This work discusses how to implement wetland restoration/creation from the viewpoint that wetland aquatic plants are divided into four life forms: emergent, submergent, floating and floating leaf plants. Caohai Lake and Baiyun Lake were selected to discuss the difference of the species richness changes during the creation/restoration process. Baiyun Lake and eight surrounding wetlands have been selected to discuss how the species rich-ness, the dispersal and the colonization potential among four plant life forms affect the species richness changes and community restoration in the target wetland. The community composition changes in the introduced single dominant submergent and emergent plant community in Baiyun Lake have also been tracked to discuss how invasive plants’ dispersal affects wetland restoration/creation. The result indicated that in the process of creation/restoration of Caohai Lake and Baiyun Lake, the emergent plants have been increasing, while the submergent, the floating and the floating leaf plants began to increase and then maintained a dynamic balance. The similarity of plant community composition between the target wetland Baiyun Lake and the surrounding wetlands increased gradually, which was mainly affected by distance and river-lake connectivity. In the natural wetlands, the most common plants are emergent plants, which account for approximately 80 percent of wetland plants; this implies a greater abundance of germplasm resources, dispersal and colonization potential of emergent plants than the other three plant life forms. In Baiyun Lake, invasive plants mainly affect the introduced emergent plants community. The study confirms that before implementing wetland restoration/creation, pre-restoration surveys are required to the target wetland and its surrounding wetland. The study also finds that in Guangdong province, China, the restoration of wetland vegetation should give more priority to the submergent plants. Generally emergent plants community’s invasive preventing and submergent plants germplasm resources introducing will be the focus of the human intervention in wetland restoration/creation.
Cite this paper
Xiao, L. , Zhang, Q. , Wei, G. , Zhu, S. , Yu, F. and Han, B. (2018). Case Study of Baiyun and Caohai Lakes Implies How to Implement Wetland Restoration/Creation. Open Access Library Journal, 5, e4896. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1104896.
van der Valk, A. (2016) Self-Design vs Designer Theories and Wetland Res-toration and Creation. In: Finlayson, C.M., Everard, M., Irvine, K., McInnes, R.J., Middleton, B., van Dam, A. and Davidson, N.C., Eds., The Wetland Book: I: Structure and Function, Management and Methods, Springer, Netherlands, 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6172-8_8-2
Mitsch, W.J. and Wilson, R.F. (1996) Improving the Success of Wetland Creation and Restoration with Know-How, Time, and Self-Design. Ecological Applications, 6, 77-83. https://doi.org/10.2307/2269554
Metzker, K.D. and Mitsch, W.J. (1997) Modelling Self-Design of the Aquatic Community in a Newly Created Freshwater Wetland. Ecological Modelling, 100, 61-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3800(97)00157-9
Mitsch, W.J., Zhang, L., Stefanik, K.C., Nahlik, A.M., Anderson, C.J., Bernal, B., Hernandez, M. and Song, K. (2012) Creating Wetlands: Primary Succession, Water Quality Changes, and Self-Design over 15 Years. Bioscience, 62, 237-250. https://doi.org/10.1525/bio.2012.62.3.5
Kellogg, C.H. and Bridgham, S.D. (2002) Colonization during Early Succession of Restored Freshwater Marshes. Canadian Journal of Bota-ny-Revue Canadienne De Botanique, 80, 176-185. https://doi.org/10.1139/b02-001
Mitsch, W.J., Lefeuvre, J.C. and Bouchard, V. (2002) Ecological Engineering Applied to River and Wetland Restoration. Ecological Engineering, 18, 529-541. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0925-8574(02)00018-6
Kendrick, G.A., Waycott, M., Carruthers, T.J.B., Cambridge, M.L., Hovey, R., Krauss, S.L., Lavery, P.S., Les, D.H., Lowe, R.J., Vidal, O.M., Ooi, J.L.S., Orth, R.J., Rivers, D.O., Ruiz-Montoya, L., Sinclair, E.A., Statton, J., van Dijk, J.K. and Verduin, J.J. (2012) The Central Role of Dispersal in the Maintenance and Per-sistence of Seagrass Populations. BioScience, 62, 56-65. https://doi.org/10.1525/bio.2012.62.1.10
Berkovic, B., Cabaco, S., Barrio, J.M., Rui, S., Serr？o, E.A. and Alberto, F. (2014) Extending the Life History of a Clonal Aquatic Plant: Dis-persal Potential of Sexual and Asexual Propagules of Zostera noltii. Aquatic Botany, 113, 123-129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquabot.2013.10.007
Darwin, C.R. (1859) On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. John Murray, Lon-don.
Barrat-Segretain, M.H. (1996) Strategies of Reproduction, Dispersion, and Competition in River Plants: A Review. Vegetatio, 123, 13-37. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00044885
Raulings, E., Morris, K.A.Y., Thompson, R. and Nally, R.M. (2011) Do Birds of a Feather Disperse Plants Together? Freshwater Biology, 56, 1390-1402. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2011.02576.x
Pollux, B.J., Jong, M.D., Steegh, A., Verbruggen, E., van Groenendael, J.M. and Ouborg, N.J. (2007) Reproductive Strategy, Clonal Structure and Genetic Diversity in Populations of the Aquatic Macrophyte Sparganium emersum in River Systems. Molecular Ecology, 16, 313-325. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.03146.x
Nilsson, C., Brown, R.L., Jansson, R. and Merritt, D.M. (2010) The Role of Hydrochory in Structuring Riparian and Wetland Vegetation. Biological Reviews, 85, 837-858.
