Journal article
Restored river-floodplain connectivity promotes woody plant establishment
S Fischer, J Greet, CJ Walsh, JA Catford
Forest Ecology and Management | ELSEVIER | Published : 2021
Abstract
Riparian forest ecosystems are declining globally. Many floodplains no longer flood and thus cease to satisfy the hydrologic requirements for riparian tree maintenance and regeneration. To promote woody riparian plant recruitment where flood regimes have been altered by flow regulation, effective approaches to restoration need to be developed. We implemented a landscape-scale experiment in a remnant, temperate floodplain forest. By constructing two weirs within channelized reaches of a stream, we redirected flows into networks of historic distributary channels, which facilitated widespread floodplain inundation. Using a control-reference-impact study design, we assessed the establishment and..
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Awarded by Parks Victoria
Funding Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people as the Traditional Owners of the land on which the research was undertaken. We thank: Rob James, Pete Polesma, Genevieve Hehir, Fiona Ede, Frederic Cherqui Darcy Watchorn, Simon Dent, Sarah Gaskill and Sarah Gregor for help building the weirs; Josephine McGushin, Eliza FoleyCongdon And Harry Coleman for help with planting seedlings and Luan Cartwright, Sam Panter, Marcel Irrgang, Angela Irrgang, Elise King, Vicky Waymouth and Vanessa Wall for fieldwork assistance; and Kathryn Russell, Frederic Cherqui and Vicky Waymouth for reviewing earlier drafts of this manuscript. This research received funding from Zoos Victoria, the Australian Research Council together with partners Melbourne Water, Parks Victoria, Zoos Victoria and Greening Australia (LP150100682) and an Australian Postgraduate Award to S. Fischer. The weirs were built under permit from Melbourne Water (Permit no. MWA-106320) and the research conducted under permit from DELWP (Permit No. 10008063) .