are difficult to quantify because of spatial complexities associated with local climate, geomorphology, and underlying geology. Nonetheless, a better understanding of the effects

Reed bed ecosystems are crucial for the survival of complex animal communities in Europe and Western Asia, but have been subjected to considerable decline, especially in beds in eutrophic shallow lakes, throughout Europe during the last decades. In Western Asia, however, these ecosystems are still wide and ecologically intact, and support highly biodiverse communities of species, including some highly

Physical vegetation management has shown deep and diverse impacts on fauna diversity and abundance. However, it is still unclear to what degree management influences Odonata (dragonfly and damselfly) in urbanized ecosystems. In order to understand the crucial factors among Odonata (adults and larvae) and physical vegetation management in a highly urbanized environment, this study investigated the response

The ecological effects of tropical cyclones on mangrove forests are diverse and highly location- and cyclone-dependent. Ecological resistance, resilience, and enhancement are terms that describe most mangrove forest responses to tropical cyclones. However, in the most extreme cases, tropical cyclones can trigger abrupt and irreversible ecological transformations (i.e., ecological regime shifts). Here

With projected increase in storms, sea-level rise and saltwater intrusion in low-lying terrestrial areas, compositional changes that favor more salt tolerant species are likely to occur. Wetland species are expanding into declining forested communities, primarily dominated by trees. Higher salinities for germination may preclude establishment of tree species. We examined the capacity for coastal tree

For providing a better understanding of the quantitative relationship between typical wetland vegetation and their tidal creek habitats in the Yellow River Estuary, the tidal creeks and three wetland vegetation types of Spartina alterniflora, Phragmites australis and Suaeda salsa were selected to analyze their distribution characteristics and explore the correlation between their spatial distributions

Bacteria are important soil components that function as both decomposers and plant symbionts and play a major role in plant–microbe interactions. However, little is known about the diversity of bacterial communities in the rhizosphere of the native invasive plant Echinochloa caudata. In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing to investigate bacterial communities in the rhizospheres of Echinochloa

We use the maps elaborated within the Mexican Mangrove Monitoring System (MMMS) project of the National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) to analyze the changes in mangrove area distribution during the last 45 years, within the framework of the coastal regional characteristics in Mexico. We found that 19% of the primary mangrove area identified in 1970/1980 was lost and that

Mangroves are known to sequester carbon at rates exceeding even those of other tropical forests; however, to understand carbon cycling in these systems, soil-atmosphere fluxes and gas exchanges in mangrove-adjacent shallow waters need to be quantified. Further, despite the ever-increasing impact of development on mangrove systems, there is even less data on how subtropical, greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes

Based on retrieved results of literature and patents related to international wetland ecological restoration, the current status and development of ecological restoration techniques for degraded wetlands in both China and international states were analyzed synthetically. The results showed that the United States was the pioneering country in studies on the wetland ecological restoration, while China

Dredged materials from navigation channel maintenance represent a potentially valuable resource for wetland creation and restoration. In the northern Chesapeake Bay, fine-grained sediments from Baltimore Harbor approach channels are transported by barge southward for creation of wetlands on the site of an eroded island. High concentrations of ammonium, soluble reactive phosphorus, dissolved iron, and

Nitrogen pollution in wetland ecosystems has become a pressing global issue in recent years. The effects of redox potential on the environmental behavior of nitrogen remain elusive. In the present work, both field experiments and laboratory analyses have been carried out to characterize the spatial-temporal changes of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (NO3−, NO2−, NH4+) and redox potential in the riparian

In natural tidal marshes, nutrient fertilization stimulates complex responses, bringing into question the suitability of nutrient-rich dredged material as a substrate for tidal marsh restoration. We examined vegetation and elevation trends in the constructed tidal marshes at Poplar Island, Maryland where fine-grained dredged material (high nutrient) and locally dredged sand (low nutrient) were used

Beach ridges and wetland swales formed in embayments along Great Lakes shorelines during Holocene lake-level changes. Vegetation differences among swales suggested influence from differing groundwater flow systems. We characterized the hydrology across 79 ridge/swale wetlands in the Manistique/Thompson embayments of Lake Michigan using chemical and physical methods. Cross-sections were built from geologic

Potential impacts of climate change on the position of the wetland-hydrology boundary were estimated for four sites in the Eastern U.S. Precipitation and temperature predictions were obtained from the Hadley general circulation model (UKMO-HadCM3) because it most closely approximated observed precipitation for the period 1950–2000. The DRAINMOD hydrologic model was used to compute daily water table

We evaluated two rake-enclosure sampling methods for estimating biomass of submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) within managed tidal impoundments (MTIs) in the Ashepoo-Combahee-Edisto Rivers Basin, South Carolina. We collected SAV using a modified rake within 0.086 m2 cylindrical sampler (CS), a non-modified rake within 0.2-m2 quadrat (QS), and after raking, hand-collected remaining SAV within each enclosure

