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ARS Home » Plains Area » Mandan, North Dakota » Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #324618
Title: Wetland soil carbon in a watershed context for the prairie pothole region

Author
item PHILLIPS, REBECCA - Landcare Research
item FICKEN, CARI - Duke University
item EKEN, MIKKI - Ecological Insights
item Hendrickson, John
item BEERI, OFER - University Of North Dakota

Submitted to: Journal of Environmental Quality
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/10/2015
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The Prairie Pothole Region is one of the most important regions in North America for breeding, nesting and migrating grassland birds and waterfowl. Understanding more about the role that landscape position, previous land use history and soil removal play in carbon dynamics and restoration is important for land managers and mitigation banking teams. Three privately owned focus areas were chosen for evaluate carbon dynamics and while seedling emergence and seed bank dynamics were studied on one of the three areas. Results suggested that increased carbon inputs in network drained systems compared to headwater systems was balanced by greater carbon turnover. Native prairie had greater stocks of soil organic carbon than did restored grasslands (Conservation Reserve Program). Plant emergence decreased with increased soil removal. This information can be used to help in restoring and monitoring wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region.

Technical Abstract: Wetland restoration in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) often involves soil removal to enhance water storage volume and/or remove seedbanks of invasive species. Consequences of soil removal could include loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) important to ecosystem functions, such as water-holding capacity and nutrient retention needed for plant re-establishment. We used watershed position and surface flow pathways to classify wetlands into headwater or network systems for the purpose of addressing two questions relevant to carbon (C) and wetland restoration practices. One, do SOC stocks and C mineralization rates vary with landscape position in the watershed (headwater versus network systems) and land use (restored vs. native prairie grassland)? Two, how might soil removal affect plant emergence? We addressed these questions using wetlands at three large (approximately 200 ha) study areas in the central North Dakota PPR> We found the cumulative amount of C mineralization over 90 d was 100% greater for network than headwater systems, but SOC stocks were similar, suggesting greater C inputs beneath wetlands connected by higher order drainage lines are balanced by greater rates of C turnover. Land use significantly affected SOC, with greater stocks beneath native prairie than restored grasslands for both watershed positions. Removal of mineral soil negatively affected plant emergence. This watershed-based framework can be applied to guide restoration designs by (a) weighting wetlands based on surface flow connectivity and contributing area, and (b) mapping effects of soil removal on plant and soil properties for network and headwater wetland systems in the PPR.