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Assessing the success of hydrological restoration in two conservation easements within Central Florida ranchland
In the USA, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has restored millions of acres of wetlands through its Wetland Reserve Easement (WRE) programs. However, few quantitative studies have explored whether WREs have enhanced wetland hydrology and...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6029772/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29969464 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199333 |
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author | Sonnier, Grégory Bohlen, Patrick J. Swain, Hilary M. Orzell, Steve L. Bridges, Edwin L. Boughton, Elizabeth H. |
author_facet | Sonnier, Grégory Bohlen, Patrick J. Swain, Hilary M. Orzell, Steve L. Bridges, Edwin L. Boughton, Elizabeth H. |
author_sort | Sonnier, Grégory |
collection | PubMed |
description | In the USA, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has restored millions of acres of wetlands through its Wetland Reserve Easement (WRE) programs. However, few quantitative studies have explored whether WREs have enhanced wetland hydrology and wetland plant communities. Additionally, USDA Compatible Use Permits for cattle grazing and other management practices are sometimes issued for WREs, but little is known about potential benefits/detriments of such practice on the success of wetland restoration. In this study, we tested if hydrological restoration of previously drained species poor pastures increased water depth and hydroperiod. Restoration involved plugging key ditches, adding water control structures and a berm. We also tested if hydrological restoration increased plant diversity (alpha and beta), floristic quality (using coefficient of conservatism) and increased the cover of wetland species (using species wetland status). Finally, we tested if cattle grazing had an effect on the success of restoration by comparing grazed plots to fenced plots. We studied two conservation easements (a total of 748 acres) located on semi-native pastures in central Florida, USA. We monitored vegetation using permanent transects stratified by vegetation type before (2004–2005) and after (2012) the restoration (2008). We assessed wetland hydroperiod using groundwater wells set up in 2003 and located within and outside the boundaries of these two easements. We used linear mixed models and multivariate analyses to compare vegetation and hydroperiods pre- and post-restoration. Number of flooded days increased following restoration in one of the easements, but we did not detect significant changes in hydrology in the other easement. Floristic quality, beta diversity and cover of obligate wetland species increased in both conservation easements and in most vegetation types. These vegetation changes were likely due to restoration activities since annual rainfall was not significantly different pre- and post-restoration. Cattle grazing did not have a negative or positive effect on the success of restoration, nor did we detect any positive effect of grazing on the success of restoration. Overall, our study shows that hydrological restoration can enhance wetland hydroperiod, water depth and wetland vegetation, but more resources should be allocated to short- and long-term monitoring of the restoration success. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6029772 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-60297722018-07-19 Assessing the success of hydrological restoration in two conservation easements within Central Florida ranchland Sonnier, Grégory Bohlen, Patrick J. Swain, Hilary M. Orzell, Steve L. Bridges, Edwin L. Boughton, Elizabeth H. PLoS One Research Article In the USA, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has restored millions of acres of wetlands through its Wetland Reserve Easement (WRE) programs. However, few quantitative studies have explored whether WREs have enhanced wetland hydrology and wetland plant communities. Additionally, USDA Compatible Use Permits for cattle grazing and other management practices are sometimes issued for WREs, but little is known about potential benefits/detriments of such practice on the success of wetland restoration. In this study, we tested if hydrological restoration of previously drained species poor pastures increased water depth and hydroperiod. Restoration involved plugging key ditches, adding water control structures and a berm. We also tested if hydrological restoration increased plant diversity (alpha and beta), floristic quality (using coefficient of conservatism) and increased the cover of wetland species (using species wetland status). Finally, we tested if cattle grazing had an effect on the success of restoration by comparing grazed plots to fenced plots. We studied two conservation easements (a total of 748 acres) located on semi-native pastures in central Florida, USA. We monitored vegetation using permanent transects stratified by vegetation type before (2004–2005) and after (2012) the restoration (2008). We assessed wetland hydroperiod using groundwater wells set up in 2003 and located within and outside the boundaries of these two easements. We used linear mixed models and multivariate analyses to compare vegetation and hydroperiods pre- and post-restoration. Number of flooded days increased following restoration in one of the easements, but we did not detect significant changes in hydrology in the other easement. Floristic quality, beta diversity and cover of obligate wetland species increased in both conservation easements and in most vegetation types. These vegetation changes were likely due to restoration activities since annual rainfall was not significantly different pre- and post-restoration. Cattle grazing did not have a negative or positive effect on the success of restoration, nor did we detect any positive effect of grazing on the success of restoration. Overall, our study shows that hydrological restoration can enhance wetland hydroperiod, water depth and wetland vegetation, but more resources should be allocated to short- and long-term monitoring of the restoration success. Public Library of Science 2018-07-03 /pmc/articles/PMC6029772/ /pubmed/29969464 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199333 Text en © 2018 Sonnier et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Sonnier, Grégory Bohlen, Patrick J. Swain, Hilary M. Orzell, Steve L. Bridges, Edwin L. Boughton, Elizabeth H. Assessing the success of hydrological restoration in two conservation easements within Central Florida ranchland |
title | Assessing the success of hydrological restoration in two conservation easements within Central Florida ranchland |
title_full | Assessing the success of hydrological restoration in two conservation easements within Central Florida ranchland |
title_fullStr | Assessing the success of hydrological restoration in two conservation easements within Central Florida ranchland |
title_full_unstemmed | Assessing the success of hydrological restoration in two conservation easements within Central Florida ranchland |
title_short | Assessing the success of hydrological restoration in two conservation easements within Central Florida ranchland |
title_sort | assessing the success of hydrological restoration in two conservation easements within central florida ranchland |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6029772/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29969464 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199333 |
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