Ecology of Tidal Freshwater Forested Wetlands of the Southeastern United States

Tidal freshwater swamps are unique wetland systems occupying low relief coastal areas subjected to both upland runoff and tidal flooding. These systems are especially vulnerable to pressure from human development and to climate change impacts of sea-level rise and increased drought/flood frequency. While these systems have received rather nominal scientific attention, the ecological dynamics, state-wide distribution, and conservation status of these communities is poorly understood. This book brings together a group of investigators whose principal research focus has targeted hydrological processes, community organization, and stress physiology of freshwater, tidally influenced land-margin forests of the southeastern United States. The book describes the land use history that led to the restricted distribution of these swamps, followed by descriptions of the hydrology, soils, biogeochemistry, and physiological ecology of these systems with special attention on similarities shared among tidal freshwater swamps. Overviews of tidal swamps along the Pocomoke River (Maryland), Chesapeake Bay (Virginia, North Carolina), Waccamaw River (South Carolina), Savannah River (South Carolina, Georgia), Suwannee River (Florida), and Waccasassa Bay (Florida) are presented for more specific detail. In addition, micro-tidal swamps along the rapidly subsiding Louisiana coast in the Manchac Swamp and wetlands in the Barataria and Terrebonne regions of Louisiana are described as examples of heavily degraded wetlands.