Freshwater wetlands for flood control: How manipulating the hydroperiod affects plant and invertebrate communities.

ABSTRACT: Thoughtfully managed hydroperiods in natural and artificial wetlands could potentially provide a combination of desirable flood control services and high ecological functions. To explore how managed freshwater wetlands typical of the Houston, Texas area would respond to different hydrological regimes that might occur if wetlands were drained in anticipation of a heavy rain that did not materialize, we conducted a mesocosm experiment with six flooding depths and seven drought durations, followed by seven months of recovery. We found that the speed in which mesocosms dried out was a function of initial water depth, with mesocosms initially set with greater water depths (30 cm) taking ~ 38 days to dry out versus zero days for wetlands that were completely drained. Individual plant species (14

SUBMITTER: Hockaday AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11221699 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature