We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Growth Responses of Baldcypress to Wastewater Nutrient Additions and Changing Hydrologic Regime.
- Authors
Keim, Richard; Izdepski, Caleb; Day, John
- Abstract
We used tree-ring analysis to evaluate the combined effects of rising water levels and 13 years of municipal wastewater addition on growth of baldcypress in a subsiding swamp forest in southern Louisiana. Trees in the treatment, downstream outflow, and adjacent untreated control areas all experienced increased growth coinciding with a period of widespread rapid subsidence and water-level increases in the late 1960s. Tree growth in the treatment and outflow sites began to decrease before wastewater application began in 1992, and afterward was apparently unaffected by treatment. In contrast, trees in the control site have not experienced growth declines. Hydrological changes caused by subsidence have apparently overwhelmed any effect of wastewater treatment on baldcypress growth. Increasing inundation may have increased growth initially by eliminating competition from species less tolerant of inundation; however, after a decade of sustained higher water, growth declined steadily. Release of baldcypress from competition continues at the topographically higher control site, but growth will likely subsequently decrease as ongoing subsidence and eustatic sea-level rise cause more prolonged inundation. We conclude that short-term increases in water level stimulated growth of baldcypress, but long-term increased inundation was a net stressor and was more important than nutrient limitations in controlling growth at this site.
- Subjects
WETLAND forestry; DENDROCHRONOLOGY; WASTEWATER treatment; HYDROLOGY; BALDCYPRESS; WATER levels
- Publication
Wetlands, 2012, Vol 32, Issue 1, p95
- ISSN
0277-5212
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s13157-011-0248-6