Wetlands and Natural Resource Management

364 Pages·2006·4.873 MB·English

by  Jos T. A. Verhoeven, Boudewijn Beltman, Dennis F. Whigham, Roland Bobbink (auth.), Prof. Dr. Jos T. A. Verhoeven, Dr. Boudewijn Beltman, Dr. Roland Bobbink, Dr. Dennis F. Whigham (eds.)

Ecological Studies,Vol. 190
Analysis and Synthesis
Edited by
M.M.Caldwell,Logan,USA
G.Heldmaier,Marburg,Germany
R.B.Jackson,Durham,USA
O.L.Lange,Würzburg,Germany
H.A.Mooney,Stanford,USA
E.-D.Schulze,Jena,Germany
U.Sommer,Kiel,Germany
Ecological Studies
Volumes published since 2002 are listed at the end ofthis book.
J.T.A.Verhoeven B.Beltman R.Bobbink D.F.Whigham (Eds.)
Wetlands and Natural
Resource Management
With 91 Figures,3 in Color,and 35 Tables
1 23
Prof.Dr.Jos T.A.Verhoeven
Dr.Boudewijn Beltman
Dr.Roland Bobbink
Landscape Ecology
Institute ofEnvironmental Biology
Utrecht University
PO Box 80084
3508 TB Utrecht
The Netherlands
Dr.Dennis F.Whigham
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
PO Box 28
Edgewater,MD 21037
USA
Cover illustration:Large picture:Cladium jamaicenselawns with tree islands,Everglades
National Park,USA (Photo:J.T.A.Verhoeven)
Small pictures:La Pérouse Bay,Manitoba (Photos Hudson Pay Projekt Team):TopThe
effects of grubbing by lesser snow geese in early spring on the intertidal saltmarsh;
Middle Death of willow bushes and exposure of the surface organic layer after goose
grubbing in the supratidal marsh; Bottom Grazing exclosure indicating that in the
absence ofgrubbing the vegetation remains intact on the intertidal marsh
ISSN 0070-8356
ISBN-10 3-540-33186-7 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York
ISBN-13 978-3-540-33186-5 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York
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Preface
The two volumes on “Wetlands as a Natural Resource”in the book series Ecological
Studies (Volumes 190,191) are based on the highlights ofthe 7thINTECOL International
Wetland Conference in Utrecht,25–30 July 2004.This conference brought together about
900 participants from 61 countries,who discussed a very broad range ofscience-,policy-
and management-oriented issues related to wetland ecology and hydrology, wetland
conservation and creation,the impact of global change and wetlands as a resource in
terms offood,flood protection and water quality enhancement.The participants were
from different sectors ofsociety,i.e.,science and technology (scientists 45%;PhD stu-
dents 20%),natural resource management (20%) and policy (15%).There were 38 sym-
posia with invited speakers centered around the nine conference themes.We have given
the organizers of these symposia the opportunity to produce one chapter for these
books with the integrated content oftheir symposium.This has resulted in 25 chapters,
of which 13 are included in Volume 190 under the heading “Wetlands and Natural
Resource Management”and 12 in Volume 191 under the heading “Wetlands:Function-
ing,Biodiversity Conservation and Restoration”.
With these books,we had the aim to summarize the most important recent scientific
results in wetland science,their applications in wetland and water resource management
and their implications for the development ofglobal,national and regional policies in
the perspective ofthe ever-progressing deterioration ofnatural wetlands and the major
impacts that future climate change will have.We hope that the integrated content ofthe
chapters on such a wide scope ofdifferent fields in wetland science will serve as a valu-
able source ofinformation,both for professionals in environmental science and natural
resource management and for students and young professionals seeking to familiarize
themselves with these fields.We also hope that the interaction between scientists from
different disciplines,resource managers and policy makers will be stimulated by the
content ofthese publications.
We as editors have worked according to a strict time schedule and we want to thank
the authors for their timeliness in producing inspiring manuscripts and the scientists
who have contributed to the peer reviews of the chapters for their active and prompt
participation,which has enabled us to complete our task more or less according to this
schedule.We acknowledge the series editor ofthe Ecological Studies book series,Prof.
