Ecology of Red Maple Swamps in the Glaciated Northeast: A ...

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since forested wetland is the endpoint of freshwater wetland development in the Northeast. Open water and deep marsh are also relatively stable classes, at least over short periods, simply because of their considerable water depth. Shallow marsh, wet meadow, and shrub swamp were highly dynamic. From 30 Lo 8@/0 of the original acreage of these intermediate wetland types changed classification during the 20- to 33-year study periods (Table 6.1). The dynamic nature of these wetlands can be explained, at least partially, by their similar water regimes; typically, they are seasonally flooded or seasonally saturated, as in the case of forested wetlands. As a result, changes among these classes (and from these classes to forested wetland) may occur relatively quickly, especially iffactors retarding change, such as mowing or grazing, are discontinued. Not only is there a high rate of change in the intermediate wetland classes, but these classes are also declining in abundance regionally (Larson et al. 1980; Golet and Parkhurst 1981; Organ 1983). Conversely, the more stable wetland types, particularly open water and forested swamp, have increased in abundance in most cases. Two major factors responsible for the change in abundance of the various wetland types are the decline of agriculture in the Northeast and the construction of impoundments for water supply, recreation, or irrigation. Abandonment of agriculture has caused formerly cleared wetlands to advance to shrub swamp and forested swamp. That pattern of change, which began in the mid-1800's, is still significant more than 100 years later. The increase in open water resulting from human activities is a nationwide phenomenon (Frayer et al. 1983; Tiner 1984) that is augmented in some parts of the Northeast by the increasing abundance of beaver ponds (Organ 1983). Dynamics of Red Maplie Swamps In southern New England, sigdicant areas of emergent wetland and shrub wetland have developed into forested wetland since 1940. Golet and ParC\mt (1981) calculated a 7% increase in red maple swamp over a period of 33 years in Rhode Island. Organ (1983) estimated the increase in all forested wetland types in Massachusetts to be 11% over 20 years. By comparison, retrogressive changes in forested wetlands have been relatively minor. Beaver pond construction (Organ 1983), the creation of ponds for irrigating cranberries (Tiner and Zinni 1988), and impoundments for waterfowl (Golet and Parkhurst 1981) have converted some forested wetlands to open water, marsh, or shrub swamp. Retrogression from forested swamp to shrub swamp has also occurred as a result of the cutting of trees for fuelwood and utility rights-ofway. Even though data documenting forested wetland dynamics in other parts of the Northeast are not available, there is reason to believe the changes found in southern New England hold elsewhere. Based on U.S. Forest Service forest inventory data, Abernethy and Turner (1987) estimated that there was a 6% increase in forested wetland in New York between 1940 and 1980. They attributed the increase to abandonment of pastures. Increases in forested wetland were noted for all other northeastern states as well, except for Maine, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Accurate assessment of the effects of land use on red maple swamps requires a thorough understanding of both the processes of swamp development and the conditions that cause these wetlands to change to other wetland types. In the remainder of this chapter, we describe the progressive and retrogressive changes affecting red maple swamps and the successional relationships between red maple and other wetland forest trees. Swamp Origins and Development Some red maple swamps occupy deep, peat-filled basins that were lakes during their early history (Beetham and Niering 1961). Before red maple trees could dominate such sites, a series of other wetland types, including aquatic beds, emergent wetlands, and shrub wetlands, would have developed there. Because of the major change in water regime required, the progression fmm deep, open water to forested swamp would take thousands of years under natural conditions. Other red maple swamps are in shallow basins that originally may have been only seasonally flooded, or on hillsides that probably had a seasonally saturated water regime throughout their postglacial history. In these cases, the vegetated wetlands that first occupied these sites were most likely emergent wetlands (e.g., wet meadows) dominated by grasses, rushes, or sedges. 'fie transition to shrub and forested wetland in these locations codd have been rapid, as long as the climate was conducive and
seed sources for woody wetland plants were available. By definition, wetlands must pass through a shrub stage (
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Technical IIbpg~rt Series U.S. Fish
Page 5 and 6:
Preface In many areas of the glacia
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Acer rubrum (red maple) diagnostic
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Zone 111 . St . Lawrence Valley and
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Fig . 3.7. Red maple swap with unde
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Table 4.5. Flood tolerance of trees
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Chapter I. Introduction Wetland kbr
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Regional Setting throughout the gla
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C-J Spruce-Fa Beech-Birch-Maple Mit
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Fig. 1.4. The range of red maple (a
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~ b 1.5, h fircort~ of Wet landc Ir
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Fig. 22. &~lrit~ve Irtndtici~pe yos
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egional groundwakr table by the roc
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y e~rr~mtrtm~~,irzst ion. Cat~t,inu
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inflow^ Outflows OF SWQ SWI Fig. 25
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Fig, 23.6,Soasonally flmded red map
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Fig. 27. Water levels in six mode I
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The duration of soil saturation has
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Organic soils are always very poorl
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Chapter 3. The Plant Community The
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.dar02f 'B Xi? s%u?mma -?sway+xqq p
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Community S tructare Red maple swam
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suggesta a strong correlation betwe
Page 51 and 52: Table 3.2. Stmtuml chumcteristics o
Page 53 and 54: Table 3.3. Continued. "- -- - Speci
Page 55 and 56: Table __ 3.3. _ Continued ._.lll.__
Page 57 and 58: Table 3.3. Continued. . * - __.. ^.
