Hydrology And Vegetation On A Calcareous Peat Mound Fen In Southeastern Wisconsin

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Download or read book Investigating Relationships Between Land-use Legacies and Current Vegetation in Southern Wisconsin Calcareous Fens written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the research of others we know that the legacies of land-use activities continue to influence ecosystem structure and function for decades or centuries after activities have stopped. There are likely interaction effects occurring between land-use legacies and legacy-or non-legacy impacted physical environment and vegetation. My research provides further knowledge about the interactions among different land-use legacies (e.g. plowing and burning) and their effects on species composition above ground and in the seed bank. Also, my research studied legacy effects at different scales, including among fens and within fens, as well as interactions between legacies. Plowed fens had lower overall species richness, lower soil moisture and water tables throughout most of the growing season, and higher amounts of available nutrients compared to never-plowed fens. Never-plowed fens had higher total, native, fen specialist, and wetland generalist - graminoid species richness than plowed fens in 2012 and 2013. The loss of wetland generalist - graminoids and fen specialists from plowed fens is significant, especially considering that fen specialists include some state-listed species. Overall, burned fens had higher native and wetland generalist - graminoid species richness than never-burned fens, but there was no significant difference in shrub cover between burned and never-burned fens. Fens last burned more recently (2012-2013) had higher invasive/weedy species richness than fens last burned longer ago (1980-1990). Based on the results of my research, the first priority for restoring vegetation communities on plowed fens is to restore groundwater flow followed by reducing available N and P in the soil. If the loss of key species is due to seed bank depletion, then it will be necessary to follow hydrologic restoration with seeding or other methods of dispersing propagules back to the site. It may be necessary to transplant plugs, rather than using seed alone, in order to establish native cover more quickly as a means to prevent establishment of invasive/weedy species. Regardless of which of restoration tools are used, the most important thing to remember is that every site is unique and will require its own restoration plan (with continued management) to get it to its desired state.