Linking Restoration and Ecological Succession (Springer ... - Inecol

Impermeable rock
Rainfall
Evapotranspiration
Chapter 4 Retrogressive Succession and Restoration on Old Landscapes 73
Streamflow
Water table
Rainfall
Evapotranspiration
Water table
Impermeable rock
Streamflow
Figure 4.2 Generalized water inputs, outputs and flows in a treed versus cleared landscape showing water table
rises, salt mobilization, and increased stream flow. The scale can vary from a hill slope (100s of meters) to a region
(100s of kilometers).
root zone into water tables and accumulates. With increasing stored groundwater,
water tables subsequently rise and mobilize salt upward into the root zone
of plants (Fig. 4.2). Rising water tables can result from local or regional scale
groundwater accumulations.
If left unchecked, retrogressive succession moves the system toward vegetation
collapse and development of bare salinized soil areas (Fig. 4.3). In addition,
secondary toxic mineral compounds can be produced and enter stream networks
(Fitzpatrick et al. 1996). The consequences are that land salinization and water
logging cost rural producers in the order of hundreds of millions of dollars in
Figure 4.3 Tree clearing on the upper slopes has caused salinization of the lower slopes
and the drainage line resulting in loss of ground cover and soil erosion (photo by John
Gallant, CSIRO).