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Interannual variation in lake extent is well documented in the Prairie Pothole Region, but the role of surface-water expansion, including lake expansion, in merging with and subsuming wetlands across the landscape has been minimally considered. We examined how the expansion of surface-water extent, in particular, the expansion of lakes across parts of the Prairie Pothole Region can alter landscape-level...
Vegetation and soil are important factors in coastal wetland landscape evolution. This paper investigates the relationship between the aboveground biomass of Spartina alterniflora and soil factors of varying settling ages in Yancheng, China using correlation analysis and principal component analysis. The results indicate the following: (1) Soil factors varied significantly with different settlement...
A framework was designed to integrate three complimentary remotely sensed data sources (aerial photography, hyperspectral imagery, and LiDAR) for mapping vegetation in the Florida Everglades. An object-based pixel/feature-level fusion scheme was developed to combine the three data sources, and a decision-level fusion strategy was applied to produce the final vegetation map by ensemble analysis of...
Biomass is a fundamental variable to estimate benthic secondary production. Currently, the loss-on-ignition (LOI) technique is the most used method for biomass assessment, although it is expensive, time consuming, and subject to error due to the volatilization of the samples in the muffle. Moreover, samples are lost for subsequent taxonomic identification. Alternative methods for biomass evaluation,...
The Prairie Pothole Region of North America is characterized by numerous, small, wetland depressions that perform important ecological and hydrological functions. Recent studies have shown that total wetland area in the region is decreasing due to cumulative impacts related to natural and anthropogenic changes. The impact of wetland losses on landscape hydrology is an active area of research and management...
Groundwater seeps in upland catchments are often enriched relative to stream waters, higher in pH, Ca2+ and sometimes NO3¯. These seeps could be a NO3¯ sink because of increased denitrification potential but may also be ‘hotspots’ for nitrification because of the relative enrichment. We compared seep soils with nearby well-drained soils in two upland forested watersheds in Vermont that are sites of...
The Prairie Pothole Region’s myriad wetlands and small lakes contribute to its stature as the “duck factory” of North America. The fishless nature of the region’s aquatic habitats, a result of frequent drying, freezing, and high salinity, influences its importance to waterfowl. Recent precipitation increases have resulted in higher water levels and wetland/lake freshening. In 2012–13, we sampled chemical...
Intermittent surface connectivity can influence aquatic systems, since chemical and biotic movements are often associated with water flow. Although often referred to as fill and spill, wetlands also fill and merge. We examined the effects of these connection types on water levels, ion concentrations, and biotic communities of eight prairie pothole wetlands between 1979 and 2015. Fill and spill caused...
One hundred sixty-seven Prairie Pothole lakes, ponds and wetlands (largely lakes) previously analyzed chemically during the late 1960’s and early to mid-1970’s were resampled and reanalyzed in 2011–2012. The two sampling periods differed climatically. The earlier sampling took place during normal to slightly dry conditions, whereas the latter occurred during and immediately following exceptionally...
Wetter conditions beginning in 1993 resulted in marked changes in water levels and surface extent of prairie-pothole region wetland ponds, including closed-basin wetlands in the Cottonwood Lake area of North Dakota, U.S.A. Pond water levels after 1993 were consistently 0.5 to 2 m higher than during 1979–1993 (≤ 1 m deep) in wetlands lacking surface or substantial groundwater outlets, and ponds of...
Plateau wetland is a special kind of ecosystem highly vulnerable to change and shrinkage owing to natural fluctuations and external disturbance. In the past wetlands have been mapped as a single category, making it difficult to assess the relative importance of natural and anthropogenic variables in the change. In this study, wetlands in Maduo County in the headwater zone of the Yellow River were...
Lowland rivers and their floodplains have changed markedly over the last centuries. River dikes have become among the most extensive secondary habitats of former floodplains. Our main question was, what role do secondary habitats on river dikes play in harbouring plant species and maintaining plant diversity of lowland landscapes dominated by agricultural areas? We compared historical maps and current...
The multitude of wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America forms one of Earth’s largest wetland complexes. The midcontinent location exposes this ecologically and economically important wetland system to a highly variable climate, markedly influencing ponded-water levels, hydroperiods, chemical characteristics, and biota of individual basins. Given their dominance on the landscape and...
The habitats and food resources required to support breeding and migrant birds dependent on North American prairie wetlands are threatened by impending climate change. The North American Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) hosts nearly 120 species of wetland-dependent birds representing 21 families. Strategic management requires knowledge of avian habitat requirements and assessment of species most vulnerable...
In this paper, the natural wetlands distribution area (NWDA) of Fuzhou city was selected as a case study for quantifying the impact of land use/land cover (LULC) changes on patterns of the urban heat island (UHI) and characterizing wetland thermal properties in response to rapid urbanization from 1989 to 2009. The results show that dramatic changes in LULC have occurred that have drastically altered...
Temporary forested pools are an important ecological resource throughout northern and eastern North America, yet they are often destroyed or degraded. Pool creation offers a potential mitigation solution, but long-term monitoring to assess the functioning of created pools is scarce. Furthermore, studies rarely integrate multiple, interacting levels of the pool ecosystem, including physical, chemical,...
Wetlands serve as sinks for carbon and nutrients but they are also a large source of greenhouse gases. Our objective was to quantify emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) from three free water surface-flow constructed wetlands in the presence and absence of emergent herbaceous vegetation (Typha angustifolia L. and Typha latifolia L.) across a gradient of soil moisture. Measurements were...
From 1932 to 2010, coastal Louisiana has experienced a net loss of 4877 km2 of wetlands. As the area of these wetlands has changed, so too has the spatial configuration of the landscape. The resulting landscape is a mosaic of patches of wetlands and open water. This study examined the spatial and temporal variability of trajectories of landscape configuration and the relation of those patterns to...
Understanding how aquatic-macroinvertebrate communities respond to changes in climate is important for biodiversity conservation in the Prairie Pothole Region and other wetland-rich landscapes. We sampled macroinvertebrate communities of 162 wetlands and lakes previously sampled from 1966 to 1976, a much drier period compared to our 2012–2013 sampling timeframe. To identify possible influences of...
Global climate change is impacting the distribution and abundance of species acting as a major cause of species extinction. It is rapid in freshwater swamp forest ecosystems, since they support disproportionate levels of biodiversity compared to their spatial coverage. The natural swamp forests of Bangladesh have been especially susceptible to climate change as they are limited in range to a few scattered...
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