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Wetland habitats: a practical guide to restoration and management

Wetland habitats: a practical guide to restoration and management Wetland habitats: a practical guide to restoration and management Nick Romanowski , CSIRO Publishing , Collingwood , 2010 . vi+178 pp. Price AUD $49.95. ISBN: 9780643096462 (paperback ). I was interested to read this book, being an active manager of a covenanted property that includes seasonal wetlands. My main motivation for reading the book was for insights about how to manage remnant wetland habitat. One of my prejudices is that active management of intact habitats can be much more difficult than restoration of degraded habitats. Restoration often has clear outcomes like removal of weeds and/or new plantings. The problem is that restoration often does not create an ecosystem that functions anything like the original habitat, especially lacking any ongoing management for the restored area. In short, restoration is seen and funded as a project limited in time; while management is a process unbounded in time with all the complexities that can arise over that time. I believe that the author, Nick Romanowski, is in agreement with me on this point, although not expressed in my stark terms. The opening chapter warns against restoration with the goal of creating an aesthetically pleasing wetland, inhabited by prominent birds or fishes. The chapter rightly draws attention to the complex interactions that occur in and around wetland habitats, for example, the need for insects that will eat vegetation and possibly make it unsightly. Chapter 2 defines the different types of wetland, which is an essential background. Being an Australian book, natural changes for wetlands are very evident with our cyclical droughts and deluges, and this is the topic of Chapter 3, which completes Part A. Part B covers threats to wetlands: human impacts first, followed by weeds and then other animals. It is in Chapter 6, on alien animals, that a distinctive style of writing is first used. Sections consist of paragraphs which include a key phrase in bold that identifies a species or group of species. The paragraph elaborates about the species or group and often includes interesting information about ecological interactions. Part C is somewhat ominously titled ‘repair’ including Chapter 7, ‘Management and restoration’. Surely this is the heart of the book? Alas, there is only one paragraph on management that discusses briefly the merits of passive observation. The second paragraph discloses that the chapter is mainly concerned with restoration. My prejudice is amplified! However, there is plenty of good advice about wetland restoration, and the discussion is sensitive to broader ecological objectives. For example, there is a detailed discussion about why captive‐bred fish in particular are generally not suitable for reintroduction into the wild, even if the species belongs in the habitat. Part D is the longest part and covers the plants and animals of wetlands. The chapter that I found most interesting covers invertebrates, especially as it describes life cycles of organisms that specialise in responding very quickly to inundation of seasonal wetlands. Once again, there is much discussion of interactions, for example, why the invertebrates need to be quick before the predators breed up. This part of the book uses extensively the distinctive style previously mentioned with clearly highlighted paragraphs dealing with different types of organisms in sequence. The book benefits from the inclusion of 32 plates, which all include several images. All images are of high quality, sometimes of very tiny organisms. However, the images are mostly reproduced with high contrast, high colour saturation and/or underexposure, to the point where the main subject of some images is difficult to discern unless viewed in strong sunlight. I imagine that the author is also disappointed by the reproduction of the images. Reflecting on the book as a whole, I feel that is more a field guide to wetland habitats than a manual on management and restoration. As I have tried to emphasise, the field guide is not simply a catalogue; rather, there are many interesting insights about natural interactions. If your aim is to manage one or more species that are described, such interactions would be relevant to your management plan. Explicit references to the many insights are not provided; instead, there is a section on recommended reading which would probably provide some relevant sources. The author is trained as a zoologist and has many years’ experience running a nursery that specialises in indigenous wetland plants. I feel that the book is the synthesis of a life spent with a passionate interest in wetlands. The presentation has an enthusiastic style and covers an enormous breadth of wetland organisms. The choice of organisms occasionally reflects the author’s personal interests, for example, platypus and water rat are included ‘because I am more than passing fond of them both’. That’s passion! http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Ecological Management & Restoration Wiley

