Factors at Multiple Scales Influence Recruitment from Herbaceous Wetland Seed Banks in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Va
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GENERAL WETLAND SCIENCE
Factors at Multiple Scales Influence Recruitment from Herbaceous Wetland Seed Banks in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley Cory M. Shoemaker 1
&
Gary N. Ervin 2
Received: 12 June 2019 / Accepted: 13 November 2019 # Society of Wetland Scientists 2019
Abstract In early successional stages, seedlings serve as a link between past and future wetland plant assemblages. Our objectives were to 1) enumerate seedling density in soil exposed to various hydrologic treatments 2) determine similarities between standing vegetation, germinated seedlings, and early successional stage assemblages, and 3) better understand effects of landscapelevel factors on overall wetland seedling density. Soil samples were collected and standing vegetation characterized from 12 restored and three non-managed wetlands in the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley (MAV). Seedling germination was observed in a greenhouse experiment, while early-stage plant assembly was followed in outdoor mesocosms. Hydrology significantly affected seedling density, with constantly moist treatments increasing seedling germination above that observed in fluctuating or continually inundated treatments. Standing vegetation in MAV wetlands differed from germinated seedlings; however, germinated seedlings were similar in terms of structure and identity to early successional mesocosm assemblages, indicating close linkages of these two vegetation stages. When landscape-level factors were examined, we found that wetland size was positively correlated, and surrounding land use and watershed nitrogen (N) loading negatively correlated with seedling numbers. Thus, seedling dynamics were affected by factors internal and external to wetlands, necessitating landscape-scale perspectives when making management decisions, even for individual wetlands. Keywords Seedling germination . Mississippi River Alluvial Valley . Wetland restoration . Seed banks
Introduction Seedling emergence from seed banks plays an important role in the regeneration of plant assemblages following disturbance (Leck 1989). Seedling germination from persistent seed banks is a regenerative strategy used by plants to survive spatially unpredictable disturbances (Grime and Hillier 1992) and is an important component of primary and secondary successional dynamics (Leck 1989). In wetlands, which are Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-019-01248-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Cory M. Shoemaker [email protected] 1
Department of Biology, Slippery Rock University, 1 Morrow Way, Slippery Rock, PA 16057, USA
2
Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, PO Box GY, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
abiotically dynamic at multiple temporal scales, seed banks allow species to persist in a wetland until favorable conditions occur for germination (Ozinga et al. 2007). Seed banks enable species to rapidly take advantage of newly created favorable habitat through s
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