Can Rewatering Reverse the Effects of Regional Drainage
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CAN REWATERING REVERSE THE EFFECTS OF REGIONAL DRAINAGE ON FOREST COMMUNITIES OF THE BIG CYPRESS SWAMP? by Scott M. T. Park A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Charles E. Schmidt College of Science in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton , Florida May 2002 Can rewatering reverse the effects of regional drainage on forest communities of the Big Cypress Swamp? by Scott M. T. Park This thesis was prepared under the direction of the candidate's thesis advisor, Dr. John C. Volin, Division of Biological Sciences, and has been approved by the members of his supervisory committee. It was submitted to the faculty of The Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and was accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: Dr. Daniel F. Austin Dr. William A. Dunson Director, Envrronmental Sciences Program Vice Provost II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank Dr. John C. Volin for his mentoring and research assistantship throughout my studies. Also, Dr. Daniel F. Austin and Dr. William A. Dunson for their continued guidance to focus my efforts through numerous turns in the thesis process. In addition, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Dianne Owen for her "youthful enthusiasm" with statistical analysis. I am truly grateful to everyone who has helped me to collect data. Especially, I would like to thank Michelle DaCosta, Jordan Muss, Michael Lott, John Erickson and Molly Taylor for their willingness to "swamp tromp" to sampling sites. Most importantly, I would also like to thank Dara Park, who helped me enjoy the rain as well as the sunny weather. This study has been funded by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Their support was greatly appreciated. Ill ABSTRACT Author: Scott M. T. Park Title: Can rewatering reverse the effects of regional drainage on forest communities of the Big Cypress Swamp? Institution: Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisor: Dr. John C. Volin Degree: Master of Science Year: 2002 The impact of five years of rewatering on a desiccated forested wetland within the Everglades Big Cypress Swamp was investigated. It was found that rewatering generally resulted in a shift in species composition along a hydrological gradient. This was particularly evident in the seedling and herbaceous layer of the cypress domes, the most hydric community studied, where obligate and facultative wetland species had their highest species richness. Overall there were no detectable differences in the number of non indigenous species in rewatered compared to reference sites. Results from th is short-term study showed that rewatering may potentially reverse the trend of increasing coverage by non-obligate wetland plants that have established in the past century as a result of regional desiccation. IV T ABLE OF C ONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ... ..... .... ..... ... ..... .. ....... ........ ........ ..... .. .... .. ..... .... ... .v i LIST OF FIGURES ...... .. ........ ... .. .... ...... .... .......... .... ...... .. ... ........ .. .... vii INTRODUCTION ....... ..................... ................ .. ...... .. ..... ... .... .... ... ..... 1 MATERIALS AND METHODS ....... .. ... ... ............. .. ... .. .. ......... ... .. ... ... ....6 RESULTS ............ ...... ..... ....... .... ........ ................ .. .. ...... ...... .... ... .. .. 18 DISCUSSION .......... ..... ... .. .. ..... .... ......... ...... ..... ..... ... ...... ............. .. 32 CONCLUSIONS ..... ..................... .................... ... ... ... ...... .. ............ ... 38 APPENDIX A .. .. ...... .............. .. ... ......... .. .. .. ...... ............. .... ... ..... ... ... 40 APPENDIX B ..... ....... ..... .... .. .... ... ....................... .. ... ..... .... ... ... ........41 APPENDIX C .................... .. ... .. ... ... ..... ..... .......... .... ...... .......... ... ..... 42 LITERATURE CITED ... ..... .... ...... ..... ...... .. .......... ..... ... .... .. ..... ... ... ..... .46 v LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1. COMPARISON BETWEEN DIFFERENT SAMPLING TECHNIQUES TO FIND CANOPY TREE DENSITY .. .. ................ .. ..... .................. 13 TABLE 2. COMPARISON OF AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL PARAMETERS BETWEEN TREATMENT AND HABITAT TYPE ... ................ ........... 22 TABLE 3. A LIST OF SIGNIFICANT COMPARISONS BETWEEN SAC AND REFERENCE SITES IN TERMS OF THE CHANGES IN SPECIES WETLAND CLASSIFICATION TYPE ................... ................... ...... 29 TABLE 4. DISTRIBUTION OF NON-INDIGENOUS PLANT SPECIES BETWEEN THE SAC AND REFERENCE SITES ............................. 30 VI LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1. STUDY AREA DRAINAGE BASIN ..... ....... ... ........... .... .. ..... 7 FIGURE 2. STUDY SITES INCLUDING SAC IMPOUNDMENT.... .... ..... .. 8 FIGURE 3. STUDY SITES .. ...... ...... ... .. .......................... ... .... ... ..... ... 10 FIGURE 4. STUDY SITES ....... ..... .. ... ..... ... ................. .. ... ................ 11 FIGURE 5. SPECIES AREA CURVES FOR CYPRESS, CYPRESS-MAPLE, LAUREL OAK, AND LIVE OAK SAC AND REFERENCE HABITATS .. ..... ... .... .... ... .... ........ .......... ... ... ... .... ...... ... ...... .. ... 15 FIGURE 6. WATER DEPTHS OF SAC FORESTED COMMUNITIES IN 1999 AND 2000 ....... ...... ..... .... .. ........ ..... .......... .. .... .. .... ........ ......... 19 FIGURES 7 AND 8. TREATMENT AND REFERENCE SITE COMPARISION ACROSS HABITATS .. .. .... ... .......... .. ........... ...... ........ .... ... ..... ... 20 FIGURE 9. CANOPY SPECIES RICHNESS IN CYPRESS, CYPRESS-MAPLE, LAUREL OAK, AND LIVE OAK COMMUNITIES .... ...... ......... ... ... ... 23 FIGURE 10. SUBCANOPY SPECIES RICHNESS CYPRESS, CYPRESS- MAPLE, LAUREL OAK, AND LIVE OAK COMMUNITIES .............. .. 24 FIGURE 11 . SHRUB SPECIES RICHNESS CYPRESS, CYPRESS-MAPLE, LAUREL OAK, AND LIVE OAK COMMUNITIES ... .. .. .. ... ... .... .... ... 25 FIGURE 12. HERB SPECIES RICHNESS CYPRESS, CYPRESS-MAPLE, LAUREL OAK, AND LIVE OAK COMMUNITIES ... ........ ...... ... ... .... 26 FIGURE 13. SEEDLING SPECIES RICHNESS IN CYPRESS, CYPRESS- MAPLE, LAUREL OAK, AND LIVE OAK COMMUNITIES ... ........ ... 27 V II INTRODUCTION Southern Florida has been subjected to many anthropogenic alterations in hydrology to guarantee freshwater availability and flood protection for agriculture and urban development. Hydrology is one of the primary factors influencing wetland ecology throughout Florida (Mitsch and Ewel 1979, Duever 1984). The anthropogenic alteration of the regional hydrology, through the construction of a vast network of canals, levees and water control structures, that began in the early 1900's, has had a substantial negative impact on the greater Everglades ecosystem. Largely as a result of these negative impacts, the world's largest ecosystem restoration project, or Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, was formally initiated in 2000. One of the main goals of Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan is to substantially improve regional hydrology in selected natural areas. Many studies have focused on hydrology and its effects on herbaceous plant diversity (Walker 1965, Spence 1982, Sjoberg and Danell 1983, Wallsten and Forsgren 1989, Squires 1991 , van der Valk 1991 , Squires and van der Valk 1992, van der Valk eta/. 1994, Jordan eta/ 1997). In general, these researchers have found decreased plant diversity with increased hydroperiod in herbaceous dominated wetlands. Mitsch and Ewe I ( 1979) explored biomass and growth of cypress (Taxodium distichum) under different hydrological treatments and although they focused only on one species as opposed to an entire community, they found that cypress were most productive under riverine conditions where a short inundation period eliminated competing , flood-intolerant species. Reed (1998) reported a list of wetland plants and their hydrological dependencies as indicator categories: obligate (>99% occurrence in wetlands) , facultative wetland (67 to 99%), facultative (34 to 66%), facultative upland species (1 to 33%) and upland species (<1% occurrence in wetlands). Although herbaceous wetlands have been the focus of many studies, current literature explains little about the impact of increased hydrology on the structure and composition of forested wetlands. In addition to hydrology, interaction with nonindigenous species is often a major feature of the control of forest structure (U .S. Congress 1993, Simberloff 1997). The Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council (FLEPPC) publishes an annual list of the most invasive nonindigenous species in the State (FLEPPC 2001 ). FLEPPC (2001) groups the most invasive species into two categories: Category I and Category II . Category I invasive species are defined as "invasive exotics that are altering native plant communities by displacing native species, changing community structures or ecological functions, or hybridizing with natives (FLEPPC 2001 )." Category II includes exotic invasive species that have not yet altered native habitats (FLEPPC 2 2001 ). Native habitats which have been greatly affected by anthropogenic disturbances such as altered hydrology and physical disturbance tend to be more susceptible to invasion by nonindigenous plant species (Ewel 1986, Schmitz et a/. 1997). For instance, Duever (1984) reported that melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia) , a Category I native Australian plant species (FLEPPC 2001 ), is found in areas affected by decreased hydrology where the native Everglades plant communities may be stressed by "drier-than-normal"