Can bags of water help restore coastal wetlands?
Ann Arbor, MI — Coastal marshes of the Great Lakes depend on both high and low water levels to maintain the diverse wetland plant communities that provide habitat for a suite of fish and wildlife species. If water levels remain high for an extended period of time, established plants eventually die off and marsh turns into shallow open water. The seeds of wetland plants in sediments are not exposed to the air and don't get a chance to grow until water levels decrease or resource managers take action to promote plant reestablishment.
We tested whether portable, water-filled cofferdams could be used as a management tool to promote the natural growth of emergent vegetation from the seed bank in a degraded Lake Erie coastal wetland. The study revealed both the potential benefits of applying this management tool in coastal wetlands and a number of challenges that must be addressed prior to large-scale implementation.
"We learned a lot about how this technology can be used to mimic a natural low water period and help kick start seed-bank-driven growth of wetland plants," stated Kurt Kowalski, Research Ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey--Great Lakes Science Center. "This is exciting because it has the potential to allow temporary dewatering of wetland habitats without causing long-term damage to wetland sediments or permanently altering the hydrology like earthen dikes do."
Original Publication Information
Results of this study, "Stimulating a Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Seed Bank using Portable Cofferdams: Implications for Habitat Rehabilitation," are reported by Kurt Kowalski, Doug Wilcox, and Mike Wiley in the latest issue (Volume 35, No. 2, pp. 206-214) of the Journal of Great Lakes Research, published by Elsevier, 2009.
Contacts
For more information about the study, contact Kurt Kowalski, U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, 1451 Green Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, kkowalski@usgs.gov, (734) 214-9308.
For information about the Journal of Great Lakes Research, contact Marlene Evans, Editor, National Water Research Institute, Environment Canada, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 3H5, Canada; jglr@ec.gc.ca; (306) 975-5310.
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