Abstract
Herbaceous isolated wetlands in the North American Southeastern Coastal Plain are important breeding sites for many imperiled amphibians. However, most are degraded from alterations to historic fire disturbance and hydrologic regimes. Without fire, encroaching woody vegetation can transition wetlands to more terrestrial conditions and negatively impact amphibian breeding habitat, yet few studies have experimentally tested the efficacy, cost, or temporal requirement of current methods to restore herbaceous wetland vegetation. Here, we tested the interaction of manipulating wetland canopy and leaf litter/duff to promote herbaceous vegetation within one year (i.e., one breeding season) in degraded herbaceous wetlands in South Carolina. We assessed plant response via herbaceous cover, composition, and species similarity to the wetland seed bank and then related treatment performance to treatment cost. Removing trees combined with burning, disturbing, or removing duff significantly increased herbaceous cover and proportions of wetland plants and graminoids. Removing trees alone did not improve herbaceous cover compared to closed-canopy controls, and manipulating duff alone had limited positive effects on plant cover and composition. The most expensive yet effective treatment was Tree Removal-Duff Removal, while Tree Removal-Duff Disturbance was the most cost-effective. At a minimum, we recommend removing trees and burning to kickstart herbaceous recovery. Promisingly, comparisons of our data with previous seed bank studies from these same wetlands indicate there was limited seed bank attrition during 30 years of woody encroachment. Results from this study should aid practitioners in choosing wetland restoration techniques to better conserve at-risk species in the Southeastern Coastal Plain.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study will be stored in the SREL data repository and are available from SREL or the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Agresti A (1980) Generalized odds ratios for Ordinal Data. Biometrics 36:59–67. https://doi.org/10.2307/2530495
Aust WM, Bolding MC, Barrett SM (2020) Silviculture in forested wetlands: Summary of current forest operations, potential effects, and long-term experiments. Wetlands 40:2136. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-019-01191-6
Battaglia LL, Collins BS (2006) Linking hydroperiod and vegetation response in Carolina bay wetlands. Plant Ecol 184:173–185. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-005-9062-7
Bernhardt KG, Koch M, Kropf M et al (2008) Comparison of two methods characterizing the seed bank of amphibious plants in submerged sediments. Aquat Bot 88:171–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquabot.2007.10.004
Brinson MM, Malvárez AI (2002) Temperate freshwater wetlands: types, status, and threats. Environ Conserv 29:115–133. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892902000085
Brooks GC, Gorman TA, Jones KC, Chandler HC, Rincon BK, Sisson MA, Himes J, Haas CA (2023) Removing duff layers in fire-suppressed wetlands can aid habitat restoration efforts. Wetlands 43:95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-023-01739-7
Burrow AK, Lance S (2022) Restoration of geographically isolated wetlands: an amphibian-centric review of methods and effectiveness. Diversity 14:879. https://doi.org/10.3390/d14100879
Burrow AK, Maerz JC (2021) Experimental confirmation of effects of leaf litter type and light on tadpole performance for two priority amphibians. Ecosphere 12:9. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3729
Burrow AK, Maerz JC (2022) How plants affect amphibian populations. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 97:1749–1767. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12861
Calhoun AJK, Mushet DM, Bell KP et al (2017) Temporary wetlands: challenges and solutions to conserving a ‘disappearing’ ecosystem. Biol Conserv 211:3–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.11.024
Cartwright JM, Wolfe WJ (2016) Insular ecosystems of the southeastern United States—A regional synthesis to support biodiversity conservation in a changing climate. US Geol Surv Prof Paper. https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1828
Cayton HL, Haddad NM, Henry EH et al (2023) Restoration success varies based on time since restoration in a disturbance-dependent ephemeral wetland ecosystem. Restor Ecol. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13883
