PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #13: Restoration Ecology.
Tuesday, August 7, 2001. Presentation from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM. Exhibition Hall

Functional analysis of planted, regenerated, and old-growth cypress wetlands along the Cache River, Illinois.

Hoyer, Erik¹, Beyerl, Tammie¹, Minzner, Margaret¹, Brennan, Lisa¹, Middleton, Beth¹, ¹

ABSTRACT- A functional analysis was performed upon three wetland sites along the Cache River, Illinois, in an effort to compare two restoration regimes (naturally regenerated vs. planted) to an old growth site. Soil characteristics, canopy and understory vegetation, and primary productivity were assessed in 20 plots along two randomly located transects. The soil of the old growth site had far greater moisture and organic content than the replanted and regenerated sites (24.8%, 15%, and 12.7% organic matter, respectively, F=8.64, p<0.003). The old growth site had less dense strands of mature trees than the regenerated or replanted sites (0.05 trees m-2 vs. 8 and 0.133 samplings m-2). Production analysis will also be compared between the three sites. Continued monitoring of the regenerated and replanted sites will determine whether, with time, these sites are likely to resemble the old growth site. Our evidence, however, indicates that the regenerated site has more characteristics in common with the old growth forested wetland than the planted site.

KEY WORDS: restoration, wetland, baldcypress