Shifts In Soil Bacterial Populations Linked To Wetland Restoration Success

November 17, 2008

Freshwater tidal wetland at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Credit: iStockphoto/Andrea Gingerich)

A new study led by Duke University researchers finds that restoring degraded wetlands — especially those that had been converted into farm fields — actually decreases their soil bacterial diversity.

But that’s a good thing, say the study’s authors, because it marks a return to the wetland soils’ natural conditions.

"It sounds counter-intuitive, but our study shows that in restored wetlands, decreased soil bacterial diversity represents a return to biological health," said Wyatt H. Hartman, a Ph.D. candidate in wetlands and environmental microbiology at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.

"Our findings are novel because they are the opposite of the response seen in terrestrial ecosystems, where restoration improves conditions from a more barren, degraded state," said Curtis J. Richardson, director of the Duke University Wetland Center and professor of resource ecology at the Nicholas School. Richardson is Hartman’s faculty adviser.

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Posted in Environmental, Science and Technology