Dyke-slotting initiated rapid recovery of habitat specialists in floodplain mollusc assemblages of the Elbe River, Germany
2016
Rumm, Andrea | Foeckler, Francis | Deichner, Oskar | Scholz, Mathias | Gerisch, Michael
Dyke openings are regarded as suitable measures for restoring biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in degraded floodplains. Nevertheless, only few studies evaluate the effects and success of such measures on biodiversity. The present work analyses the influence of one of the first dyke-slotting projects carried out along the Middle Elbe River (Germany) on floodplain mollusc assemblages. By applying a before-after-reference-control-impact-monitoring design, we specifically tested how species diversity and composition responded to the restoration measure. Floodplain reconnection led to a considerable increase in mollusc diversity. However, the overall community turnover was rather small only present among species with high soil humidity preferences. They mainly profited from the frequent floodings shifting species composition to be more hygrophilous and floodplain characteristic. Moderately hygrophilous and desiccation tolerant species were almost not affected by the dyke-slotting. Presumably, this can be explained by the already similar species composition of the active reference and the reactivated floodplain due to a high seepage water influence. So far, this indicates a successfully initiated recovery process. All in all, our results emphasize the crucial need of long-term monitoring to reveal the full ecological effects of restoration measures and the consideration of diversity-, community-, and species-level responses to evaluate restoration success.
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