Dr.Ulrich Sommer,for his invitation to produce these volumes as one ofthe outcomes of
the INTECOL Conference.We also thank Dr.Andrea Schlitzberger of Springer for her
advice and help.We would like to take the opportunity to thank all key people who made
the conference into such a success. In particular we want to thank Prof. Dr. Eugene
Turner and the other members ofthe INTECOL Wetlands Working group,as well as the
VI Preface
International and National Scientific Committees for their support. We are most
indebted to the team that organized the conference,in particular the inner circle,Fred
Knol,René Kwant,Nienke Pot and Miranda Motshagen.The members ofthe Landscape
Ecology Group at Utrecht University are thanked for their enormous efforts during the
conference.
These two volumes are the most tangible,durable result ofthe conference.It is our
wish that they will find their way to wetland professionals and students worldwide and
will contribute to the wise use and conservation ofthe still large wetland resources that
remain on our planet.
Utrecht,June 2006
The Editors Jos T.A.Verhoeven,
Roland Bobbink,
Boudewijn Beltman,
Dennis F.Whigham
These two volumes are major contributions from a well-run meeting inspired by the col-
legiality and good will ofthe hosts.This meeting sparked professionalism through the
expression ofthe finer parts ofDutch culture and,indeed,ofall cultures.The 7thInter-
national Wetland Conference,like the preceding meetings,are successful because people
care about living systems – i.e.,people,landscapes,science culture,political structures,
birds,etc.– as they go about trying to make things a little better and a little sooner than
when wetlands were first appreciated in their collective minds.The successes from the
meetings,exemplified by these two volumes,is partly because they enhance the possibil-
ities for clarity and develop a strong scientific enterprise amidst the interactions ofpeo-
ple in neutral spaces and a sometimes strong gradient ofpersonalities and cultures.We
never quite know ahead oftime what the results ofthe meetings will be,although it has
always been wonderful to see them evolve to closure.
It is humbling to know how small things influence others,which is a lesson in being
careful,thoughtful and open.These efforts and successes are an explicit recognition of
the interdependency ofour discipline interests,but also the fabric ofhuman interactions
through politics, science, economics, etc. This interdependency suggests that being
involved in wetland science and management is a great way to improve the quality ofthe
natural world,but also society.The world needs,whether it knows it or not,the expertise
and clear thinking ofexperts ofgeneral and detailed understanding to contribute to the
social good.These two volumes do exactly that.Kudos to the Editors!
R.Eugene Turner,Chair
On behalfofthe INTECOL Wetland Working Group
Contents
1 Wetland Functioning in a Changing World:
Implications for Natural Resources Management . . . . . . 1
J.T.A.Verhoeven,B.Beltman,D.F.Whigham,R.Bobbink
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Clarity on Wetlands and Water Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Wetlands and Environmental Flows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Wetlands and Water Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.5 Biogeochemical Insights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.6 Wetlands and River Fisheries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.7 Wetlands and Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.8 Further Developments in Wetland Science
and its Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Section I The Role ofWetlands for Integrated Water Resources
Management:Putting Theory into Practice
2 Restoring Lateral Connections Between Rivers
and Floodplains:Lessons from Rehabilitation Projects . . . 15
H.Coops,K.Tockner,C.Amoros,T.Hein,G.Quinn
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 Threatened Life at the Aquatic–Terrestrial Interface . . . . . 16
2.3 Reconnecting Side-Channels Along the Rhône (France) . . 18
2.4 Rehabilitation ofSide-Channels
ofthe River Danube (Austria) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
VIII Contents
2.5 ‘Environmental Flows’for Rehabilitating Floodplain
Wetlands (Australia) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.6 Lessons from Rehabilitation Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3 Sustainable Agriculture and Wetlands . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
F.Rijsberman,S.de Silva
3.1 Agriculture and Wetlands:Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.2 Water for Food,Water for Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.2.1 “Ecosystems Produce the Water Used by Agriculture” . . . . 36
3.2.2 “Irrigated Agriculture Uses 70% ofthe World’s Water” . . . 39
3.2.3 “Water Scarcity:Fact or Fiction?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.3 Producing More Rice With Less Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.4 Towards a Dialogue Among Agronomists
and Environmentalists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.4.1 Water,Food and Environment Issues in Attapeu Province,
Lao PDR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.5 Research on Sustainable Agriculture and Wetlands . . . . . 48
3.6 Conclusions:Towards Sustainable Agriculture
and Wetlands? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4 Sustainable Water Management by Using Wetlands
