Citation:

Fetscher, A., M. A. Sutula, J. C. Callaway, V. Parker, M. Vasey, J. N. Collins, AND W. G. NELSON. Patterns in estuarine vegetation communities in two regions of California: Insights from a probabilistic survey. WETLANDS. The Society of Wetland Scientists, McLean, VA, 30:833-846, (2010).

Impact/Purpose:

Monitoring wetlands at the ecoregion level provides information for resource managers beyond the site scale and can guide regionwide agency priorities for management and restoration.

Description:

Monitoring wetlands at the ecoregion level provides information for resource managers beyond the site scale and can guide regionwide agency priorities for management and restoration. Our study was a component of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2002 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) Western Pilot and is the first quantitative comparison of regional conditions of California estuarine wetland plant communities. We measured indicators of estuarine wetland condition in southern California and San Francisco Bay at 30 probabilistically selected sites per region. In southern California, we also assessed anthropogenic stressors by evaluating the amount of tidal muting within wetlands and by assessing the intensity of surrounding land use and population density. The regions differed substantially in plant community composition and structure. Southern California wetlands supported a higher diversity of native species, were more prone to invasion by exotic species, and exhibited less plant zonation across the intertidal zone than San Francisco Bay. There were negative effects of tidal muting on the wetland plant community in southern California, including disappearance of certain native species and the propensity for invasive species to encroach the marsh plain. Conversely, indicators of anthropogenic stress in the surrounding landscape did not correlate with plant community structure.

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