Wetland habitats: a practical guide to restoration and management

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2012 Ecological Society of Australia
ISSN
1442-7001
eISSN
1442-8903
DOI
10.1111/j.1442-8903.2012.00668.x
Publisher site
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Abstract

Wetland habitats: a practical guide to restoration and management Nick Romanowski , CSIRO Publishing , Collingwood , 2010 . vi+178 pp. Price AUD $49.95. ISBN: 9780643096462 (paperback ). I was interested to read this book, being an active manager of a covenanted property that includes seasonal wetlands. My main motivation for reading the book was for insights about how to manage remnant wetland habitat. One of my prejudices is that active management of intact habitats can be much more difficult than restoration of degraded habitats. Restoration often has clear outcomes like removal of weeds and/or new plantings. The problem is that restoration often does not create an ecosystem that functions anything like the original habitat, especially lacking any ongoing management for the restored area. In short, restoration is seen and funded as a project limited in time; while management is a process unbounded in time with all the complexities that can arise over that time. I believe that the author, Nick Romanowski, is in agreement with me on this point, although not expressed in my stark terms. The opening chapter warns against restoration with the goal of creating an aesthetically pleasing wetland, inhabited by prominent birds or fishes. The chapter rightly draws attention to the complex interactions that occur in and around wetland habitats, for example, the need for insects that will eat vegetation and possibly make it unsightly. Chapter 2 defines the different types of wetland, which is an essential background. Being an Australian book, natural changes for wetlands are very evident with our cyclical droughts and deluges, and this is the topic of Chapter 3, which completes Part A. Part B covers threats to wetlands: human impacts first, followed by weeds and then other animals. It is in Chapter 6, on alien animals, that a distinctive style of writing is first used. Sections consist of paragraphs which include a key phrase in bold that identifies a species or group of species. The paragraph elaborates about the species or group and often includes interesting information about ecological interactions. Part C is somewhat ominously titled ‘repair’ including Chapter 7, ‘Management and restoration’. Surely this is the heart of the book? Alas, there is only one paragraph on management that discusses briefly the merits of passive observation. The second paragraph discloses that the chapter is mainly concerned with restoration. My prejudice is amplified! However, there is plenty of good advice about wetland restoration, and the discussion is sensitive to broader ecological objectives. For example, there is a detailed discussion about why captive‐bred fish in particular are generally not suitable for reintroduction into the wild, even if the species belongs in the habitat. Part D is the longest part and covers the plants and animals of wetlands. The chapter that I found most interesting covers invertebrates, especially as it describes life cycles of organisms that specialise in responding very quickly to inundation of seasonal wetlands. Once again, there is much discussion of interactions, for example, why the invertebrates need to be quick before the predators breed up. This part of the book uses extensively the distinctive style previously mentioned with clearly highlighted paragraphs dealing with different types of organisms in sequence. The book benefits from the inclusion of 32 plates, which all include several images. All images are of high quality, sometimes of very tiny organisms. However, the images are mostly reproduced with high contrast, high colour saturation and/or underexposure, to the point where the main subject of some images is difficult to discern unless viewed in strong sunlight. I imagine that the author is also disappointed by the reproduction of the images. Reflecting on the book as a whole, I feel that is more a field guide to wetland habitats than a manual on management and restoration. As I have tried to emphasise, the field guide is not simply a catalogue; rather, there are many interesting insights about natural interactions. If your aim is to manage one or more species that are described, such interactions would be relevant to your management plan. Explicit references to the many insights are not provided; instead, there is a section on recommended reading which would probably provide some relevant sources. The author is trained as a zoologist and has many years’ experience running a nursery that specialises in indigenous wetland plants. I feel that the book is the synthesis of a life spent with a passionate interest in wetlands. The presentation has an enthusiastic style and covers an enormous breadth of wetland organisms. The choice of organisms occasionally reflects the author’s personal interests, for example, platypus and water rat are included ‘because I am more than passing fond of them both’. That’s passion!

Journal

Ecological Management & Restoration – Wiley

Published: Sep 1, 2012

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