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Dyke-slotting initiated rapid recovery of habitat specialists in floodplain mollusc assemblages of the Elbe River, Germany

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Abstract

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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Acknowledgments

We thank the administration of the UNESCO biosphere reserve “Middle Elbe”, the nature conservation authorities, and the farmers for their helpful cooperation. We are grateful to all the numerous people and ÖKON Ltd. (Kallmünz), UFZ (Leipzig), and the Rangers of the Biosphere Reserve for their help in collecting, sieving and sorting the mollusc samples. Thanks to Franziska Löffler (Leipzig) for providing the hydrological data and to Christiane Ilg (Geneva) for general support. Furthermore, we thank Sarah Gwillym-Margianto for her assistance in proofreading. Andrea Rumm was supported by a grant from the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung e. V. with funds from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Michael Gerisch received support through the European Union–funded project BioFresh (www2.freshwaterbiodiversity.eu, contract no. 226874).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biosciences, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Leipziger Str. 29, 09596, Freiberg, Germany

    Andrea Rumm

  2. ÖKON Ltd. Ass. for Landscape Ecology, Limnology and Environmental Planning, Hohenfelser Str. 4, Rohrbach, 93183, Kallmünz, Germany

    Andrea Rumm, Francis Foeckler & Oskar Deichner

  3. Department of Conservation Biology, UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Permoserstr. 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    Mathias Scholz

  4. Department Animal Ecology, German Federal Institute of Hydrology, Am Mainzer Tor 1, 56068, Koblenz, Germany

    Michael Gerisch

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  1. Andrea Rumm
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Correspondence to Andrea Rumm.

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Rumm, A., Foeckler, F., Deichner, O. et al. Dyke-slotting initiated rapid recovery of habitat specialists in floodplain mollusc assemblages of the Elbe River, Germany. Hydrobiologia 771, 151–163 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2627-0

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