Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS45 Temporary Aquatic Ecosystems: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow (Spatial and Temporal Connections)

Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2001, Time: 9:45:00 AM

Location: Cochiti/Taos

Collins, B, S, University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, South Carolina, USA, collins@srel.edu

Battaglia, L, L, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, lbatta1@lsu.edu

LINKING PATTERNS: HYDROPERIOD AND VEGETATION IN CAROLINA BAY WETLANDS

Typical Carolina bays are elliptical depressions surrounded by upland forest matrix in the Atlantic Coastal Plain. They range from pond-like wetlands, characterized by stable hydroperiod, to flashy wetlands that respond quickly to rainfall events and can dry during summer. Bay plant communities are influenced primarily by spatial and temporal variation in hydrology, but the effects of these filters on propagule bank expression in vegetation patterns are not well understood. We examined the relationships among hydrologic variation, recruitment from the propagule bank, and extant vegetation over one season in six herbaceous Carolina bays that differ in hydroperiod and basin shape. Stable hydrology in bays with steep basins produces zoned vegetation with patch-like characteristics. In contrast, flashy hydrology, typical of more shallow basins, causes periodic "reshuffling" of the vegetation, and produces gradual changes in species composition with a greater contribution from the seedbank. We suggest a model in which these scenarios represent two extremes of organization in depression wetlands; between the extremes, vegetation and propagule banks can exhibit both patch-like and gradient-like characteristics in response to the pattern of hydrological variation.

Return to This Session's Schedule · Complete Session Listing ·

Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

Quicklinks