Influence of land-use and conservation programs on wetland plant communities of the semiarid United States Great Plains

Published source details O’Connell J.L., Johnson L.A., Smith L.M., McMurry S.T. & Haukos D.A. (2012) Influence of land-use and conservation programs on wetland plant communities of the semiarid United States Great Plains. Biological Conservation, 146, 108-115.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Retain/restore/create vegetation around freshwater marshes Action Link

Retain/restore/create vegetation around freshwater marshes

A replicated, paired, site comparison study of 261 ephemeral freshwater marshes (playas) in the Great Plains of the USA (O’Connell et al. 2012) found that marshes within revegetated cropland had greater plant species richness, plant biomass and cover of wetland-characteristic plants than marshes within current cropland, and similar richness and cover of wetland-characteristic plants to marshes within natural grassland. Compared to marshes within current cropland, restored-catchment marshes had greater plant species richness (reported as statistical model results), greater above-ground plant biomass (restored: 420; cropland: 200 g/m²) and typically greater cover of wetland-characteristic plant species (two of three comparisons, for which restored: 22–27%; cropland: 11–15%). Compared to marshes within natural (never ploughed) grassland, restored-catchment marshes had similar plant species richness (reported as statistical model results) and typically similar cover of wetland-characteristic plant species (two of three comparisons, for which restored: 22–27%; natural: 22–26%). However, restored-catchment marshes had greater above-ground plant biomass (420 g/m²) than marshes within natural grassland (240 g/m²). The study also reported that restored-catchment marshes were dominated by Great-Plains-native perennial plants, like natural marshes, but had greater cover of non-native plants than both natural and cropland marshes (see original paper for data). Methods: In summer (year not reported), vegetation was surveyed within 261 playa wetlands. These were arranged in 87 sets of three. In each set, one wetland was within former cropland now planted with a perennial cover crop, one was within extant cropland, and one was within natural grassland. Surveys included crop plants within wetlands. Biomass was dried before weighing. Most of the sites in this study were also studied in (2).

(Summarised by: Nigel Taylor)