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Wetlands: Ecology, Conservation and Management 8 Paul A. Keddy Causal Factors for Wetland Management and Restoration: A Concise Guide Wetlands: Ecology, Conservation and Management Volume 8 Series Editor C. Max Finlayson, Albury, NSW, Australia Editorial Board Members Cui Lijuan, Institute of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China Anne A. van Dam, Dept. of Water Resources and Ecosystems, IHE, Inst for Water Education, Delft, The Netherlands Siobhan Fennessy, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, USA Patricia Kandus, Instituto de Investigaciones e Ingeniería Ambiental, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, San Martin, Buenos Aires, Argentina Julius Kipkemboi, Department of Biological Sciences, Egerton University, Egerton, Kenya Donovan Kotze, Centre for Water Resources Research, University of KwaZulu- Natal, Pietermartizburg, South Africa Ritesh Kumar, 2nd Floor, Wetlands International South Asia, New Delhi, India Tatiana Lobato de Magalhães , Autonomous University of Queretaro, Santiago de Queretaro, Querétaro, Mexico Victor Marin, Departamento de Ciencias Ecologicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile Beth Middleton, U.S. Geological Survey, Lafayette, LA, USA Randy Milton, Dept of Natural Resources, Acadia University, Wolfsville, NS, Canada Simon Mitrovic, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia Nidhi Nagabhatla, Institute for Water, Environment Health, United Nations University Institute on C, Brugge, Belgium Kerrylee Rogers, School of Earth & Environmental Sci, Univ of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW, Australia Rebecca Woodward, 35 Percent, Chalford, UK The recognition that wetlands provide many values for people and are important foci for conservation worldwide has led to an increasing amount of research and management activity. This has resulted in an increased demand for high quality publications that outline both the value of wetlands and the many management steps necessary to ensure that they are maintained and even restored. Recent research and management activities in support of conservation and sustainable development provide a strong basis for the book series. The series presents current analyses of the many problems afflicting wetlands as well as assessments of their conservation status. Current research is described by leading academics and scientists from the biological and social sciences. Leading practitioners and managers provide analyses based on their vast experience. The series provides an avenue for describing and explaining the functioning and processes that support the many wonderful and valuable wetland habitats, such as swamps, lagoons and marshes, and their species, such as waterbirds, plants and fish, as well as the most recent research directions. Proposals cover current research, conservation and management issues from around the world and provide the reader with new and relevant perspectives on wetland issues. Paul A. Keddy Causal Factors for Wetland Management and Restoration: A Concise Guide Paul A. Keddy Independent Scholar Lanark County, ON, Canada ISSN 1875-1261 ISSN 1875-127X (electronic) Wetlands: Ecology, Conservation and Management ISBN 978-3-031-21787-6 ISBN 978-3-031-21788-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21788-3 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Preface For some years I have been teaching and writing about the causal factor approach to wetland ecology. My intention in doing so was to provide a logical and consistent structure for the science of wetland ecology. I have received a good deal of positive feedback on the virtues of this approach, and I used it in my textbook, Wetland Ecology (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511778179). An environmental planner in China told me that my book Wetland Ecology was “overwhelming.” I thought there was some wisdom in that observation. I had writ- ten Wetland Ecology for fellow scientists and university students, who would expect a good deal of detail, many references to scientific papers, and multiple examples. This got me wondering: just how short could a guide to wetland ecology be? Consider the audience of park managers, landscape architects, consultants, plan- ners, and engineers who might be sincerely interested in protecting and restoring wetlands, but might not have the time to read Wetland Ecology. Could I write a concise guide for them? In this book, therefore, I have kept referencing to a minimum. If there are state- ments that seem insufficiently referenced, I invite you to consult Wetland Ecology for a more complete story. I have also kept examples to a minimum, mostly just two or three per section. In Wetland Ecology, I often have five or more examples, so again, if this is too short for your tastes, I recommend the larger book. I have kept what we might call classic examples in wetland ecology. Some people are of the impression that new work is always better, and I have even heard that some professors tell their students not to read work that is more than 5 years old. I disagree. I have kept “old” examples including peat bog succession (Dansereau and Segadas-Vianna 1952), changes in deltas with time (Penland et al. 1988), and effects of fire in the Everglades (White 1994). These are fine work that is still useful today. Throwing them out would be the same as throwing out a perfectly useful antique chair only to replace it with a new plastic one. We need to keep good work in circulation, and it remains useful for teaching students about landmarks in the development of wetland ecology. (I will note, too, that older work often has better artwork than modern work. Clip art is not a substitute for a talented pen and ink artist.) v vi Preface Another book hovers in the background. The causal factor approach in this book has a broader theoretical context—the pool and filter approach to community ecol- ogy—so, those of you seeking the theoretical context might wish to consult A Framework for Community Ecology (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009067881) recently completed with my co-author Daniel Laughlin. My intention in preparing this book was to make a positive contribution to pro- tecting and restoring wetlands. Thus, I have concluded each chapter with implica- tions for (1) people who are managing protected wetlands or watersheds and (2) people who are restoring wetlands. At the end of the book, I provide a further list of review questions that should help with applying this book to both sets of circumstances. So, here is my concise introduction to wetland ecology based upon causal fac- tors. It is arranged with the most important causal factors first, so even the first half of the book will have a great deal of information that can be immediately applied to conservation and restoration. May you protect and restore extensive areas of wet- land during your lifetime. Lanark County, ON, Canada Paul A. Keddy Acknowledgments I must begin by thanking Marleen Moore for first suggesting this project. I also thank Li Zhang for offering me the opportunity to speak to her class in China which challenged me to consider how best to simplify wetland ecology with a focus on management. I’m particularly grateful to Cathy Keddy for her devoted assistance during a protracted period of serious illness for both of us. She helped me at every stage of the manuscript. Sadly, she herself did not live to see the book published, but Cathy’s legacy is here on every page. I also appreciate my son, Ian Keddy, for being there with software advice as needed. I’m also grateful to Max Finlayson for his effort in reviewing the manuscript. Finally, I thank the many (patient) people who have taught me these principles of wetland ecology, principles that I am now going to share with you. vii Contents 1 Introduction to Wetlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1 What Is a Wetland? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.2 Where Do Wetlands Occur? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.3 The Six Basic Types of Wetlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.4 Three Other Approaches to Wetland Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1.4.1 A Global View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1.4.2 A Hydrogeomorphic View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.4.3 A View Based on Water Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1.5 Ecoregions and Wetland Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2 The Causal Factor Approach to Wetland Ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.1 Causal Factors Are a Simplifying Tool for Wetland Ecology . . . . . 17 2.2 The Importance of Multiple Working Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 2.3 Revisiting Protection and Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 3 Duration of Flooding Is the Most Important Causal Factor . . . . . . . . 23 3.1 Flood Duration Controls Wetlands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3.2 Flooding Changes Wetland Soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.3 Flooding Is a Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 3.4 How Plants Cope with Flooding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 3.5 Flooding Has Secondary Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 3.5.1 Secondary Effects in Swamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 3.5.2 Secondary Effects in Marshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3.5.3 Secondary Effects in Peatlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 3.5.4 Secondary Effects in Aquatic Wetlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 3.6 Flooding Is the Main Causal Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 ix x Contents 4 Flood Pulses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 4.1 Changes in Water Level Are Natural in Lakes, Rivers, and Wetlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 4.2 Flood Pulses Are a Natural—And Necessary—Occurrence . . . . . . 40 4.3 Humans Are Interfering with Natural Flood Pulses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 4.4 Flood Pulses Increase Marsh Area and Diversity: The Twin Limit Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 4.5 Flood Pulses Have Other Important Effects in Watersheds . . . . . . . 47 4.6 Vernal Pools: A Special Case of a General Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 5 Fertility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 5.1 Nitrogen and Phosphorus Control Fertility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 5.2 Peatlands Have Relatively Low Fertility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 5.3 The Everglades Have Extremely Low Fertility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 5.4 Fertilization Threatens a Globally Imperiled Plant Species. . . . . . . 58 5.5 Increased Fertility Causes Many Other Changes in Wetlands . . . . . 60 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 6 Natural Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 6.1 Natural Disturbances Remove Biomass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 6.1.1 Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 6.1.2 Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 6.1.3 Frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 6.1.4 Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 6.2 Fire Has Many Effects upon Wetlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 6.3 Natural Disturbance Is Common along Rivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 6.4 Animals Create Natural Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 6.5 Wetlands Recover from Disturbance by Seeds and Rhizomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 6.6 Humans Have Big Effects When They Alter Natural Disturbances in Landscapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 7 Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 7.1 Competition Is a Biological Causal Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 7.2 Large Clonal Plants Tend to Exclude Weaker Competitors . . . . . . . 75 7.3 Competition Among Plants Drives Plant Succession . . . . . . . . . . . 76 7.4 Competition Among Plants Changes Animal Habitat . . . . . . . . . . . 78 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 8 Herbivory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 8.1 Herbivory Is a Biological Causal Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 8.2 Hippopotamus in Tropical Wetlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 8.3 Snow Geese in Northern Marshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 8.4 Selective Grazing Can Increase or Decrease Diversity . . . . . . . . . . 86

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