Determining the economic value of wetlands is essential while creating sustainable wetland development plans and market-based ecological protection strategies. This paper studies the value of Begnas Watershed System by assessing the economic values of its selective ecosystem servicees. We conducted household surveys, multiple focus group discussions, stakeholder consultation, indepth interviews and

Elevated atmospheric CO2 may create greater methane (CH4) emissions from subarctic wetlands. To date such ecosystem feedbacks remain poorly understood, particularly in relation to how different wetland plant species will control such feedbacks. In this study we exposed plant-peat mesocosms planted with four Cyperaceae species to 400 and 800 ppm atmospheric CO2 concentrations and measured plant and

The invasion by emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) of extensive black ash wetlands in the upper Great Lakes region of North America is expected to alter plant community structure and composition and, therefore, abiotic factors like temperature and hydrology. We conducted two experiments to examine how changes in leaf litter could alter ecosystem function via 1) changes in litter breakdown and

Wetlands are mapped across the USA for compliance with §404 of the Clean Water Act using field-collected data and protocols in the 1987 Federal Wetlands Delineation Manual (3-factor method). The National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) maps wetlands and deepwater habitats for management and policy-making using aerial image analysis with limited field verification. There have been few comparisons of maps other

It’s significant to probe hydrological connectivity within the estuarine area for implementing the ecological restoration experiment on the damaged coastal wetland and the methodology development of wetland eco-hydrology. We established the Integrated Accessibility Index to Marine and Freshwater (IAIMF) to evaluate the hydrological connectivity based on the accessibility principles. 1 km grid was setup

To investigate the spatial and temporal variations of sulfur (S) in plant-soil systems of Phragmites australis (PA, native invasive species) and Cyperus malaccensis (CM, common native species) marshes, in situ filed sampling was conducted in the two marshes at different seasons. Results showed that the variations of total sulfur (TS) contents in soils differed among seasons or marshes. Higher levels

Paddy fields play an important role as alternative habitats for various wetland-dependent species. Agricultural intensification in paddy fields, however, presents serious threats to these species. Here, we examined the environmental factors, including those related to modern farming practices, affecting the distribution of the Sado wrinkled frog (Glandirana susurra) in paddy fields on Sado Island,

The nematofauna of the Seekoeivlei Wetland in the north-eastern Free State province of South Africa was studied in order to determine its ecological status. Nematodes were collected in three different surveys, in October 2011, and in February and May 2012. Samples were taken from three sites within the reserve, each representing a different habitat. A total of 37 genera belonging to 21 nematode families

Tropical peatlands are an important carbon store and source of greenhouse gases, but the microbial component, particularly community structure, remains poorly understood. While microbial communities vary between tropical peatland land uses, and with biogeochemical gradients, it is unclear if their structure varies at smaller spatial scales as has been established for a variety of peat properties. We

Tidal salt marshes, as “blue carbon” ecosystems, play a critical role in mitigation of global climate change since their large soil organic carbon (SOC) pool. Drying-rewetting cycles induced by periodic tides have profound influence on soil carbon cycling in tidal salt marshes. However, the magnitude and mechaanism of the effects of drying-rewetting frequency on SOC loss in tidal salt marshes is still

We explored how a geographic information system modeling approach could be used to quantify supporting ecosystem services related to the type, abundance, and distribution of landscape components. Specifically, we use the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs model to quantify habitats that support amphibians and birds, floral resources that support pollinators, native-plant communities

Vegetation changes in the Poyang Lake wetland related to the construction of the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) and climate change have received increasing attention in recent decades. However, due to the high spatial heterogeneity, the changes in wetland vegetation have not been well quantified at a large spatial scale. We addressed this challenge by using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)

Vallisneria natans is often used for the ecological restoration of aquatic vegetation. V. natans thalli were cultured under ambient (400 ppm) and increased carbon supply, with low (18 °C) and high temperature (25 °C). The thalli were used to examine the effects of increased carbon and high temperature on the growth, nitrogen metabolism and photosynthetic characteristics of this plant. At 18 °C, the

The assessment of wetland changes on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is an important component of global change research. The Damqu River Basin (DRB) lies within the southern source of the Yangtze River and is part of the core wetlands area of the Three Rivers Source Region (TRSR). We examined the distribution of wetlands across this region based on remote sensing image interpretations. The results revealed

The oriental river shrimp (Macrobrachium nipponense), an exotic species, has been well adapted and dispersed in Iranian freshwater ecosystems. The feeding ecology and trophic level of this species in the Anzali Wetland, southwestern Caspian Sea, was investigated by both a traditional method and the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope technique. The highest feeding index (FI) was seen in mollusca at