Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Variation in widths of riparian-zone vegetation of higher-elevation streams and implications for conservation management

  • Published:
Plant Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Riparian-zone vegetation increasingly is seen as critically important ecologically in landscapes. While generally of limited relative area, its roles as biodiversity haven and in mediating land-water exchanges are vital. Therefore, identifying boundaries of such vegetation is important and has clear management significance. We measured 20 sites from first to fourth order streams, with vegetation sampled at 10 m intervals for 100 m transects running perpendicularly to the streams. We identified locations of sharp transitions by using Bayesian model-selection. There did not appear to be a clear relationship between the width of riparian-zone vegetation and stream order and other factors such as local topography. These outcomes suggest that the delineation of widths of riparian vegetation zones needs to be established on a stream-by-stream, if not locality-by-locality basis, and that strict operational management prescriptions (e.g., set distances from streams within which logging or other disturbances are prohibited) for safeguarding potentially sensitive areas, such as many riparian rainforest areas, often will be inappropriate.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allee W, Park O, Emerson A, Park T, Schmidt K (1949) Principles of animal ecology. Saunders, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • Ash J (1988) The location and stability of rainforest boundaries in northeastern Queensland, Australia. J Biogeogr 15:619–630

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashton D, Attiwill P (1994) Tall open forest. In: Groves RH (ed) Australian vegetation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 157–196

    Google Scholar 

  • Ballinger A, Lake PS (2006) Energy and nutrient fluxes from rivers and streams into terrestrial food webs. Mar Freshw Res 57:15–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ballinger A, Mac Nally R (2006) The landscape context of flooding in the Murray-Darling Basin. Adv Ecol Res 39:85–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ballinger A, Mac Nally R, Lake PS (2005) Immediate and longer-term effects of managed flooding on floodplain invertebrate assemblages in south-eastern Australia: generation and maintenance of a mosaic landscape. Freshw Biol 50:1190–1205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ballinger A, Lake PS, Mac Nally R (2007) Do terrestrial invertebrates experience floodplains as landscape mosaics? Immediate and longer-term effects of flooding on ant assemblages in a floodplain forest. Oecologia 152:227–238

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Belt GH, O’Laughlin J, Merrill T (1992) Design of forest riparian buffer strips for the protection of water quality: analysis of scientific literature, Rep. No. 8. Idaho Forest, Wildlife and Range Policy Analysis Group, Moscow, Idaho

  • Budd WW, Chen PL, Saunders PR, Steiner FR (1987) Stream corridor management in the Pacific Northwest: determination of stream-corridor widths. Environ Manage 11:587–597

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bunn S, Davies PE, Mosisch TD (1999) Ecosystem measures of river health and their responses to riparian and catchment degradation. Freshw Biol 41:333–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burgman MA (1987) An analysis of the distribution of plants on granite outcrops in southern western Australia using Mantel tests. Vegetatio 71:79–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Busby J, Brown M (1994) Southern rainforest. In: Groves RH (ed) Australian vegetation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 131–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Cadenasso ML, Pickett STA, Weathers KC, Jones CG (2003) A framework for a theory of ecological boundaries. Bioscience 53:750–758

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carey AB (2003) Restoration of landscape function: reserves or active management? Forestry 76:221–230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlin BP, Chib S (1995) Bayesian model choice via Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. J R Stat Soc B 57:473–484

    Google Scholar 

  • Correll DL (2005) Principles of planning and establishment of buffer zones. Ecol Eng 24:433–439

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fagan WE, Cantrell RS, Cosner C (1999) How habitat edges change species interactions. Am Nat 153:165–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fagan WF, Fortin M-J, Soykan C (2003) Integrating edge detection and dynamic modeling in quantitative analyses of ecological boundaries. Bioscience 53:730–738

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fausch KD, Power ME, Murakami M (2002) Linkages between stream and forest food webs: Shigeru Nakano’s legacy for ecology in Japan. Trends Ecol Evol 17:429–434

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortin MJ, Olson RJ, Ferson S, Iverson L, Hunsaker C, Edwards G, Levine D, Butera K, Klemas V (2000) Issues related to the detection of boundaries. Landsc Ecol 15:453–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilks WR, Richardson S, Spiegelhalter DJ (eds) (1995) Markov chain Monte Carlo in practice. Chapman and Hall, New York

  • Gomi T, Sidle R, Richardson J (2002) Understanding processes and downstream linkages of headwater systems. BioScience 52:905–916

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gregory SV, Swanson FJ, Mckee WA, Cummins KW (1991) An ecosystem perspective of riparian zones. BioScience 41:540–551

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanowski JM, Wolter PT, Niemi GJ (2002) Effects of prescriptive riparian buffers on landscape characteristics in northern Minnesota, USA. J Am Water Resour Assoc 38:633–640

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson W (1968) Fire, air, water and earth—an elemental ecology of Tasmania. Proc Ecol Soc Aust 3:9–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Jorgensen EE, Canfield TJ, Kutz FW (2000) Restored riparian buffers as tools for ecosystem restoration in the MAIA; processes, endpoints and measures of success for water, soil, flora, and fauna. Environ Monit Assess 63:199–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kass RE, Raftery AE (1995) Bayes factors. J Am Stat Assoc 90:773–795

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koning C (1999) Riparian assessment and prescription procedures. Watershed Restoration Technical Circular No. 6, Ministry of Lands and Parks, Vancouver, Canada

  • Ladson AR, White LJ, Doolan JA, Finlayson BL, Hart BT, Lake PS, Tilleard JW (1999) Development and testing of an Index of Stream Condition for waterway management in Australia. Freshw Biol 41:453–468

