PARENT SESSION
Oral Session # 55: Resource Management II: Terrestrial Systems.
Presiding: E Latty
Wednesday, August 6. 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM, SITCC Meeting Room 106.
Nutrient management and duration of winter flooding determine plant responses to rising groundwater tables.
Bakker, Chris*,1, van Bodegom, Peter2, Ernst, W.H.O.1, Nelissen, Hans1, 1 Free University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NH, The Netherlands2 Free University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NH, The Netherlands
ABSTRACT- In a large scale restoration project in the Dutch coastal dunes, groundwater tables have been raised after 150 years of drinking water extractions. This rise of groundwater is accompanied by additional nutrient management, i.e. mowing or sodcutting, with the aim of restoring oligotrophic wet dune vegetation. Responses in soil parameters, vegetation and planted phytometers were measured along elevational gradients in 8 dune valleys. The effects are analysed in steps through the chain: management - abiotic changes - nutrient uptake - plant growth. Interactions between duration of winter flooding, nutrient management and current spring groundwater level appear to dominate the plant responses, rather than the separate effects of these factors. I will discuss which information we need as a minimum to build a satisfactory model for plant responses to rewetting.
Key words: plant response, groundwater, rewetting, phytometer