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Coastal freshwater wetland plant community response to seasonal drought and flooding in Northwestern Costa Rica

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Date
2011-08-01
Authors
Osland, MJ
González, E
Richardson, CJ
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Abstract
Wetlands in tropical wet-dry climates are governed by distinct and extreme seasonal hydrologic fluctuations. In this study, we investigated the plant community response to seasonal flooding and drought in Palo Verde Marsh, Costa Rica. Climate change models for the region predict reduced rainfall and a drier wet season which would likely alter seasonal hydrologic cycles and prompt vegetation change.We quantified compositional change following disturbance emphasizing seasonal differences in plant life-form abundance across life history stages via standing vegetation, seed bank, and seedling recruitment measurements. Whereas the dry season standing vegetation was dominated by emergent species, aquatic species (floating-rooted, free-floating, and submerged life forms) were more dominant during the wet season. Seed bank and seedling recruitment measurements indicated that many species are resilient with life history traits that enable them to respond rapidly to extreme hydrologic filters. Interestingly, species richness was highest during seasonal flooding. Our results highlight the importance of early-wet season rainfall for plant regeneration and community change. Our findings also indicate that a drier future would likely have a large impact upon wetland plant communities with a decrease in species richness and an increase in the abundance of drought-tolerant emergent species. © Society of Wetland Scientists 2011.
Type
Journal article
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/15722
Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1007/s13157-011-0180-9
Publication Info
Osland, MJ; González, E; & Richardson, CJ (2011). Coastal freshwater wetland plant community response to seasonal drought and flooding in Northwestern Costa Rica. Wetlands, 31(4). pp. 641-652. 10.1007/s13157-011-0180-9. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/15722.
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Richardson

Curtis J. Richardson

Research Professor of Resource Ecology in the Division of Environmental Science and Policy
Curtis J. Richardson is Professor of Resource Ecology and founding Director of the Duke University Wetland Center in the Nicholas School of the Environment. Dr. Richardson earned his degrees from the State University of New York and the University of Tennessee. His research interests in applied ecology focus on long-term ecosystem response to large-scale perturbations such as climate change, toxic materials, trace metals, flooding, or nutrient additions. He has specific interests in phosphor
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