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No. 265 March 2, 2000
aceska at victoria.tc.ca Victoria, B.C.
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Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
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MARSH CREATION IN A NORTHERN PACIFIC ESTUARY
This is the abstract of the following article, posted here with
the permission of the Conservation Ecology:
Dawe, N. K., G. E. Bradfield, W. S. Boyd, D. E. C. Trethewey,
and A. N. Zolbrod. 2000. Marsh creation in a northern Pacific
estuary: Is thirteen years of monitoring vegetation dynamics
enough? Conservation Ecology 4(2): 12.
[online] URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol4/iss2/art12
Vegetation changes were monitored over a 13-year period (1982-
1994) in the Campbell River estuary [eastern coast of Vancouver
Island, British Columbia, Canada: 50 deg. 02' N, 125 deg. 15' W]
following the development of marshes on four intertidal islands.
The marshes were created to mitigate the loss of a natural
estuarine marsh resulting from the construction of a dry land
log-sorting facility. Plant species coverage was measured along
23 permanent transects in planted and unplanted blocks on the
constructed islands, and in naturally occurring low-marsh and
mid-to-high marsh reference communities on nearby Nunn's Island.
Five dominant species, _Carex lyngbyei_, _Juncus balticus_,
_Potentilla pacifica_, _Deschampsia cespitosa_, and _Eleocharis
palustris_ established successfully and increased in cover in
both planted and unplanted areas. The planted, unplanted, and
Nunn's Island low-marsh sites had similar total plant cover and
species richness by the 13th year. Principal components analysis
of the transects through time indicated successful establishment
of mid-to-low marsh communities on the constructed islands by
the fourth year.
Vegetation fluctuations on the constructed islands were greater
than in the mid-to-high and low-marsh reference communities on
Nunn's Island. Results showed that substrate elevation and
island configuration were major influences on the successful
establishment and subsequent dynamics of created marsh com-
munities.
Aboveground biomass estimates of marshes on the created islands
attained those of the reference marshes on Nunn's Island between
years 6 and 13. However, _Carex lyngbyei_ biomass on the created
islands had not reached that of the reference marshes by year
13. Despite the establishment of what appeared to be a produc-
tive marsh, with species composition and cover similar to those
of the reference marshes on Nunn's Island, vegetation on the
created islands was still undergoing changes that, in some
cases, were cause for concern. On three of the islands, large
areas devoid of vegetation formed between years 6 and 13, prob-
ably a result of water ponding.
Adaptive management has allowed us to modify the island con-
figuration through the creation of channels to drain these sites
in an attempt to reverse the vegetation dieback. These changes,
occurring even after 13 years, further underscore the need for
caution when considering the trading of existing natural, heal-
thy, productive wetlands for the promise of created marshes that
may or may not prove to be equal to the natural systems.
Where marsh creation is warranted, we recommend that management
of created marshes be adaptive and flexible, including a long-
term monitoring program that should continue at least until the
annual variation in vegetation of the created marsh is similar
to that of natural, nearby systems.
RE: MONITORING AIR QUALITY WITH LEAF YEASTS - _SPOROBOLOMYCES_
From: David Richardson <david.richardson at STMARYS.CA>
Please note that 1 cm discs of leaves give more reliable than 5
mm leaf discs. We only used this in one study as 5 mm cutters
were widely available for collaborating schools. However 1 cm
cork borers or punches give statistically more reliable results.
I would be most interested to hear what sort of leaf yeast
colony numbers occur on the west coast, eg. on ash or maple
leaves.
Here on the east coast [in Nova Scotia] numbers are very much
lower than in the British Isles possibly because of the lack of
grass as a winter resevoir for the leafyeasts.
LIFE OF BOTANIST LOUIS F. HENDERSON
From: Rhoda Love <rglove at OREGON.UOREGON.EDU>
New Publication in the Northwest Plant Hunters Series: Life of
Botanist Louis F. Henderson
The Native Plant Society of Oregon proudly announces the publi-
cation of NPSO Occasional Paper Number 2, "Louis F. Henderson
(1853-1942): the Grand Old Man of Northwest Botany," by Dr.
Rhoda M. Love of Eugene.
The peer-reviewed paper has been formatted as a 64-page booklet
with 56 historic and modern images -- many never before pub-
lished. It is carefully researched, with 133 notes. Also in-
cluded are a chronology of Henderson's life, notes on many of
his important collections, a list of his publications, and a
list of plants named for Henderson. The research took nearly
three years and extended throughout the Pacific Northwest as
well as to Mississippi, Cornell University, The Chicago Field
Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Jepson Herbarium at
Berkeley. The Occasional Paper is a much-expanded version of Dr.
Love's earlier essay on Henderson which appeared in Pacific
Northwest Quarterly last year.
Henderson lived through the Civil War in Mississippi only to see
his lawyer father murdered in New Orleans during the Reconstruc-
tion period. Young Louis was educated at Cornell, studying
botany under David Starr Jordan, later President of Stanford. He
came west in 1874 and moved to Portland in 1877 to take up a
teaching post. He began his botanizing in Washington and Oregon
at that time. Soon after, Henderson married fellow teacher Kate
Robinson and the couple had two daughters. Henderson had several
careers in botany in the Northwest including that of Professor
of Botany at the University of Idaho from 1893 to 1908. It was
during this time that his herbarium burned, destroying an es-
timated 85,000 specimens. At the age of seventy-one he became
Curator of the Herbarium of the University of Oregon and
remained for 15 years, greatly increasing the collection.
The Native Plant Society of Oregon, a non-profit organization,
has advanced funds for the printing and mailing of 200 copies of
the Henderson Occasional Paper. The Native Plant Society wishes
to recoup its investment in a timely fashion, thus mail orders
will be accepted starting immediately. The cost is US$10.00 per
copy which includes mailing and handling. Orders will be filled
as soon as received.
To order send a US$10.00 check, made out to NPSO, to: Occasional
Papers, Native Plant Society of Oregon, P.O. Box 902, Eugene,
Oregon, 97440-0902. Please include your full return address.
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