TY - JOUR
T1 - Biotic integrity of Platanus wrightii riparian forests in Arizona
T2 - First approximation
AU - Stromberg, Juliet
N1 - Funding Information:
I thank the many people who collected or analyzed field data: Matt Chew, Caitlin Cornwall, Joelle Don de Ville, Kim Fox, Ginny O’Connell, April Henry, Niki Herd, Jennifer Hickman, Heidi Johnson, Crystal Levine, Elena Ortiz-Zuazaga, Chester Phillips, Susan Pierce, Shelly Pilversack, Dave Polick, Troy Smith, and Ron Tiller. I also thank Janet Johnson of Tonto National Forest, John Schreiber of Red Rock State Park, and Sheridan Stone of Fort Huachuca for providing site information or data, and the following agencies for providing access to study sites: Arizona State Parks, Tonto National Forest, Coronado National Forest, Fort Huachuca, and The Arizona Nature Conservancy. Particular thanks to Grant Loomis of Tonto National Forest for his valiant attempts to obtain from Carlota Copper Company the hydrologic data they declined to share with me. The Arizona Water Protection Fund and Department of Defense provided financial support for this study.
PY - 2001/3/1
Y1 - 2001/3/1
N2 - Many of the streams and aquifers that sustain Interior riparian deciduous forests in the US Southwest are being dewatered, yet we know little about how the plant communities are being affected by these hydrologic changes. This study found that several measures of biotic integrity, including Platanus wrightii xylem water potential, P. wrightii radial growth rate, tree species diversity, and woody plant wetland indicator scores, varied significantly with ground water depth and fluctuation among nine sites in Arizona. P. wrightii trees had highest productivity, and the forests had greatest compositional diversity, where ground water averaged less than 2 m below the tree base during the growing season and less than 0.5 m below the stream thalweg, and where ground water fluctuated annually by less than a meter. Where ground water was at a depth of 3 to 5 m, trees had low growth rates and low, seasonally fluctuating stem water potentials. Ground water tolerance ranges differ between juvenile and adult life stages, and P. wrightii seedlings were largest and most abundant where ground water was less than 0.5 m below the flood plain surface. Productivity and diversity generally were highest in perennial stream reaches; however, values also were high at the one ephemeral-flow site (Garden Canyon) that had high and stable ground water tables. The ground water thresholds identified in this study could be incorporated into monitoring plans and used as management 'triggers' to prevent ground water mining activities from causing loss of biotic integrity in this riparian forest type.
AB - Many of the streams and aquifers that sustain Interior riparian deciduous forests in the US Southwest are being dewatered, yet we know little about how the plant communities are being affected by these hydrologic changes. This study found that several measures of biotic integrity, including Platanus wrightii xylem water potential, P. wrightii radial growth rate, tree species diversity, and woody plant wetland indicator scores, varied significantly with ground water depth and fluctuation among nine sites in Arizona. P. wrightii trees had highest productivity, and the forests had greatest compositional diversity, where ground water averaged less than 2 m below the tree base during the growing season and less than 0.5 m below the stream thalweg, and where ground water fluctuated annually by less than a meter. Where ground water was at a depth of 3 to 5 m, trees had low growth rates and low, seasonally fluctuating stem water potentials. Ground water tolerance ranges differ between juvenile and adult life stages, and P. wrightii seedlings were largest and most abundant where ground water was less than 0.5 m below the flood plain surface. Productivity and diversity generally were highest in perennial stream reaches; however, values also were high at the one ephemeral-flow site (Garden Canyon) that had high and stable ground water tables. The ground water thresholds identified in this study could be incorporated into monitoring plans and used as management 'triggers' to prevent ground water mining activities from causing loss of biotic integrity in this riparian forest type.
KW - Biotic integrity
KW - Dewatering
KW - Ephemeral stream flow
KW - Ground water
KW - Platanus wrightii
KW - Riparian
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0035282865&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0035282865&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0378-1127(00)00355-8
DO - 10.1016/S0378-1127(00)00355-8
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0035282865
SN - 0378-1127
VL - 142
SP - 251
EP - 266
JO - Forest Ecology and Management
JF - Forest Ecology and Management
IS - 1-3
ER -