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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 60(3)

Impact of secondary salinisation on freshwater ecosystems: effect of experimentally increased salinity on an intermittent floodplain wetland

Kimberley R. James A E , Barry T. Hart B , Paul C. E. Bailey C and Dean W. Blinn D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, Vic. 3125, Australia.

B Water Studies Centre, Monash University, Clayton, Vic. 3800, Australia.

C School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Vic. 3800, Australia.

D Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA.

E Corresponding author. Email: kimjames@deakin.edu.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 60(3) 246-258 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF08099
Submitted: 27 March 2008  Accepted: 25 October 2008   Published: 27 March 2009

Abstract

Intermittent wetlands are particularly at risk from secondary salinisation because salts are concentrated during drawdown. We conducted a field experiment to examine the effect of adding salt at two different concentrations (to achieve nominal conductivities of 1000 μS cm–1 (low salt) and 3000 μS cm–1 (high salt)) on water quality, freshwater plants and epiphytic diatoms in an intermittent wetland during a 3.3-month drawdown. Conductivity increased to 3000 and 8500 μS cm–1 in low-salt and high-salt treatments respectively. Salt was apparently lost to the sediments, causing protons to be released from the sediments and reducing water column pH from 6.9 to 5.5 in the low-salt treatment and to 4.0 in the high-salt treatments. Forty days after adding the salt, biomass, %cover and flower production in Potamogeton cheesmanii were significantly reduced, whereas Amphibromus fluitans was not significantly affected. The salt effect on Triglochin procera was intermediate between the other two macrophytes. Significant reductions in the density, species richness and diversity of epiphytic diatoms occurred in the high-salt, but not in the low-salt, treatments. Our work shows that increases in salinity, and thus conductivity (up to 8500 μS cm–1), in low-alkalinity intermittent wetlands can change water quality, with significant adverse effects on some macrophyte and diatom communities.

Additional keywords: diatoms, macrophytes, mesocosms, salinity, water quality.


Acknowledgements

The present study was funded by the Victorian Salinity Bureau (Project No. C221), the Water Studies Centre at Monash University and by Land & Water Australia (Project UMO18). We thank Caroline Douglas of the Wetlands Unit, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for her advice on suitable site selection, and Annaliese Sampey, Nadine Marshall and Jim Radford for their assistance with field work and laboratory analyses. Professor Gerry Quinn kindly provided advice on statistical analyses. We are also grateful to the two referees and the editor for their comments that considerably improved this paper.


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