Abstract
Functional assessment is important to determine whether restored and created wetlands are similar to natural ones. We investigated ecosystem processes (decomposition, biomass production) and some aspects of biogeochemical cycles (plant uptake of nitrogen and phosphorus, litter N immobilization) in a population of natural and created (mitigation) wetlands. Our goals were to quantify ecosystem processes and compare some biological and physical characteristics, in order to assess the relative performance of created wetlands. The biological and biogeochemical characteristics of the natural and created sites were substantially different. Decomposition rates for both in-situ and control litter and tissue nutrient concentrations were higher in the natural wetlands, with final decomposition rate constant values (k (d−1)) averaging 0.009 for natural and 0.006 for restored sites over approximately a one-year incubation period. Aboveground biomass production was also significantly higher in the natural sites, averaging 347 g m−2 compared to 209 g m−2. Concentrations of soil percent organic carbon, percent nitrogen, and plant available P (μgP g soil−1) were significantly higher in the natural sites. Lower soil nutrient content in the created wetlands appears to propagate through the system resulting in low tissue nutrient levels, less biomass accumulation, and slower rates of decomposition.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Aber, J. D. and J. M. Melillo. 1991. Terrestrial Ecosystems. Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Aerts, R. and H. de Caluwe. 1997. Initial litter respiration as indicator for long-term leaf litter decomposition of Carex species. Oikos 80: 353–61.
AOAC. 1990. Official Methods of Analysis, fifteenth edition. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Washington, DC, USA.
Arp, C. D., D. J. Cooper, and J. D. Stednick. 1999. The effects of acid rock drainage on Carex aquatilis leaf litter decomposition in Rocky Mountain fens. Wetlands 19: 665–74.
Atkinson, R. B. and J. J. Cairns. 2001. Plant decomposition and litter accumulation in depressional wetlands: functional performance of two wetland age classes that were created via excavation. Wetlands 21: 354–62.
Battle, J. M. and S. W. Golladay. 2001. Hydroperiod influence on breakdown of leaf litter in Cypress-gum wetlands. American Midland Naturalist 146: 128–45.
Bishel-Machung, L., R. P. Brooks, S. S. Yates, and K. L. Hoover. 1996. Soil properties of reference wetlands and wetland creation projects in Pennyslvania. Wetlands 16: 532–41.
Brinson, M. M., A. E. Lugo, and S. Brown. 1981. Primary productivity, decomposition and consumer activity in freshwater wetlands. Annual Review Ecology and Systematics 12: 123–61.
Brinson, M. M. and R. Rheinhardt. 1996. The role of reference wetlands in functional assessment and mitigation. Ecological Applications 6: 69–76.
Brooks, R. P., D. H. Wardrop, C. A. Cole, and D. A. Campbell. 2005. Are we purveyors of wetland homogeneity? a model of degradation and restoration to improve wetland mitigation performance. Ecological Engineering 24: 331–40.
Brown, S. C. and P. L. Veneman. 2001. Effectiveness of compensatory wetland mitigation in Massachusetts, USA. Wetlands 21: 508–18.
Craft, C. 2000. Co-development of wetland soils and benthic invertebrate communities following salt marsh creation. Wetlands Ecology and Management 8: 197–207.
Day, F. P., Jr. 1982. Litter decomposition rates in the seasonally flooded Great Dismal Swamp. Ecology 63: 670–78.
Deghi, G. S., K. C. Ewel, and W. J. Mitsch. 1980. Effects of sewage effluent application on litterfall and litter decomposition in cypress swamps. Journal of Applied Ecology 17: 397–408.
Fernandez, L. and L. Karp. 1998. Restoring wetlands through mitigation banks. Environmental and Resource Economics 12: 323–44.
Gartner, T. B. and A. Cardon. 2004. Decomposition dynamics in a mixed-species leaf litter. Oikos 104: 230–46.
Gusewell, S. and C. Freeman. 2005. Nutrient limitation and enzyme activities during litter decomposition of nine wetland species in relation to litter N: P ratios. Functional Ecology 19: 582–93.
