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Climate and human modifications, including restoration, are changing freshwater availability in wetland ecosystems. Changes in spatiotemporal variability in water depth can influence biogeochemistry and aquatic metabolism (net ecosystem productivity, gross primary productivity [GPP], and ecosystem respiration [ER]). In subtropical wetlands, flocculent organic matter (floc) is a dominant form of organic matter made up of periphyton, macrophytes, and microbes. How changes in water depth with climate and human modifications of subtropical wetlands influence biogeochemistry and the metabolism of floc is uncertain and necessary to understand the consequences for carbon (C) cycling. We collected seasonal floc samples from shorter‐hydroperiod marshes (Taylor Slough Panhandle [TS/Ph]) and longer‐hydroperiod marshes (Shark River Slough [SRS]) in Everglades National Park (Florida, U.S.A.). We measured floc‐specific metabolism and biogeochemistry during the wet (May–November) and dry seasons (December–April) when marsh conditions differed in water depth, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), floc chlorophylla, bulk density, and C and nutrients. Floc biogeochemistry was driven by hydrologic changes in water depth, while floc metabolism was influenced by floc biogeochemistry and PAR in both marshes. Floc‐specific metabolism was more net heterotrophic (GPP < ER) in TS/Ph than in SRS, driven by floc bulk density, total nitrogen, total C, total phosphorus, and total inorganic C. Increasing water depths with freshwater restoration may drive higher rates of C loss in shallower compared to deeper marshes. Understanding how hydrologic changes affect organic matter lability and respiration is important in managing C storage in ecosystems.
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Quantifying effects of increased hydroperiod on wetland nutrient concentrations during early phases of freshwater restoration of the Florida Everglades
Wetland restoration requires managing long‐term changes in hydroperiod and ecosystem functions. We quantified relationships among spatiotemporal variability in wetland hydrology and total phosphorus (TP) and its stoichiometric relationships with total organic carbon (TOC:TP) and total carbon (TC:TP) and total nitrogen (TN:TP) in water, flocculent organic matter (floc), periphyton, sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense), and soil during early phases of freshwater wetland restoration—water year (WY) 2016 (1 May, 2015 to 30 April, 2016) to WY 2019—in Everglades National Park (ENP, Homestead, FL, U.S.A.). Wetland hydroperiod increased by 87 days, following restoration actions and rainfall events that increased median stage in the upstream source canal. Concentrations of TP were highest and most variable at sites closest (<1 km) to canal inputs and upstream wetland sources of legacy P. Surface water TOC:TP and TN:TP ratios were highest in wetlands >1 km downstream of the canal in wet season 2015 with spatial variability reflecting disturbances including droughts, fires, and freeze events. The TP concentrations of flocculent soil surface particles, periphyton, sawgrass, and consolidated soil declined, and TC:TP and TN:TP ratios increased (except soil) logarithmically with downstream distance from the canal. We measured abrupt increases in periphyton (wet season 2018) and sawgrass TP (wet season 2015 and 2018) at sites <1 km from the canal, likely reflecting legacy TP loading. Our results suggest restoration efforts that increase freshwater inflow and hydroperiod will likely change patterns of nutrient concentrations among water and organic matter compartments of wetlands as a function of nutrient legacies.
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- PAR ID:
- 10195246
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Restoration Ecology
- ISSN:
- 1061-2971
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13231
