Ecological functional assessment and biodiversity as indices of restoration in the Mesopotamian marshes of southern Iraq

Iraq’s Mesopotamian marshes were once the largest wetlands in southwest Asia and covered > 15,000 square kilometers (km²), an area nearly twice the size of the original Everglades. However, by the year 2000 less than 10% of the area remained as functioning marshes due to a systematic plan by the Iraqi government to ditch, dike and drain the marshes. The marshes were once famous for their biodiversity and cultural richness.  They were the permanent habitat for millions of birds and a flyway for millions more migrating between Siberia and Africa. Our study reports on marsh recovery three years after re-flooding and presents data on plant community structure and productivity, and changes in ecological diversity for key trophic levels in the marshes. More than 58% of the original marsh has been reflooded or is covered by marsh vegetation according to UNEP satellite analysis as of December 2006, but re-flooding alone does not equate to restoration.  Comparisons of ecosystem functional recovery are made between restored wetlands, the natural remaining Al-Hawizeh marsh and historical values.