Abstract
Restoration cases with hydrophytes (those which develop all their vital functions inside the water or very close to the water surface, e.g., flowering) are less abundant compared to those using emergent plants. Here, I synthesize the latest knowledge in wetland restoration based on revegetation with hydrophytes and stress common challenges and potential solutions. The review mainly focusses on natural wetlands but also includes information about naturalized constructed wetlands, which nowadays are being used not only to improve water quality but also to increase biodiversity. Available publications, peer-reviewed and any public domain, from the last 20 years, were reviewed. Several countries developed pilot case-studies and field-scale projects with more or less success, the large-scale ones being less frequent. Using floating species is less generalized than submerged species. Sediment transfer is more adequate for temporary wetlands. Hydrophyte revegetation as a restoration tool could be improved by selecting suitable wetlands, increasing focus on species biology and ecology, choosing the suitable propagation and revegetation techniques (seeding, planting). The clear negative factors which prevent the revegetation success (herbivory, microalgae, filamentous green algae, water and sediment composition) have to be considered. Policy-making and wetland restoration practices must more effectively integrate the information already known, particularly under future climatic scenarios.
Highlights
The term “wetland” broadly spans various types of water bodies, including seagrass meadows, coastal marshes, forested wetlands, and inland freshwater and saline wetlands
Some revegetation projects have been followed in the long-term [90]; other programs have been abandoned at relatively early stages because meaningful follow-up is a monumental undertaking, and scientists often lack the necessary opportunities and funding, while developers probably lack interest
Reflectance and transmittance spectra of floatingleaved plants can be measured, to know their influence on light availability in the water column which can alter the environmental conditions underneath the water surface [154]
Summary
The term “wetland” broadly spans various types of water bodies, including seagrass meadows, coastal marshes (salt, brackish and freshwater tidal), forested wetlands (riparian, floodplain, bottomland hardwood, mangroves, etc.), and inland freshwater and saline wetlands (emergent wetlands, sedge meadows, wet prairies, fens, vascular plants in bogs, and temporary or seasonal wetlands, such as vernal pools and mudflats). Restoration cases with hydrophytes, understanding them as the aquatic “plants” in a strict sense (that is, those which develop all their vital functions inside the water or very close to the water surface as the case of flowering; they live submerged or floating in the water) are less abundant Among other reasons, it is because working with hydrophytes is much more challenging compared to emergent plants. This review mainly focusses on natural wetlands and includes some information about more or less naturalized constructed wetlands, which nowadays are being used to improve water quality [13] and to increase biodiversity and recover other ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration [14,15,16,17]. I discuss the most common hydrophyte species used in restoration, the factors affecting revegetation and stress the challenges to evaluate the success of revegetation
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