Add surface mulch before/after planting trees/shrubs: freshwater wetlands

How is the evidence assessed?
  • Effectiveness
    39%
  • Certainty
    30%
  • Harms
    3%

Study locations

Key messages

  • One study evaluated the effects, on vegetation, of mulching freshwater wetlands planted with trees/shrubs. The study was in Australia.

VEGETATION COMMUNITY

 

VEGETATION ABUNDANCE

  • Tree/shrub abundance (1 study): One replicated, randomized, paired, controlled study in floodplain swamps in Australia found that mulching with woodchips before planting native shrubs had no significant effect on their overall cover, one year later.
  • Individual species abundance (1 study): The same study found that mulching with woodchips before planting swamp gum Eucalyptus camphora seedlings had no significant effect on swamp gum cover, one year later. Mulching reduced cover of the problematic herb species in one of two swamps, but had no significant effect in the other.

VEGETATION STRUCTURE

  • Height (1 study): One replicated, randomized, paired, controlled study in floodplain swamps in Australia found that planted swamp gum Eucalyptus camphora seedlings reached a similar height, after one year, in mulched and unmulched plots.

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

  1. A replicated, randomized, paired, controlled study in 2014–2015 in two degraded floodplain swamps in Victoria, Australia (Greet et al. 2016) found that mulching plots with woodchips before planting native shrubs and tree seedlings had no significant effect on their cover or height. One year after planting, mulched and unmulched plots had statistically similar cover of native shrubs (mulched: 5–14%; unmulched: 4–8%) and swamp gum Eucalyptus camphora (mulched: 6–20%; unmulched: 7–11%). Swamp gum saplings were a statistically similar height in mulched and unmulched plots (data not reported). Mulching reduced the cover of problematic common reed Phragmites australis in one swamp (mulched: 40%; unmulched: 73%) but had no significant effect on the cover of problematic reed canarygrass Phalaris arundinacea in the other (mulched: 96%; unmulched: 99%).  Methods: In February–March 2014, four 100-m2 plots were established in each of two floodplain wetlands. All plots had been recently cut and sprayed with herbicide (to control common reed or reed canarygrass) and fenced to exclude large animals. Four plots (two random plots/site) were mulched with eucalypt Eucalyptus sp. woodchips. All plots were then planted with native shrubs (1 plant/m2; species not reported), swamp gum seedlings (1 plant/2 m2) and understory herbs (3 plants/m2). Vegetation was surveyed in March 2015, in five 1-m2 quadrats/plot.

    Study and other actions tested
Please cite as:

Taylor N.G., Grillas P., Smith R.K. & Sutherland W.J. (2021) Marsh and Swamp Conservation: Global Evidence for the Effects of Interventions to Conserve Marsh and Swamp Vegetation. Conservation Evidence Series Synopses. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

Marsh and Swamp Conservation

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Marsh and Swamp Conservation
Marsh and Swamp Conservation

Marsh and Swamp Conservation - Published 2021

Marsh and Swamp Synopsis

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