Harmon, M. E., K. J. Nadelhoffer, and J. M. Blair. 1999. Measuring decomposition, nutrient turnover, and stores in plant litter. p. 202–40. In G. P. Robertson, D. C. Coleman, C. S. Bledsoe, and P. Sollins (eds.) Standard Soil Methods for Long-termEcological Research. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Hoeltje, S. M. and C. A. Cole. 2007. Losing function through wetland mitigation in Central Pennyslvania, USA. Environmental Management 39: 385–402.
Langis, R., M. Zalejko, and J. B. Zedler. 1991. Nitrogen assessments in a constructed and a natural salt marsh of San Diego Bay. Ecological Applications 1: 40–51.
Lee, A. A. and P. A. Bukaveckas. 2002. Surface water nutrient concentrations and litter decomposition rates in wetlands impacted by agriculture and mining activities. Aquatic Botany 74: 273–85.
Mitsch, W. J. and J. G. Gosselink. 2000. Wetlands, third edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, USA.
National Research Council. 2001. Compensating for Wetland Losses Under the Clean Water Act. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, USA.
Newman, S. M., H. M. Kumpf, J. M. Laing, and W. M. Kennedy. 2001. Decomposition responses to phosphorus enrichment in an Everglades (USA) slough. Biogeochemistry 54: 229–50.
Peet, R. K., T. R. Wendworth, and P. S. White. 1998. A flexible, multipurpose method for recording vegetation composition and structure. Castanea 63: 262–74.
Peterson, B. J., L. Deegan, J. Helfrich, J. E. Hobbie, M. Hullar, B. Moller, T. E. Ford, A. Hershey, A. Hiltner, G. Kipphut, M. A. Lock, D. M. Fiebig, V. McKinley, M. C. Miller, J. Vestal, R. Ventullo, and G. Volk. 1993. Biological responses of a tundra river to fertilization. Ecology 74: 653–72.
Race, M. S. and M. S. Fonseca. 1996. Fixing compensatory mitigation: what will it take? Ecological Applications 6: 94–101.
Stolt, M. H., M. Genthner, L. Daniels, V. A. Groover, S. Nagle, and K. C. Harling. 2000. Comparison of soil and other environmental conditions in constructed and adjacent palustrine reference wetlands. Wetlands 20: 671–83.
Taylor, J. and B. Middleton. 2004. Comparison of litter decomposition in a natural versus coal-slurry pond reclaimed as a wetland. Land Degradation & Development 15: 439–46.
Vargo, S. M., R. K. Neely, and S. M. Kirkwood. 1998. Emergent plant decomposition and sedimentation: response to sediments. Environmental and Experimental Botany 40: 43–48.
Wardle, D. A., K. I. Bonner, and K. S. Nicholson. 1997. Biodiversity and plant litter: experimental evidence which does not support the view that enhanced species richness improves ecosystem function. Oikos 79: 247–58.
Webster, J. R. and E. F. Benfield. 1986. Vascular plant breakdown in freshwater ecosystems. Annual Review Ecology and Systematics 17: 567–94.
Windham, L. and J. G. Eherenfeld. 2003. Net impact of a plant invasion on nitrogen-cycling processes within a brackish tidal marsh. Ecological Applications 13: 883–97.
Zedler, J. B. 1996. Ecological issues in wetland mitigation: an introduction to the forum. Ecological Applications 6: 33–37.
Zedler, J. B. 2000. Progress in wetland restoration. Trends in Evolution and Ecology 15: 402–07.
Zedler, J. B., J. C. Callaway, and G. Sullivan. 2001. Declining biodiversity: Why species matter and how their functions might be restored in California tidal marshes. Bioscience 51: 1005–17.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fennessy, M.S., Rokosch, A. & Mack, J.J. Patterns of plant decomposition and nutrient cycling in natural and created wetlands. Wetlands 28, 300–310 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1672/06-97.1
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1672/06-97.1