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamb EG, Mallik AU (2003) Plant species traits across a riparian-zone/forest ecotone. J Veg Sci 14:853–858

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lance GN, Williams WT (1967) Mixed-data classificatory programs. I. Agglomerative systems. Aust Comput J 1:15–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Law B, Chidel M (2002) Tracks and riparian zones facilitate the use of Australian regrowth forest by insectivorous bats. J Appl Ecol 39:605–617

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowe WH, Likens G (2005) Moving headwater streams to the head of the class. BioScience 55:196–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowett S, Price P (1999) Riparian land management technical guidelines. Vol. 1: principles of sound management. Land and Water Resources Research and Development Corporation, Canberra, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowrance R (1998) Riparian forest ecosystems as filters for nonpoint-source pollution. In: Pace ML, Groffman PM (eds) Successes, limitations, and frontiers in ecosystem science. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp 113–141

    Google Scholar 

  • McKenzie GM (2002) The late Quaternary vegetation history of the south-central highlands of Victoria, Australia. II. Sites below 900 m. Aust Ecol 27:32–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mac Nally R (2005) Ecological edge-detection using Carlin-Chib Bayesian model selection. Divers Distrib 11:499–508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mac Nally R, Soderquist TR, Tzaros C (2000) The conservation value of mesic gullies in dry forest landscapes: avian assemblages in the box-ironbark ecosystem of southern Australia. Biol Conserv 93:293–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melick DR, Ashton DH (1991) The Effects of natural disturbances on warm temperate rain-forests in south-eastern Australia. Aust J Bot 39:1–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naiman RJ, Bilby RE, Bisson PA (2000) Riparian ecology and management in the Pacific coastal rain forest. BioScience 50:996–1011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naiman RJ, Décamps H (1990) The ecology and management of aquatic-terrestrial ecotones. UNESCO, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Naiman RJ, Décamps H (1997) The ecology of interfaces: riparian zones. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 28:621–658

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neyland MG, Brown MJ (1994) Disturbance of cool temperate rainforest patches in eastern Tasmania. Aust For 57:1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • NRE (1996) Code of forest practices for timber production, Review No. 2. Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Melbourne

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmer G, Bennett AF (2006) Riparian zones provide for distinct bird assemblages in forest mosaics of south-east Australia. Biol Conserv 130:447–457

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parkinson A, Mac Nally R, Quinn GP (2002) Differential macrohabitat use by birds on the unregulated Ovens River floodplain of southeastern Australia. River Res Appl 18:495–506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qian SS, King RS, Richardson CJ (2003) Two statistical methods for the detection of environmental thresholds. Ecol Model 166:87–97

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Read J (2001) Soil and rainforest composition in Tasmania: correlations of soil characteristics with canopy composition and growth rates in Nothofagus cunninghamii associations. Aust J Bot 49:121–135

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Read J, Brown MJ (1996) The ecology of Australian Nothofagus forests. In: Veblen T, Hill R, Read J (eds) The ecology and biogeography of Nothofagus forests. Yale University Press, New Haven, pp 131–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Ries L, Sisk TD (2004) A predictive model of edge effects. Ecology 85:2917–2926

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Risser PG (1995) The status of science examining ecotones. Bioscience 45:318–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabo JL, Sponseller R, Dixon M, Gafe K, Harms T, Heffernan J, Jani A, Katz G, Soykan C, Watts J, Welter J (2005) Riparian zones increase regional species richness by harboring different not more species. Ecology 86:56–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shirley SM, Smith JNM (2005) Bird community structure across riparian buffer strips of varying width in a coastal temperate forest. Biol Conserv 125:475–489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soderquist TR, Mac Nally R (2000) The conservation value of mesic gullies in dry forest landscapes: mammal populations in the box-ironbark ecosystem of southern Australia. Biol Conserv 93:281–291

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spiegelhalter D, Thomas A, Best N (2003) WinBUGS version 1.4. Bayesian inference using Gibbs sampling. MRC Biostatistics Unit, Institute for Public Health, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Vidon P, Hill A (2004) Landscape controls on the hydrology of stream riparian zones. J Hydrol 292:210–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welsch D (1991) Riparian forest buffers., Rep. No. NA-PR-07-91. US Department of Agriculture, Radnor, PA, USA

  • Wissmar RC, Beschta RL (1998) Restoration and management of riparian ecosystems: a catchment perspective. Freshw Biol 40:571–585

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank David Reid, Katrina Cousins, Lindy Molyneux and Andrew Rathjen for field assistance and Belinda Lees, Fiona Clissold, Alena Glasiter and Simone Jenkins for laboratory help, especially on the Leco 2000 CHN analyser. We thank John Beardall, Paul Bailey and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on this MS. This is publication number 84 from the Australian Centre for Biodiversity at Monash University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Centre for Biodiversity, Monash University, Wellington Road, Melbourne, Australia

    Ralph Mac Nally, James R. Thomson & P. S. Lake

  2. School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, 3800, Australia

    Grant Molyneux & Jennifer Read

Authors
  1. Ralph Mac Nally
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Grant Molyneux
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. James R. Thomson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. P. S. Lake
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jennifer Read
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ralph Mac Nally.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mac Nally, R., Molyneux, G., Thomson, J.R. et al. Variation in widths of riparian-zone vegetation of higher-elevation streams and implications for conservation management. Plant Ecol 198, 89–100 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-007-9387-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-007-9387-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation