Biodiversity and ecosystem functions in wetlands: A case study in the estuary of the Seine River, France

The integrity of estuarine wetlands is maintained by physical connections between river and sea to floodplain. Their ecological importance can be assessed through plant biodiversity and such ecosystem functions as primary productivity and nitrate removal capacity. Multivariate analysis were used to establish a hierarchy of environmental factors related to the vegetation structure and diversity. Four different measures of plant diversity (both structural and functional) were made on a Seine River wetland. Key functions of estuarine floodplain (productivity and denitrification capacity) were either measured directly or assessed using remotely sensed data. The richest plant communities correspond to mesophilous grasslands which have an intermediate position between natural and anthropogenic disturbance regimes. These species assemblages occur in ecosystems presenting both a regular productivity in time and space and the highest denitrification potentiality.