Chapter Ten - Development of post-disturbance vegetation in prairie wetlands

Abstract

It has long been recognized that plants are adapted to specific environmental conditions (e.g., soil moisture, soil chemistry, air temperature, and light levels) and that the distribution of plants varies along environmental gradients producing coenoclines (community gradients found along environmental gradients). Freshwater wetlands such as prairie potholes are ideal systems for studying coenoclines because their coenoclines are short and the main factor controlling the distribution of species along them is water depth. These wetlands undergo oscillatory waterlevel fluctuations that can at times result in destruction of most of their vegetation. Such disturbances provide an opportunity to study the development of post-disturbance coenoclines. This chapter reviews what is known about post-disturbance coenocline development in prairie wetlands, addresses the development of new coenoclines when pre- and post-disturbance water levels are the same or different, and reports on some models of coenocline development.