Gyselings, R.

Van de Meutter, F.

Van den Bergh, E.

Open Marine Archive

ECSA Local Meeting 2016  83 
  
Creating new, non-tidal brackish marshland: results of a large-
scale field experiment 
Frank Van de Meutter, Ralf Gyselings and Erika Van den Bergh  
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Kliniekstraat 25, 1070 Brussels, Belgium 
E-mail: frank.vandemeutter@inbo.be   
 
Land reclamation at the cost of brackish marshland is still ongoing in Belgium as harbors continue 
to expand. Nowadays, compensations are legally required and new habitat needs to be created. This 
raises some questions: 1/ can we create a new, non-tidal brackish marshland on the short-term?,  
2/what type of translocation of vegetative material gives the best results for brackish marshland 
vegetation development? and 3/what type of management is best to assist this development?  
 
A large-scale field experiment at four sites was established, with a full-cross design of management 
(cutting, grazing, no management) and transplant method (turves, seeds, hay, no transplant). 
Vegetation development was monitored for three consecutive years. 
 
Translocation greatly accelerates the establishment of the focal vegetation types. Translocation of 
turves immediately created the focal vegetation, which remained largely unchanged during the 
experiment. When seeds or dried hay were translocated, the establishment of focal plant species 
improved, yet after three years, vegetation had not yet closed, differenced largely with the original 
vegetation. Early successional and ruderal species dominated.  Plots without any transfer of 
material, were colonized by ruderals and some wind-dispersed focal species; many of the focal 
species did not colonize. Grazing helped to suppress competitive species but did not enhance 
establishment of focal species.  
 
  


Creating new, non-tidal brackish marshland: results of a large-scale field experiment

http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/294536.pdf

Creating new, non-tidal brackish marshland: results of a large-scale field experiment

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