Scott D. Bridgham
Wetland Restoration
Previous Research
My former graduate student Chev Kellogg (currently Oklahoma State University) examined wetland restoration in a number of freshwater marshes in northern Indiana that ranged in age from 2 to > 40 years since restoration. He used succession theory as a theoretical framework to understand changes in plant community structure over time in wetland restorations and examined such diverse topics as the importance of seed banks, the role of competition, the dynamics of invasive plants, and changes in nutrient and carbon soil pools over time. See my curriculum vitae for related publications.
Current Research
Plant and Soil Responses to Experimental Restoration Techniques in the West Eugene Wetlands, Environmental Protection Agency (through Lane Community Council of Governments), $78,762, 1/04 – 9/07.
Principal Investigators: Scott Bridgham, Bitty Roy, and Bart Johnson (all University of Oregon)
Graduate Students: Laurel Pfeifer-Meister, Kai Blaisdell, Julie Stewart
Undergraduate Honors Student: Laura Gayton
Collaborators: Jeff Krueger (Lane Council of Governments), West Eugene Wetland Partners, particularly the City of Eugene and The Nature Conservancy
The objectives of this study are to examine the effects of different initial site preparation treatments on the success of wetland restoration in terms of enhancing native plant diversity and maintaining soil ecosystem functioning. The study has two components. The first is a retroactive study of seven wet prairies restored over the past 10 years with a variety of different techniques in comparison to three reference wetlands. The second component of the project involves the establishment of five replicate 15-m by 15-m plots of 10 different combinations of wetland restoration treatments in an 11-acre former annual ryegrass field in West Eugene. The response variables for both experiments include native and exotic plant community composition, productivity, and a variety of soil carbon, nutrient, and microbial measurements.
This has been an exciting opportunity to work closely with a number of local and federal government agencies and environmental organizations to have our research results directly translated into conservation strategies in the local community. While on the face of it this is an extremely applied project, we have viewed this as an opportunity to test basic ecological principals in a well replicated experiment about secondary succession and plant-soil functional linkages. There have also been a number of exciting side projects involving mycorrhizae, competitive hierarchies between native and exotic plant species, and plant-pathogen interactions.
Links:
West Eugene Wetlands Restoration Research: http://www.eugene-or.gov/portal/server.pt?space=CommunityPage&cached=true&parentname=
CommunityPage&parentid=0&in_hi_userid=2&control=SetCommunity&CommunityID=667&PageID=1499
Final Report: PDF file of final report
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