Journal article
Restored river-floodplain connectivity promotes riparian tree maintenance and recruitment
J Greet, S Fischer, CJ Walsh, MJ Sammonds, JA Catford
Forest Ecology and Management | Published : 2022
Abstract
Riparian forest loss and degradation due to river-floodplain disconnection is a global problem. Prospects for the maintenance and recruitment of riparian trees via restored flooding can be uncertain, in part due to competition from understorey vegetation and limited availability of tree propagules. In a field-based trial, we assessed the response of a keystone riparian tree to restored flooding, reduced competition and seed addition. We built diversion weirs to reconnect floodplains supporting riparian forest. Using a multiple control-intervention-reference study design with two restored flooding (intervention) sites, two naturally-engaged (reference) and two dry (control) sites, we assessed..
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Awarded by Parks Victoria
Funding Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people as the Tradi-tional Owners of the land on which this study was conducted. We thank: Rob James, Pete Polesma, Genevieve Hehir, Fiona Ede, Frederic Cher-qui, Darcy Watchorn, Simon Dent, Sarah Gaskill and Sarah Gregor for help building the weirs; Tim Willersdorf, Elise King, Scott McKendrick and Lane London for monitoring help; Rowan Berry, Brett Hough and Sacha Andrusiak for nursery help; and Kathryn Russell, Frederic Cher-qui,Vicky Waymouth and two anonymous reviewers for their feedback on earlier drafts of this manuscript. This research received funding from the Australian Research Council together with partners Melbourne Water, Parks Victoria, Zoos Victoria and Greening Australia (LP150100682) and The University of Melbourne through their Early Career Researcher grant scheme. The weirs were built with funding from Zoos Victoria under permit from Melbourne Water (Permit no. MWA-106320) and the research conducted under permit from DELWP (Permit No. 10008063) .