The impact of salinity pulses on the emergence of plant and zooplankton from wetland seed and egg banks

1. In this study we compared the emergence of aquatic biota from sediments under 14-day pulses of high (5000 mg L-1) and low (1000 mg L-1) salinity with emergence under freshwater and equivalent constant salinity levels. We tested the hypothesis that pulses of high salinity and short duration have no impact on the emergence of aquatic plants and zooplankton from wetland sediment. 2. The way salt is moved through the landscape may alter the response of biota to increases in salinity. Under natural hydrological regimes in rivers and floodplains salinity pulses occur often at concentrations that exceed predicted tolerance levels for aquatic biota. The impacts of natural pulses of high salinity followed by rapid return to fresh conditions may be used to inform management guidelines for the potential release of non-natural saline water into river systems with minimal impact. 3. For both aquatic plants and zooplankton the abundance and richness of the emerging taxa decreased at higher salinities kept at constant levels. In contrast, pulses of salinity followed by return to freshwater conditions did not have a negative impact on the emergence of aquatic plants or zooplankton. For many taxa of zooplankton a positive impact was demonstrated with higher emergence following the salinity pulse. 4. The responses of aquatic plant and zooplankton taxa are grouped into five response types. Type 1: negatively impacted by all salt regimes. Type 2: preference for constant salinities. Type 3: no difference between fresh and either pulse regime. Type 4: preference for high concentration pulses. Type 5: emergence higher under a low concentration pulse. 5. Although previous studies indicate that constant high-level salinity in rivers and wetlands can decrease the species richness of aquatic communities, this current study shows pulses may not have the same impact. Our results support the hypothesis that pulses of high salinity and short duration do not impact on the emergence of aquatic plants and zooplankton from wetland sediments. For zooplankton, pulses of salt may trigger emergence. 6. These trends may be used to explore the potential to use managed water releases to move salt through the landscape with minimal impact of salinity on aquatic biota. However, before such preliminary results are applied in management of saline water releases we need to determine the implications for interacting processes in natural ecosystems.