Contributions of both groundwater depth and surface sediment movement to vegetation pattern development in a seepage marsh : a case study on Ooneyama marsh, Gifu Prefecture, Japan

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  • 湧水湿地にみられる植生パターンの発達に地下水位と表層堆積物の移動が果たす役割 : 岐阜県大根山湿地の事例

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Abstract

In most Japanese seepage marshes, which are oligotrophic wetlands that accumulate no or little peat on the surface and are formed by seepage water, different types of plant communities create spatial mosaic patterns. The vegetation patterns and spatial changes in environmental factors (groundwater level, surface sediment and its movement) were surveyed and compared in Ooneyama Marsh, a seepage marsh in Central Japan (Gifu Prefecture). To detect movement of surface sediment, ^<137>Cs was used as a tracer. The domains of three key species groups in the marsh were ranged according to gradient of groundwater depth. The Rhynchospora species were in the highest area, followed by the Moliniopsis japonica and the woody species more than 1 m height (shrub). Pinus densflora, the dominant species in the shrub, was distributed all over the marsh, but it grew poorly in communities on wet sites and well on dry sites. The surface sediment in high groundwater areas was eroded and thin, and that in low groundwater areas was accumulated and thick. These results suggest that, in this seepage marsh, groundwater level was an important determinant of vegetation type. Moreover, groundwater level varied spatially in the marsh as a result of secondary factors such as movement of surface sediment. This physiographic structure seemed to be involved in generating the vegetation pattern in the seepage marsh. Vegetation succession in the seepage marsh may occur through changes in groundwater supply.

Journal

  • Vegetation Science

    Vegetation Science 29 (2), 91-103, 2012

    The Society of Vegetation Science

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