in Catchments with Intensive Land Use . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
C.Yin,B.Shan,Z.Mao
4.1 Semi-Natural Wetlands Created by Humans
Before the Industrial Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.2 Water Regulation by the Multipond Systems . . . . . . . . . 55
4.2.1 Research Site Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.2.2 The Regulation Process for the Crop Water Supply
by the Pond System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.3 Other Ecological Functions ofAncient Semi-Natural
Wetlands in a Modern Scientific Context . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.3.1 Sediment Retention Within the Watershed . . . . . . . . . . 60
4.3.2 Nutrient Retention and Recycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.3.3 Landscape Complexity and Biological Diversity . . . . . . . 61
4.4 Wetlands and Human Activities in Harmony . . . . . . . . . 62
4.5 Protection ofSemi-Natural Wetlands Together
with Natural Wetlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Contents IX
Section II Wetland Science for Environmental Management
5 Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment . . . . . . 69
J.Vymazal,M.Greenway,K.Tonderski,H.Brix,Ü.Mander
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.2 Free Water Surface Constructed Wetlands . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.2.1 Free Water Surface Wetlands for Treatment
ofWastewater and Non-Point Source Pollution in Sweden . 72
5.2.2 The Role ofWetlands in Effluent Treatment
and Potential Water Reuse in Subtropical and Arid Australia 75
5.3 Constructed Wetlands with Horizontal Sub-Surface Flow . . 79
5.4 Constructed Wetlands with Vertical Sub-Surface Flow . . . . 81
5.4.1 Danish Experience with Vertical Flow Constructed Wetlands 83
5.4.2 Constructed Wetlands with No Outflow . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.5 Hybrid Constructed Wetlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
5.6 Trace Gas Fluxes from Constructed Wetlands
for Wastewater Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6 Tools for Wetland Ecosystem Resource Management
in East Africa:Focus on the Lake Victoria Papyrus Wetlands 97
S.Loiselle,A.Cózar,A.van Dam,F.Kansiime,
P.Kelderman,M.Saunders,S.Simonit
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
6.2 Wetlands and Inorganic Carbon Retention . . . . . . . . . . 99
6.3 Wetlands and Nutrient Retention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
6.4 Wetlands and Eutrophication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
6.5 Ecological Modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
6.6 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
6.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
7 Predicting the Water Requirements ofRiver Fisheries . . . 123
R.L.Welcomme,C.Bene,C.A.Brown,A.Arthington,
P.Dugan,J.M.King,V.Sugunan
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
7.2 The Hydrological Regime and Fisheries in Rivers . . . . . . 124
X Contents
7.2.1 Fish Responses to River Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
7.2.2 What River? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
7.2.3 Linkages Between Hydrological Regime and Fish Catch . . . 132
7.3 The Social and Economic Role ofRiver Fisheries . . . . . . 135
7.4 Methods for Estimation ofEnvironmental Flow
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
7.5 Guidelines for the Selection and/or Development ofTools for
Determining Environmental Flows for Rivers and Wetlands 138
7.5.1 Legislation,Policy,and Practice Supporting Environmental
Flows Should Focus on People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
7.5.2 There is a Need to Understand the Ecosystem First,
Before the Impacts on People can be Predicted . . . . . . . . 139
7.5.3 There is No Such Thing as a Single Flow with a Single Flow
Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
7.5.4 Tradeoffs are an Integral Part ofDecision-Making
and Scenario Generation is Vital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
7.5.5 The River Ecosystem and Its Flow Regime Must be Compart-
mentalized to Provide the Required Scenario Information . 141
7.5.6 Present-Day Conditions Offer the Best Starting Point . . . . 143
7.5.7 Methods Should be Usable in Both Data-Rich
and Data-Poor Situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
7.5.8 Uncertainty is a Reality – Adaptive Management is Crucial . 145
7.5.9 Implementation is Central to Promoting and Improving
Environmental Flows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
7.6 Discussion and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
8 Water Management and Wise Use ofWetlands:
Enhancing productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
R.L.Welcomme,R.E.Brummet,P.Denny,M.R.Hasan,
R.C.Kaggwa,J.Kipkemboi,N.S.Mattson,V.V.Sugunan,
K.K.Vass
8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
8.2 Trends in Capture Fisheries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
8.2.1 Increasing Pressure – Decreasing Catch . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
8.2.2 Fisheries Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
8.3 Methods for the Enhancement ofInland Fisheries . . . . . . 158
8.3.1 Species Introductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
8.3.2 Stocking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
8.3.3 Extensive Culture Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164