Ecological Processes and Cumulative Impacts Illustrated by Bottomland Hardwood Wetland EcosystemsLewis Publishers, Inc.

727 Pages·1990·50.192 MB·\727

by  Coastal Ecology Inst (Author)

Ecological Processes
and Cumulative Impacts
Illustrated by
Bottomland Hardwood
Wetland Ecosystems
Editedby
James G. Gosselink
CenterforWetland Resources
LouisianaStateUniversity
Baton Rouge, Louisiana70803
Lyndon C. Lee
L. C.LeeAssociates, Inc.
3016W.ElmoreStreet
Seattle, Washington98199
Thomas A. Muir
Divisionof EndangeredSpeciesandHabitatConservation
U.S.FishandWildlifeService
Washington, D.C.20240
CRC Press
Taylor&FrancisGroup
Boca Raton London New York
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First published 1990 by Lewis Publishers, Inc.
Published 2019 by CRC Press
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© 1990 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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No claim to original U.S. Government works
ISBN 13: 978-0-87371-339-9 (hbk)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ecological processes and cumulative impacts : illustrated by bottomland
hardwood wetland ecosystems / edited by James G. Gosselink, Lyndon C. Lee,
Thomas A. Muir,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: Summary of reports from three workshops sponsored by the U.S.
Environment Protection Agency.

ISBN 0-87371-339—- 7
—
1. Fo—r est ecology Southern States Congresses. 2. Floo—d plain
ecolog—y Southern States— Congres—se s. 3. Wetland e—c ology S—o uthern
States Congresses. 4. Hardwoods Southern States Ecology Congresses.
I. Gosselink, James G. II. Lee, Lyndon C. III. Muir, Thomas A. IV. United
States. Environmental Protection Agency.
QH104.5.S59E35— 1990 90-6360
574.5'2642'0975 dc20 CIP
PREFACE
By the late 1970s and early 1980s the rapid decimation of the most
extensive wetlands - bottomland forests - in the United States was
becoming clear to anyone concerned with wetland conservation.
Compared to coastal salt marshes inland freshwater wetlands had received
little study, and practically no regulatory attention. Suddenly it was
realized that over 50 percent of the nation's bottomland hardwood forests
were gone, most cleared for a booming, subsidized, agricultural industry.
The clearing itself was often made economically feasible by large publicly-
financed flood control projects.
To begin to address the implication sof these bottomland forest
losses, and the appropriate regulatory and non-regulatory responses, a
number of federal agencies and private organizations sponsored and
financed two workshops on the ecology of bottomland and riparian
ecosystems, the first in 1978 at Callaway Gardens, Georgia (Johnson and
McCormick 1979), the second in 1980 at Lake Lanier, Georgia (Clark and
Benforado 1981). Beginning in 1984 the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency sponsored 3 workshops to describe ecological processes in
bottomland hardwood forest ecosystems, and to relate these processes to
human activities that affect them. These workshops are the subject of this
volume. The chapters range from reports of original research into
ecological processes, through the impacts of human activities on flood
plain ecosystems, to human perceptions of bottomland values and
management strategies for ecosystem restoration and conservation. A
general recognition in the second workshop, of the importance of
cumulative impacts in bottomland hardwood forest ecosystems, changed
the emphasis in the third workshop to issues of cumulative impact
assessment and management, with a consequent scale shift from local sites
and ecoystems to processes in large scale landscapes such as watersheds
and hydrologic basins.
The editors appreciate the work and cooperative spirit of the
contributors to this volume. The authors of the workgroup reports,
especially, deserve a strong vote of thanks. Their job was to merge,
simplify, and make structurally coherent three workgroup reports, each
report written a year apart, usually by a panel composed of different
people. This was no mean feat! The lag in time between the last
IV Preface
workshop in 1986 and the publication of this volume posed an additional
problem. The chapter authors responded to the rapid expansion of the
scientific literature during this period, and updated their individual
chapters accordingly with references to new reserach findings, major
conferences, and major policy changes.
We thank John Meagher, Susan Sarason, and Allan Hirsch, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., for their support
and direction in the workshops; and James Roelle, Gregor Auble, David
Hamilton, Richard Johnson, Charles Segelquist, and Gerald Horak, of the
National Ecology Research Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fort
Collins, CO, who were facilitators for the workshops, and who prepared
the reports of the individual workshops. All the participants worked
diligently on various workgroup panels. The results of their deliberations
are contained in Chapters 11-18.
We owe a special debt to Susan Hamilton, who edited the
manuscript and coordinated the production of the camera-ready copy; and
to Kathy Joiner and Tiny Sikkes, who spent hundreds of hours on the
computer producing figures and formatting the individual chapters.
The preparation of this volume was supported by the Office of
Wetland Protection, U.S. Environmental Agency, Washington, D.C.
(Project No. CR814646-01-0), and by the Center for Wetland Resources,
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The views
expressed in this report are those of the authors and are not offical policy
of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
REFERENCES CITED
Clark, J. R., and J. Benforado, eds. 1981. Wetlands of bottomland
hardwood forests. Elsevier Scientific Publ. Co., New York. 401
pp.
Johnson, R. R., and J. F. McCormick, Tech. Coords. 1979. Strategies
for protection and management of floodplain wetlands and other
riparian ecosystems. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest
Service, Washington, D.C. General tech. Rep. WO-12.410 pp.
JAMES G. GOSSELINK
LYNDON C. LEE
THOMAS A. MUIR
CONTENTS

Preface xi

Contributors and participants xiv

1 Introduction, James E.Roelle,GregorT.Auble,

and JamesG.Gosselink 1

SECTION I. THE ECOLOGY OF BOTTOMLAND
HARDWOOD FORESTS
2 Bottomland hardwood forests: their functions and values,
JanR.Taylor,Milady A.Cardamone,and

William J . Mitsch 13

3 Growth and yield, nutrient content and energetics

of southern bottomland hardwood forests,

Dennis Mengel and Russell Lea 89

4 Potential nitrate leaching losses and nitrogen mineralization

in an Atlantic coastal plain watershed following disturbance:

preliminary results, David A.Kovacic,ThomasG.

Ciravolo, Kenneth W. McLeod, and Jack S. Erwin 103

5 Importance of bottomland forest zones to fishes

and fisheries; a case history, Victor W. Lambou 125

6 Composition and regeneration of a disturbed river

floodplain forest in South Carolina, Rebecca R.Sharitz,

Rebecca L. Schneider, and Lyndon C. Lee 195

SECTION II. CUMULATIVE IMPACTS IN BOTTOMLAND
HARDWOOD FOREST ECOSYSTEMS AND LAND­
SCAPES
7 Federal statutes and programs relating to cumulative

impacts in wetlands, Thomas A. Muir, Charles Rhodes,

and JamesG.Gosselink 223

8 Gauging the cumulative effects of developmental activities

on complex ecosystems, John Cairns, Jr 239
Contents
VI
9 Cumulative impacts of bottomland hardwood forest
conversion on hydrology, water quality, and terrestrial
wildlife, LarryD.Harrisand JamesG.Gosselink 259
10 The Texas/Oklahoma bottomland hardwood forest
protection program, James A.Neal and
Ernest S. Jemison 325
SECTION III. REPORTS OF WORKGROUPS IN THE
EPA-SPONSORED BOTTOMLAND HARDWOOD
FOREST WORKSHOPS
11 Bottomland hardwood forest ecosystem hydrology
and the influence of human activities: the report of the
hydrology workgroup, James G.Gosselink, B. Arville
Touchet,JohannesVanBeek,andDavid B.Hamilton 347
12 The use of soil classes to delineate transition zones in
bottomland hardwood forests: the report of the soils
workgroup, B. Arville Touchet 389
13 The effect of developmental activities on water quality
functions of bottomland hardwood ecosystems: the report
of the water quality workgroup, Michael L. Scott,
Barbara A.Kleiss,WilliamH.Patrick,and
Charles. A. Segelquist 411
14 Composition and productivity in bottomland hardwood
forest ecosystems: the report of the vegetation workgroup,
William H.Conner,R.Terry Huffman,and
Wiley M . Kitchens 455
15 The ecological significance to fisheries of bottomland
hardwood system: values, detrimental impacts, and
assessment: the report of the fisheries workgroup,
H.Dale Hall,andVictorW.Lambou 481
16 The relationship of human activities to the wildlife
function of bottomland hardwood forests: the report
of the wildlife workgroup, Steven W.Forsythe and
James E.Roelle 533
17 Human activities and ecological processes in bottomland
hardwood ecosystems: the report of the ecosystem
workgroup, JamesG.Gosselink,Mark M.Brinson,
Lyndon C. Lee, and Gregor T. Auble 549
Contents vii
18 Analysis of impacts of site-altering activities on
bottomland hardwood forest uses: the report of the
cultural/ recreational/economic workgroup,
Clyde F.Kiker 601
19 The regulation and management of bottomland hardwood
forest wetlands: implication of the EPA-sponsored
workshops, James G. Gosselink, Lyndon C. Lee, and
Thomas A. Muir 638
Appendix A. Sources of information, mapping,
and classification, for bottomland hardwood ecosystems 673

CONTRIBUTORS AND PARTICIPANTS

Gregor T. Auble Mark Brinson
National Ecology Research Biology Department
Center, East Carolina University
U.S, Fish and Wildlife Service Greenville, NC 27834
4512 McMurray Avenue
Fort Collins, CO 80525 James Brown
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Paul Adamus 75 Spring Street, S.W., Suite
NSI Technology Services
Atlanta GA 30303
Corporation
USEPA Environmental Research
C. Frederick Bryan
Laboratory
Louisiana Cooperative Fishery
200 SW 35th Street Research Unit
Corvallis, OR 97333 Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Roger Banks
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service John Cairns
P. O. Box 12559 Center for Environmental Studies
Virginia Polytech. Instit. and
Charleston, SC 29412
State Univ,
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Charles Belin
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Milady A. Cardamone
P. O. Box 889 Maasstraat 14,
Savannah, GA 31402-0889 8226 LP Lelystad,
The Netherlands
Jay Benforado
U.S. Environmental Protection Thomas Cavinder
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency
Agency
Office of Research and
Environmental Services Division
Development (RD-682) College Station Road
401 M Street, SW Athens, GA 30613
Washington, DC 20460
Jack Chowning
Rex Boner Department of the Army
Office of the Chief of Engineers
The Nature Conservancy
3179 Maple Drive, N.E. Room 8 20 Massachusetts Avenue
Washington, DC 20314-1000
Atlanta, GA 30305
Thomas G. Ciravolo
Roel Boumans
University of Georgia
Center for Wetland Resources Savannah River Ecology
Louisiana State University Laboratory, Drawer E
Baton Rouge, LA 70803 Aiken, SC 29801