Maintaining and Restoring the Ecological Integrity of the Mississippi River:Importance of Floodplains and Floodpulses. Long Term Resource Monitoring Program

摘要

Managing the rivers to maintain and recover ecological integrity involves: (1)maintaining water and sediment quality within limits that enable native plants and animals to perpetuate themselves; (2) maintaining or restoring the master processes that enable the river-floodplain ecosystems to maintain, repair, and rejuvenate itself; and (3) preventing invasions by nonindigenous species. Master processes include the abiotic processes of flooding, erosion, and sedimentation that maintain floodplains and deltas and the biotic processes of colonization and succession that rebuild biological communities following disturbances.