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The Upper Mississippi River floodscape: spatial patterns of flood inundation and associated plant community distributions
Author(s) -
De Jager Nathan R.,
Rohweder Jason J.,
Yin Yao,
Hoy Erin
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
applied vegetation science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.096
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1654-109X
pISSN - 1402-2001
DOI - 10.1111/avsc.12189
Subject(s) - floodplain , flood myth , flooding (psychology) , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental science , vegetation (pathology) , plant community , geography , physical geography , ecology , geology , ecological succession , cartography , geotechnical engineering , archaeology , biology , medicine , psychology , pathology , psychotherapist
Abstract Questions How is the distribution of different plant communities associated with patterns of flood inundation across a large floodplain landscape? Location Thirty‐eight thousand nine hundred and seventy hectare of floodplain, spanning 320 km of the Upper Mississippi River ( UMR ). Methods High‐resolution elevation data (Lidar) and 30 yr of daily river stage data were integrated to produce a ‘floodscape’ map of growing season flood inundation duration. The distributions of 16 different remotely sensed plant communities were quantified along the gradient of flood duration. Results Models fitted to the cumulative frequency of occurrence of different vegetation types as a function of flood duration showed that most types exist along a continuum of flood‐related occurrence. The diversity of community types was greatest at high elevations (0–10 d of flooding), where both upland and lowland community types were found, as well as at very low elevations (70–180 d of flooding), where a variety of lowland herbaceous communities were found. Intermediate elevations (20–60 d of flooding) tended to be dominated by floodplain forest and had the lowest diversity of community types. Conclusions Although variation in flood inundation is often considered to be the main driver of spatial patterns in floodplain plant communities, few studies have quantified flood–vegetation relationships at broad scales. Our results can be used to identify targets for restoration of historical hydrological regimes or better anticipate hydro‐ecological effects of climate change at broad scales.