Leslie Smit DeBoer, Paul E. Rothrock*, Robert T. Reber, Scott A. Namestnik<\/p>\n
ABSTRACT<\/strong>
\nSince the concept of creating and restoring wetlands as mitigation for impacted wetlands is\u00a0still relatively new, the most effective method of assessing vegetation quality in mitigation wetlands\u00a0has yet to be determined. United States Army Corps of Engineers permit requirements for\u00a0wetland mitigations include periodic vegetation sampling, and Floristic Quality Assessment\u00a0(FQA) has been recommended as a method of monitoring wetland quality. The goal of this study\u00a0was to validate the use of FQA as a tool in monitoring wetland mitigations by comparing FQA performance\u00a0against a priori Best Professional Judgement (BPJ) and traditional diversity indices. We\u00a0also compared the variation in results from three regional FQA databases as well as the effect of\u00a0quadrat size. A total of 21 wetland mitigation sites located throughout the Lower Peninsula of\u00a0Michigan were included in this study. The sites exhibited a wide range of quality according to both\u00a0a priori Best Professional Judgement (BPJ) and FQA data analysis. Based on the Michigan FQA\u00a0database, BPJ exhibited strong correlation with standard FQA metrics, mean C (r = 0.83) and\u00a0Floristic Quality Index (FQI; r = 0.70). The correlation was marginally lower when metrics were\u00a0based upon the Indiana FQA database and smaller (0.25 m2) quadrats. In contrast, mean wetness\u00a0and total species had low correlations (r = 0.45 and r = 0.19) with BPJ. Shannon\u2019s Diversity Index,\u00a0Simpson\u2019s Diversity Index, and species evenness were poorly correlated with FQI (r < 0.45) and \u00a0very poorly with mean C (r < 0.20). FQA results from our 21 sites were very similar to those reported\u00a0for ten other mitigation sites in northern Indiana. FQA results from all mitigation sites were\u00a0lower than those seen in several natural wetlands. We conclude that wetland mitigations may not\u00a0fully replace the vegetative functions of natural wetlands in the short term, but in terms of monitoring,\u00a0FQA may be one tool used for assessing mitigation wetland quality.<\/p>\n