Wetland Complex
Scenario model
Current ecosystem state
Select a state
Management practices/drivers
Select a transition or restoration pathway
- Transition T1 More details
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No transition or restoration pathway between the selected states has been described
Target ecosystem state
Select a state
Description
State 1 Narrative:
State 1 represents stable wetlands with no invasive or exotic weed species. Often this site has low species diversity as dominant species can form dense monocultures
Reference Community 1.1 can be dominated by cattails or, bulrush or, Nebraska sedge or, American mannagrass or, Baltic rush.
At-risk Communities:
All communities in the reference state are at risk because of heavy grazing pressure and other human manipulations to meadows.
Description
State 2 Narrative:
State 2 represents an altered state because of intensive disturbance. The wetland may have been drained or filled to convert to a different land use. Or, the wetland may have experienced excessive grazing. Invasive species such as phragmites, reed canarygrass, and purple loosestrife may dominate the plant community in the altered state.
Community Phases for State 2:
Can have several variations:
Reed canarygrass
Purple loosestrife
Phragmites
Mechanism
T1 Result: Transition from Reference State to altered State 2
Ecological process: Wetland hydrology altered, and site may no longer have wetland functions. Invasive species colonize the site and over time dominate the stand.
Primary Trigger: both deliberate and unintentional, human-caused, alterations such as drainage, filling the wetland with soil, herbicide drift, deliberate use of herbicides or grazing pressure.
Indicators: occurrence of invasive species where there has been none. Declining cover of native species and increasing cover of invasive species. Site is much drier than previously.
Recovery
Need to explore wetland recovery processes
References:
Boling M., Frazier B., Busacca, A., General Soil Map of Washington, Washington State University, 1998
Crawford, Rex C., Riparian Vegetation Classification of the Columbia Basin, Washington, March 2003.
Environmental Protection Agency, map of Level III and IV Ecoregions of Washington, June 2010
Natural Resources Conservation Service, map of Common Resource Areas of Washington, 2003
Rocchio, Joseph & Crawford, Rex C., Ecological Systems of Washington State. A Guide to Identification. Washington State Department of Natural Resources, October 2015. Pages 156-161 Inter-Mountain Basin Big Sagebrush.
Rouse, Gerald, MLRA 8 Ecological Sites as referenced from Natural Resources Conservation Service-Washington FOTG, 2004
Soil Conservation Service, Range Sites for MLRA 8 from 1980s and 1990s
Model keys
Briefcase
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Ecological site groups
Major Land Resource Areas
The Ecosystem Dynamics Interpretive Tool is an information system framework developed by the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and New Mexico State University.