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Growth Responses of Baldcypress to Wastewater Nutrient Additions and Changing Hydrologic Regime

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Abstract

We used tree-ring analysis to evaluate the combined effects of rising water levels and 13 years of municipal wastewater addition on growth of baldcypress in a subsiding swamp forest in southern Louisiana. Trees in the treatment, downstream outflow, and adjacent untreated control areas all experienced increased growth coinciding with a period of widespread rapid subsidence and water-level increases in the late 1960s. Tree growth in the treatment and outflow sites began to decrease before wastewater application began in 1992, and afterward was apparently unaffected by treatment. In contrast, trees in the control site have not experienced growth declines. Hydrological changes caused by subsidence have apparently overwhelmed any effect of wastewater treatment on baldcypress growth. Increasing inundation may have increased growth initially by eliminating competition from species less tolerant of inundation; however, after a decade of sustained higher water, growth declined steadily. Release of baldcypress from competition continues at the topographically higher control site, but growth will likely subsequently decrease as ongoing subsidence and eustatic sea-level rise cause more prolonged inundation. We conclude that short-term increases in water level stimulated growth of baldcypress, but long-term increased inundation was a net stressor and was more important than nutrient limitations in controlling growth at this site.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by CSREES/USDA under project number LAB93735 and supported by funds from the City of Thibodaux. This is manuscript 2009-241-4066 of the Louisiana Agriculture Experiment Station. Richard Hartman, Ben Hartman, Jason Zoller, and Blake Amos assisted with field data collection and laboratory analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Richard F. Keim

  2. Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences and Coastal Ecology Institute, School of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Caleb W. Izdepski & John W. Day Jr.

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  1. Richard F. Keim
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  2. Caleb W. Izdepski
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  3. John W. Day Jr.
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Correspondence to Richard F. Keim.

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Keim, R.F., Izdepski, C.W. & Day, J.W. Growth Responses of Baldcypress to Wastewater Nutrient Additions and Changing Hydrologic Regime. Wetlands 32, 95–103 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-011-0248-6

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