Chandler HC, McLaughlin DL, Gorman TA et al (2017) Drying rates of ephemeral wetlands: implications for breeding amphibians. Wetlands 37:545–557. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-017-0889-1
Christensen RHB (2022) Ordinal - regression models for ordinal fata. R package
Comer P, Goodin K, Tomaino A et al (2005) Biodiversity values of geographically isolated wetlands in the United States. NatureServe, Arlington, VA
R Core Team (2022) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing v4.2.2
Crawford BA, Farmer AL, Enge KM et al (2022a) Breeding dynamics of gopher frog metapopulations over 10 years. J Fish Wildl Manage 13:422–436. https://doi.org/10.3996/JFWM-21-076
Crawford BA, Maerz JC, Terrell VCK, Moore CT (2022b) Population viability analysis for a pond-breeding amphibian under future drought scenarios in the southeastern United States. Global Ecol Conserv 36:e02119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02119
Daszak P, Scott DE, Kilpatrick AM et al (2005) Amphibian population declines at Savannah River Site are linked to climate, not chytridiomycosis. Ecology 86:3232–3237
Davidson NC, van Dam AA, Finlayson CM, McInnes RJ (2019) Worth of wetlands: revised global monetary values of coastal and inland wetland ecosystem services. Mar Freshw Res 70:1189–1194. https://doi.org/10.1071/MF18391
De Steven D, Gramling JM (2012) Diverse characteristics of wetlands restored under the wetlands reserve program in the southeastern United States. Wetlands 32:593–604. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-012-0303-y
De Steven D, Harrison CA (2022) A hydrogeologic landscapes framework for depressional wetland vegetation in the southeastern Coastal Plain, USA. Wetlands 42:72. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-022-01582-2
De Steven D, Toner MM (2004) Vegetation of Upper Coastal Plain depression wetlands: environmental templates and wetland dynamics within a landscape framework. Wetlands 24:23–42. https://doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2004)024[0023:voucpd]2.0.co;2
De Steven D, Sharitz RR, Singer JH, Barton CD (2006) Testing a passive revegetation approach for restoring coastal plain depression wetlands. Restor Ecol 14:452–460. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-100x.2006.00153.x
De Steven D, Sharitz RR, Barton CD (2010) Ecological outcomes and evaluation of success in passively restored southeastern depressional wetlands. Wetlands 30:1129–1140. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-010-0100-4
Earl JE, Castello PO, Cohagen KE, Semlitsch RD (2014) Effects of subsidy quality on reciprocal subsidies: how leaf litter species changes frog biomass export. Oecologia 175:209–218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-013-2870-x
Enge KM, Farmer AL, Mays JD et al (2014) Survey of winter breeding amphibian species. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Fox J, Weisberg S (2018) Visualizing fit and lack of fit in complex regression models with predictor effect plots and partial residuals. J Stat Softw 87:1–27. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v087.i09
Frost CC (1995) Presettlement fire regimes in southeastern marshes, peatlands, and swamps. Proceedings 19th tall timbers fire ecology conference: fire in wetlands: a management perspective. Tall Timbers Research Inc., Tallahassee
Gianopulos K, Shiflett S, Baker V, Rubino G (2021) Aquatic macroinvertebrate communities in relation to environmental variables in restoration and reference wetlands in North Carolina, USA. Wetlands Ecol Manage 29:823–841. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273021-09812-w
Golladay SW, Clayton BA, Brantley ST et al (2021) Forest restoration increases isolated wetland hydroperiod: a long-term case study. Ecosphere 12(5). https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3495
Gorman TA, Haas CA, Bishop DC (2009) Factors related to occupancy of breeding wetlands by flatwoods salamander larvae. Wetlands 29:323–329. https://doi.org/10.1672/08-155.1
Gorman TA, Haas CA, Himes JG (2013) Evaluating methods to restore amphibian habitat in fire-suppressed pine flatwoods wetlands. Fire Ecol 9:96–109. https://doi.org/10.4996/fireecology0901096
Gorman TA, Powell SD, Jones KC, Haas CA (2014) Microhabitat characteristics of egg deposition sites used by reticulated flatwoods salamanders. Herpetological Conserv Biology 9:543–550
Groffman PM, Baron JS, Blett T et al (2006) Ecological thresholds: the key to successful environmental management or an important concept with no practical application? Ecosystems 9:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-003-0142-z
Hiers JK, O’Brien JJ, Will RE, Mitchell RJ (2007) Forest floor depth mediates understory vigor in xeric Pinus palustris ecosystems. Ecol Appl 17:806–814
Holm GO Jr, Sasser CE (2008) The management and ecology of the wetland grass, maidencane. J Aquat Plant Manage 46:51–60
Irvine KM, Rodhouse TJ (2010) Power analysis for trend in ordinal cover classes: implications for long-term vegetation monitoring. J Veg Science: Official Organ Int Association Veg Sci 21:1152–1161
Johnson SA (2005) Conservation and life history of the striped newt, the importance of habitat connectivity. In: Meshaka WE and Babbitt KJ (Eds.) Amphibians and reptiles: status and conservation in Florida. Malabar, Florida, USA 91–98
Jones CN, McLaughlin DL, Henson K et al (2018) From salamanders to greenhouse gases: does upland management affect wetland functions? Front Ecol Environ 16:14–19. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1744
Just MG, Hohmann MG, Hoffmann WA (2016) Where fire stops: vegetation structure and microclimate influence fire spread along an ecotonal gradient. Plant Ecol 217:631–644. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-015-0545-x
Jutila HM, Grace JB (2002) Effects of disturbance on germination and seedling establishment in a coastal prairie grassland: a test of the competitive release hypothesis. J Ecol 90:291–302. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2745.2001.00665.x
Kauf Z, Damsohn W, Fangmeier A (2019) How much does fire behavior of leaf litter beds change within two months? Fire 2:33. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire2020033
Kentula ME, Paulsen SG (2019) The 2011 National Wetland Condition Assessment: overview and an invitation. Environ Monit Assess 191:325. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7316-4
Kirby RE, Lewis SJ, Sexson TN (1988) Fire in north American wetland ecosystems and fire-wildlife relations: an annotated bibliography. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
Kirkman KL (1995) Impacts of fire and hydrological regimes on vegetation in depression wetlands of southeastern USA: In fire in wetlands: a management perspective. Proceedings of the Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference USA 19:10–20. doi:https://www.talltimbers.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Kirkman1995_op.pdf
Kirkman KL, Jack SB (2017) Ecological restoration and management of longleaf pine forests. CRC
Kirkman LK, Sharitz RR (1994) Vegetation disturbance and maintenance of diversity in intermittently flooded Carolina bays in South Carolina. Ecol Appl 4:177–188. https://doi.org/10.2307/1942127
Kirkman LK, Lide RF, Wein G, Sharitz RR (1996) Vegetation changes and land-use legacies of depression wetlands of the western coastal plain of South Carolina: 1951–1992. Wetlands 16:564–576. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03161347
Kirkman KL, Goebel PC, West L et al (2000) Depressional wetland vegetation types: a question of plant community development. Wetlands 20:373–385. https://doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2000)020[0373:DWVTAQ]2.0.CO;2
Kirkman LK, Smith LL, Golladay SW (2012) Southeastern depressional wetlands. In: Batzer DP, Baldwin AH (eds) Wetland habitats of North America: Ecology and Conservation concerns. University of California Press, pp 203–215
Klaus JM, Noss RF (2016) Specialist and generalist amphibians respond to wetland restoration treatments. J Wildl Manag 80:1106–1119. https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.21091
Kreye JK, Brewer NW, Morgan P et al (2014) Fire behavior in masticated fuels: a review. For Ecol Manag 314:193–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2013.11.035
Lance CM (2022) Larval and post-metamorphic ecology of the dusky gopher frog (Rana sevosa). MSc, Thesis, Western Carolina University
Lane CR, D’Amico E (2010) Calculating the ecosystem service of water storage in isolated wetlands using LiDAR in North Central Florida, USA. Wetlands 30:967–977. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-010-0085-z
Lane CR, D’Amico E, Autrey B (2012) Isolated wetlands of the southeastern United States: abundance and expected condition. Wetlands 32:753–767. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-012-0308-6
Langton S (1990) Avoiding edge effects in agroforestry experiments; the use of neighbor-balanced designs and guard areas. Agroforest Syst 12:173–185
Leibowitz SG (2003) Isolated wetlands and their functions: an ecological perspective. Wetlands 23:517–531 10.1672/0277–5212(2003)023[0517:IWATFA]2.0.CO;2
Liner AE, Smith LL, Golladay SW et al (2008) Amphibian distributions within three types of isolated wetlands in southwest Georgia. The American Midland Naturalist 160:69–81. https://doi.org/10.1674/0003-0031(2008)160[69:ADWTTO]2.0.CO;2
Maggard A (2021) Costs and trends of southern forestry practices 2020. Alabama Cooperative Extension System
Martin KL, Kirkman KL (2009) Management of ecological thresholds to re-establish disturbance-maintained herbaceous wetlands of the south-eastern USA. J Appl Ecol 46:906–914. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2009.01659.x
McNellie MJ, Dorrough J, Oliver I (2019) Species abundance distributions should underpin ordinal cover-abundance transformations. Appl Veg Sci. https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12437
Moreno-Mateos D, Power ME, Comín FA, Yockteng R (2012) Structural and functional loss in restored wetland ecosystems. PLoS Biol 10:e1001247. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001247
Mulhouse JM, Burbage LE, Sharitz RR (2005a) Seed bank-vegetation relationships in herbaceous Carolina bays: Responses to climatic variability. Wetlands 25:738–747. doi: https://springer.longhoe.net/article/10.1672/0277-5212(2005)025[0738:SBRIHC]2.0.CO;2
Mulhouse JM, De Steven D, Lide RF, Sharitz RR (2005b) Effects of dominant species on vegetation change in Carolina bay wetlands following a multi-year drought. J Torrey Bot Soc 132:411–420
NatureServe (2023) NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available https://explorer.natureserve.org/. (Accessed: December 9, 2023)
Noss RF (2018) Fire ecology of Florida and the southeastern coastal plain. University Press of Florida
U.S. Office of Personnel Management (2023) 2023 General Schedule (GS) Locality Pay Tables. https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/2023/general-schedule/. Accessed 7 February 2023
Pechmann JHK, Scott DE, Gibbons JW, Semlitsch RD (1989) Influence of wetland hydroperiod on diversity and abundance of metamorphosing juvenile amphibians. Wetlands Ecol Manage 1:3–11. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00177885
Price JN, Wright BR, Gross CL (2010) Comparison of seedling emergence and seed extraction techniques for estimating the composition of soil seed banks. Methods Ecol Evol. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2010.00011.x
Rodhouse TJ, Irvine KM, Sheley RL, Smith BS (2014) Predicting foundation bunchgrass species abundances: model-assisted decision‐making in protected‐area sagebrush steppe. https://doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00169.1
Russell KR, Van Lear DH, Guynn DC (1999) Prescribed fire effects on herpetofauna: review and management implications. Wildl Soc Bull 27:374–384
Sacerdote AB, King RB (2009) Dissolved oxygen requirements for hatching success of two ambystomatid salamanders in restored ephemeral ponds. Wetlands 29:1202–1213
Schalles JF, Sharitz RR, Gibbons JW et al (1989) Carolina bays of the Savannah River Plant SRO-NERP-18. Savannah River Plant National Environmental Research Park Program. https://doi.org/10.2172/5133713
Semlitsch RD, Walls SC, Barichivich WJ, O’Donnell KM (2017) Extinction debt as a driver of amphibian declines: an example with imperiled flatwoods salamanders. J Herpetology 51:12–18. https://doi.org/10.1670/16-090
Sharitz RR, Gresham CA (1998) Pocosins and Carolina bays. In: Messina MG, Conner WH (eds) Southern forested wetlands: ecology and management. CRC, Boca Raton, pp 343–377
Skelly DK, Bolden SR, Freidenburg LK (2014) Experimental canopy removal enhances diversity of vernal pond amphibians. Ecol Appl 24:340–345. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1042.1
Sørensen TA (1948) A method of establishing groups of equal amplitude in plant sociology based on similarity of species content, and its application to analyses of the vegetation on Danish commons. K Dan Vidensk Selsk Biol Skr 5:1–34
Stuber OS, Kirkman KL, Hepinstall-Cymerman J, Martin GI (2016) The ecological condition of geographically isolated wetlands in the southeastern United States: the relationship between landscape level assessments and macrophyte assemblages. Ecol Ind 62:191–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.11.037
Sutter RD, Kral R (1994) The ecology, status, and conservation of two non-alluvial wetland communities in the South Atlantic and Eastern Gulf coastal plain, USA. Biol Conserv 68:235–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3207(94)90411-1
Thurgate N, Pechmann JH (2007) Canopy closure, competition, and the endangered dusky gopher frog. J Wildl Manag. https://doi.org/10.2193/2005-586
USDA NRCS (2023) The PLANTS Database. http://plants.usda.gov. National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA. Accessed 25 August 2023
Wagner KI, Gallagher SK, Hayes M (2008) Wetland restoration in the new millennium: do research efforts match opportunities? Restoration. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526100X.2008.00433.x
Watt KM, Golladay SW (1999) Organic Matter dynamics in seasonally inundated, forested wetlands of the gulf coastal plain. Wetlands 19:139–148. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03161742
Weakley AS (2020) Flora of the southeastern United States: South Carolina. University of North Carolina Herbarium, North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, NC
Wells BW (1928) Plant communities of the coastal plain of North Carolina and their successional relations. Ecology 9:230–242. https://doi.org/10.2307/1929356
Wharton CH (1978) The natural environments of Georgia. Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Whigham DF, Jordan TE (2003) Isolated wetlands and water quality. Wetlands 23:541–549. https://doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2003)023[0541:IWAWQ]2.0.CO;2
White DL, Gaines KF (2000) The Savannah River Site: site description, land use and management history. Stud Avian Biology 21:8–17
Williams BK, Rittenhouse TAG, Semlitsch RD (2008) Leaf litter input mediates tadpole performance across forest canopy treatments. Oecologia 155:377–384. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-007-0920-y
Workman SW, McLeod KW (1990) Vegetation of the Savannah River Site: major community types. Savannah River Ecology Lab., Aiken, SC (USA)
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the following people for assisting with implementing field treatments: Adam McFall, Kiersten Nelson, Corinne Sweeney, Chris McBride, the U.S. Forest Service - Savannah River (USFS-SR) Fire Shop and crew, and the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory maintenance and outreach staff. I want to give a special thanks to Jarvis Brown and Kevin Pope at the USFS-SR for conducting the fire treatments for this study. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management under Award Number DE–EM0005228 to the University of Georgia Research Foundation.
Funding
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management under Award Number DE–EM0005228 to the University of Georgia Research Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Conceptualization: E. Tucker Stonecypher, Stacey L. Lance. Methodology: E. Tucker Stonecypher, Elizabeth G. King, Scott M. Weir, Linda S. Lee, Stacey L. Lance, Charles E. Davis. Formal analysis and investigation: E. Tucker Stonecypher, Scott M. Weir. Writing– original draft preparation: E. Tucker Stonecypher, Stacey L. Lance. Writing– review and editing: E. Tucker Stonecypher, Elizabeth G. King, Scott M. Weir, Linda S. Lee, Stacey L. Lance, Charles E. Davis. Funding acquisition: Stacey Lance. Resources: Stacey Lance. Supervision: E. Tucker Stonecypher, Stacey Lance.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing Interests
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Disclaimer
This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic Supplementary Material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Stonecypher, E.T., Lee, L.S., Weir, S.M. et al. Efficacy and Costs of Restoring Wetland Breeding Habitat for Imperiled Amphibians in the Southeastern U.S.. Wetlands 44, 65 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-024-01821-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-024-01821-8