Abstract
BackgroundsThe main purpose of this research was to assess changes in vegetation structure, wetland index, and diversity index for a 15-year-old created wetland in Jincheon, South Korea. The created wetland consists of four sub-wetlands: a kidney-shaped wetland, a ditch, an ecological pond, and a square wetland. Vegetation and water depth data were collected at each site in 1999 and 2013, and Shannon diversity and wetland indices were calculated.ResultsThe total number of plant species increased from 18 in 1999 to 50 in 2013, and the ecological pond in 1999 and the ditch in 2013 presented the highest diversity indices (2.5 and 3.2, respectively). Plant species were less diverse in 1999 than in 2013, presumably because these initial wetlands were managed periodically for water purification and installation of test beds. The proportion of wetland plants, including obligate wetland and facultative wetland species, decreased from 83 to 56%, whereas upland plants, including obligate upland and facultative upland species, increased from 17 to 44%. After ceasing water supply, water depth in all four sub-wetlands declined in 2013. Thus, upland plants established more readily at these sites, resulting in higher diversity and lower wetland indices than in 1999.ConclusionsThe major floristic differences between 1999 and 2013 were an increase in the number of upland plants and a decrease in wetland species. Although wetland indices were lower in 2013, the created wetland performed important ecosystem functions by providing habitats for wetland and upland plants, and the overall species diversity was high.
Highlights
Wetlands have various functions such as nutrient transportation, clean water supply, habitats for flora and fauna, sediment deposition, and buffers to climate changes (Hsu et al 2011; Mitsch et al 2012)
Site description This study was conducted at a created wetland of the Assum Ecological Systems INC. (36° 52′ 33.02′′ N, 127° 27′ 09.48′′ E) in Jincheon, South Korea, which was built for water purification tests in 1998 (Fig. 1)
We evaluated changes in wetland index for the four sub-wetlands over time using the community type wetland index (CTWI) (Son et al 2015; Chu et al 2016), which can be effective for monitoring sites or comparing sites with environmental differences (Coles-Ritchie et al 2007), using the following equation: Xn CTWI 1⁄4 RImpi à WIVi i1⁄41 where RImpi is the relative importance of species i in the community type and WIVi ranges from 1 to 100 for species i based on the degree of wetness, obligate upland (OBU) = 1, facultative upland (FACU) = 25, FAC = 50, facultative wetland (FACW) = 75, and obligate wetland (OBW) = 100 (Coles-Ritchie et al 2007; Choung et al 2012)
Summary
Wetlands have various functions such as nutrient transportation, clean water supply, habitats for flora and fauna, sediment deposition, and buffers to climate changes (Hsu et al 2011; Mitsch et al 2012). Created wetlands are artificially designed and constructed to remove wastewater contaminants (Hsu et al 2011) and serve as mitigation wetland to compensate for wetland habitat loss (Mitsch and Day 2006) and as a pollutant treatment system for the removal of surface runoff (Mitsch et al 2005; Vymazal 2013) These treatment systems are devised to mimic natural wetland systems by applying wetland plants, soils, and microorganisms to eliminate contaminants from. Macrophytes are widely regarded as the main biological components of wetlands They assimilate pollutants, act as catalysts for water purification (Hadad et al 2006), and affect biodiversity in created wetlands (Hsu et al 2011). Due to their important roles in created wetlands, it is essential to investigate the composition and role of wetland plants
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