Impacts of Land Use on Wetland Vegetation in the Eastern United States: Timing and Scale

The timing and scale of vegetation change are dependent on the resilience of the ecosystem to land use change that alters hydrologic response and sediment transport. Using palynological methods, we examine the impacts of land use change in 2 distinct ecosystems (the subtropical Florida Everglades and the temperate Roanoke River floodplain) in the Eastern United States. Twentieth century water management strategies have modified the hydrology within the Florida Everglades resulting in varying degrees of vegetation changes depending on community type and location within the greater Everglades ecosystem. Analysis of pollen assemblages from herbaceous wetland communities such as sawgrass ridges, open water sloughs, and marl prairies, show rapid vegetation change in response to both increases and decreases in hydrology. However, evaluations of these wetland environments over longer time periods (centuries to millennia) and through natural alterations to hydroperiod (like Medieval Warm Period) demonstrated the ability of the vegetation to recover within a few decades. Tree-island communities, composed of flood-intolerant, woody vegetation, are largely resistant to decreases in hydroperiod. They are, however, less tolerant to sustained increases (greater than 5 years) in water levels, with no seasonal drying, resulting in long-term degradation. Tree-island pollen assemblages indicate rapid changes in vegetation composition when subjected to prolonged hydroperiod (essentially drowning the tree islands). Pollen assemblages from the Roanoke River floodplain provide a perspective on the impacts of colonial land clearance, altered sedimentation, and changes in flooding regimes on forested wetland vegetation. After land clearance, organic to mineral sediments covered organic floodplain soils. Palynological evidence suggests a change towards less flood tolerant communities in areas of greatest sedimentation. These results demonstrate the rapid response of wetland plant communities to alterations in hydrology and sedimentation as a result of land use changes. Comparisons of modern records with paleoecological records provide a tool to evaluate the scale and timing of wetland vegetation response to land use change.