Document: RAC-3-64-35

Restoring habitat value of productive ricelands: Silver lining on the agricultural cloud, or the greenwashing of wetland destruction?

O'MALLEY, R.E.*

San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192, USA ¹

Abstract:
Many papers address the restoration of agricultural lands to natural habitat (old field). Numerous others treat restoration of filled or urbanized wetlands to quasi-natural systems. Surprisingly little formal research has treated the subject of rice wetland restoration, however, and even less has discussed partial restoration of productive ricelands to increase their habitat value for transient wildlife. This research examines 1) organically managed rice wetlands and 2) ricelands in which the natural hydrologic regime has been partially restored, in order to detect effects of these strategies on habitat value for transient wildlife. Comparisons throughout the summer growing season of invertebrate communities in conventionally managed ricefields with those in restoration treatments were used to detect temporal trends in habitat value associated with each strategy. Although hydrologic restoration has been adopted on a much larger scale, invertebrate community patterns in organic ricelands show greater promise for supporting transient wildlife. As demonstrated through conventional MANOVA and path analysis of the invertebrate communities, increased vegetation diversity and the elimination of synthetic insecticides in organic fields interact to support a more abundant, and more complex food web than does rice grown using a semi-restored hydrologic management cycle. Both strategies have significant positive effects on both abundance and complexity of invertebrates over controls. Because organic management incurs a yield drop, the net effect of the hydrologic restoration may be greater for wildlife due to its wider adoption.

Keywords: wetland restoration, rice invertebrates, sustainable agriculture, community ecology

This abstract is being presented at: 3:15 PM in session:
Oral Session #31: Agroecology.