Page 59 and 60: Zone I II III TV C" Drppnmriad* sp.
Page 61 and 62: on Long Island, pin oak, swamp whit
Page 63 and 64: fern moea (?ki.c&inz &limfulum), an
Page 65 and 66: countered (Table 3.3). The herb lay
Page 67 and 68: ~akareous Seepage Swamps England si
Page 69 and 70: and globeflower are. listed in four
Page 71 and 72: was the most likely reason for diff
Page 73 and 74: kvei fluctuation during the gmwing
Page 75 and 76: Table 4.2. .Rektit.e ~bmchnce w Q)
Page 77 and 78: difficuit to delineate in many inst
Page 79 and 80: in the librature btlx>~ithe moi~ttl
Page 81 and 82: Origin. an$ Relationship to Water R
Page 83 and 84: Influence on Swamp Vegetation Flori
Page 85 and 86: taka wpra-x li)wcir, t raac* df~rla
Page 87 and 88: dwuL 4.3 6.3. C ~ ~ ~ strisk- P C I
Page 89 and 90: Chapter 5. Ecosystem Processes Irr
Page 91 and 92: - 0 2 E E 0l *" C 8 g 00 - c_ m 3 -
Page 93 and 94: Ehnzdoltf (IWj wm mmht~nt, rru@w on
Page 95 and 96: 1976; I">irwia RE& vari iier Vdk 18
Page 97 and 98: Xletritus Exprort and 'sod Chain Su
Page 99: Chapter 6. Wetland Dynamics Most no
Page 104 and 105: kettle bogs, lakes, or large rivers
Page 106 and 107: mmdwakr depression wetlands. Becaus
Page 108 and 109: (Mniotila varia), regularly breed i
Page 110 and 111: EXusbtand arid Eddleman (1Y30) quan
Page 112 and 113: census results. Twenty-five (40%) o
Page 114 and 115: elated to avian richness and abunda
Page 116 and 117: Fig. 7.6. Wood duck (Aix sponsa). T
Page 118 and 119: Table 7.5. Small-mammal communities
Page 120 and 121: ing the latter years of flowage occ
Page 122 and 123: Chapter 8. Values, Impacts, and Man
Page 124 and 125: of the bordering upland. Both studi
Page 126 and 127: Fig. 8.1. ST folia) in pel fer. .bu
Page 128 and 129: Table 8.1. Emrnpks ofgmss loss rate
Page 130 and 131: Fig. 8.3. Southern New England red
Page 132 and 133: Fig. 8.4. Electric utility lines pa
Page 134 and 135: e expected to cause more drastic fl
Page 136 and 137: and enhancement has been a highly c
Page 138 and 139: y capturing sediment, reducing nutr
Page 140 and 141: M.R.S.A., Sect. 480.A). Research by
Page 142 and 143: Broadfoot, W. M., and H. L. Willist
Page 144 and 145: Fefer, S. I. 1980. me palushe syste
Page 146 and 147: Jordan, R J. 1978. Glacial geology
Page 148 and 149: Xew Hampshire Xatural Areas Program
Page 150 and 151: Ren MAPLE SWAMR 137 Smith, H. 1984.
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Appendix A. Sources of Floristic Da
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Appendix B. Plants of Special Conce
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Appendix B. Continued Species d Car
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Appendix C. Vertebrates That Have B
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Mourning warbler ... Nashville warb
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Appendix D. Vertebrates of Special
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~tnte"and ronsewat ion stat ilu' d
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