Li, W. (2014) Environmental Opportunities and Constraints in the Reproduction and Dispersal of Aquatic Plants. Aquatic Botany, 118, 62-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquabot.2014.07.008
Smulders, M.J.M., Cottrell, J.E., Lefèvre, F., Schoot, J.V.D., Arens, P., Vosman, B., et al. (2008) Structure of the Genetic Diversity in Black Poplar (Populus nigra L.) Populations across European River Systems: Consequences for Conservation and Restoration. Forest Ecology and Manage-ment, 255, 1388-1399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2007.10.063
Santamaria, L. (2002) Why Are Most Aquatic Plants Widely Distributed? Dispersal, Clonal Growth and Small-Scale Heterogeneity in a Stressful Environment. Acta Oecologica—International Journal of Ecology, 23, 137-154. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1146-609X(02)01146-3
Seabloom, E.W. and van der Valk, A.G. (2003) Plant Diver-sity, Composition, and Invasion of Restored and Natural Prairie Pothole Wetlands: Implications for Restoration. Wetlands, 23, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2003)023 [0001:PDCAIO]2.0.CO;2
Anderson, K.J. (2007) Temporal Patterns in Rates of Community Change during Succession. The American Naturalist, 169, 780-793. https://doi.org/10.1086/516653
Liu, G.D., Tian, K., Sun, J., Xiao, D. and Yuan, X. (2016) Evaluating the Effects of Wetland Restoration at the Watershed Scale in Northwest Yunnan Plateau, China. Wetlands, 36, 169-183. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-015-0727-2
Edwards, K.R. and Proffitt, C.E. (2003) Comparison of Wetland Structural Characteristics between Created and Natural Salt Marshes in Southwest Louisi-ana, USA. Wetlands, 23, 344-356. https://doi.org/10.1672/10-20
Yuan, J.M. (1986) Research on Aquatic Vegetation and Biomass of Caohai Lake. In: Institute of Biology, Guizhou Academy of Sciences, Eds., Report on Scientific Investigation of Caohai Lake, Guizhou People’s Press, Guiyang, 134-145.
Chen, X., Xia, Y.P., Li, Q., et al. (2007) Study on the Change of Aquatic Vegetation and Biomass in the National Nature Reserve of Caohai Lake. In: Zhang, H.H., Li, M.J. and Yao, S.L., Eds., Caohai Lake Research, Guizhou Cience and Technology Press, Guiyang, 141.
Liu, W., Li, H., Zhang, Y.W. and Yuan, G. (2015) Distribution Status and Changes in Recent 30 Years of Aquatic Vascular Plants in Caohai of Guizhou. Hubei Agricultural Sci-ences, 54, 5872-5876.
Jaccard, P. (1912) The Distribution of the Flora in the Alpine Zone. The New Phytologist, 11, 37-50. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2427226 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1912.tb05611.x
Goldyn, H. (2010) Changes in Plant Species Diversity of Aquatic Ecosystems in the Agricultural Landscape in West Poland in the Last 30 Years. Biodiversity and Conservation, 19, 61-80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-009-9702-7
Feng, C., Wang, X.L., Wang, Z.X. and Ban, J.D. (1989) Studies on the Communities of Aquatic Vascular Plant in Changhu Lake. Journal of Wuhan Botanical Research, 7, 123-130.
Hao, M.X., Yang, L., Kong, X.H., Xu, X., Lu, W. and Li, Z.Q. (2015) Diversity and Community Succession of Macrophytes in Lake Changhu, Hubei Province. Journal of Lake Sciences, 27, 94-102. https://doi.org/10.18307/2015.0112
van der Valk, A.G., Pederson, R.L. and Davis, C.B. (1992) Restoration and Creation of Freshwater Wetlands Using Seed Banks. Wetlands Ecology & Management, 1, 191-197. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00244924
Ailstock, M.S., Norman, C.M. and Bushmann, P.J. (2001) Common Reed Phragmites australis: Control and Effects upon Biodiversity in Freshwater Nontidal Wetlands. Restoration Ecology, 9, 49-59. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1526-100x.2001.009001049.x
van der Valk, A.G., Bremholm, T.L. and Gor-don, E. (1999) The Restoration of Sedge Meadows: Seed Viability, Seed Germination Requirements, and Seedling Growth of Carex Species. Wetlands, 19, 756-764. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03161782
Akasaka, M. and Takamura, N. (2011) The Relative Importance of Dis-persal and the Local Environment for Species Richness in Two Aquatic Plant Growth Forms. Oikos, 120, 38-46. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18497.x
Kl？tzli, F. and Grootjans, A.P. (2010) Restoration of Nat-ural and Semi-Natural Wetland Systems in Central Europe: Progress and Predictability of Developments. Restoration Ecolo-gy, 9, 209-219. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1526-100x.2001.009002209.x
Hussner, A. (2009) Growth and Photosynthesis of Four Invasive Aquatic Plant Species in Europe. Weed Research, 49, 506-515. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3180.2009.00721.x
Miao, L.H., Ji, M.C., Wang, Y.Y., Qiao, D.D. and Chen, Y.C. (2011) Study on Invasion Risk of Hydroeotyle vulgaris as an Alien Species in Wetlands. Journal of Zhejiang University, 37, 425-431.
