Assessing Wetland Changes in the Prairie Pothole Region of Minnesota from 1980 to 2007

Oslund, Fred T.; Johnson, Rex R.; Hertel, Dan R.

doi:10.3996/jfwm-027r

Cited by 13 publications

(22 citation statements)

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“…This, combined with the aforementioned improvements in climatic conditions for wetlands, may have facilitated the increased hot spots in U.S. PPR during the study. However, the region still experienced substantial land‐use changes during the late 20th and early 21st centuries associated with ongoing wetland drainage (Oslund et al , McCauley et al ), changes in cropping practices from mostly small grains to corn and soybeans (Higgins et al , Johnston ), and conversion of native grasslands or land formerly enrolled in the CRP to cropland (Stephens et al , Doherty et al , Wright and Wimberly ). That these wide‐spread land‐use changes coincided with increases in mallard hot spots in the region suggests wetland conditions as driven by climatic variability may be the primary driver of mallard abundance in the Dakotas (Krapu et al , Miller ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term spatial heterogeneity in mallard distribution in the Prairie pothole region

2017

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The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of north‐central United States and south‐central Canada supports greater than half of all breeding mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) annually counted in North America and is the focus of widespread conservation and research efforts. Allocation of conservation resources for this socioeconomically important population would benefit from an understanding of the nature of spatiotemporal variation in distribution of breeding mallards throughout the 850,000 km2 landscape. We used mallard counts from the Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey to test for spatial heterogeneity and identify high‐ and low‐abundance regions of breeding mallards over a 50‐year time series. We found strong annual spatial heterogeneity in all years: 90% of mallards counted annually were on an average of only 15% of surveyed segments. Using a local indicator of spatial autocorrelation, we found a relatively static distribution of low‐count clusters in northern Montana, USA, and southern Alberta, Canada, and a dynamic distribution of high‐count clusters throughout the study period. Distribution of high‐count clusters shifted southeast from northwestern portions of the PPR in Alberta and western Saskatchewan, Canada, to North and South Dakota, USA, during the latter half of the study period. This spatial redistribution of core mallard breeding populations was likely driven by interactions between environmental variation that created favorable hydrological conditions for wetlands in the eastern PPR and dynamic land‐use patterns related to upland cropping practices and government land‐retirement programs. Our results highlight an opportunity for prioritizing relatively small regions within the PPR for allocation of wetland and grassland conservation for mallard populations. However, the extensive spatial heterogeneity in core distributions over our study period suggests such spatial prioritization will have to overcome challenges presented by dynamic land‐use and climate patterns in the region, and thus merits additional monitoring and empirical research to anticipate future population distribution. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term spatial heterogeneity in mallard distribution in the Prairie pothole region

2017

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“…The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America is one such region where closely-coupled wetland-grassland ecosystems have been drained and tilled for row crop agriculture on a large scale, altering landscape function for a diversity of organisms (Samson and Knopf, 1994;Askins et al, 2007;Doherty et al, 2013). Widespread wetland drainage and alteration in the region coincided with upland conversion for row crop production, reducing the extent of wetlands (Dahl, 1990;Miller et al, 2009;Oslund et al, 2010) and altering hydrological function of those wetlands that remain (Genet and Olsen, 2008;Miller et al, 2011;McCauley et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prairie wetlands confer consistent migrant refueling conditions across a gradient of agricultural land use intensities

Janke

Anteau

Stafford

2019

Biological Conservation

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Increasing global demands for land to produce food, fiber, and energy threatens temperate grassland and wetland ecosystems, catalyzing a need to inform strategic and efficient approaches to conserve ecological function in these ecosystems. In the Prairie Pothole Region of North America, an extensive agricultural footprint has grown since the late 19th century and recently expanded in extent and intensity of cultivation in response to improved technology and global demands. Despite extensive modifications, many wetlands remain in a matrix of intensively farmed uplands in this landscape. We comprehensively evaluated contributions of those wetlands to spring-migrating ducks by studying two wetland-obligate foragers-lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) and bluewinged teal (Anas discors)-as they migrated to northern breeding ranges. We measured a comprehensive suite of physiological, ecological, and behavioral metrics important during migration in wetlands across a range of upland cultivation intensities at fine and coarse spatial extents. We found no systematic negative responses in invertebrate prey abundance, abundance of migrants, or lipid metabolism of migrant females across the cultivation intensity gradient. Further, abundance and physiology of blue-winged teal and some key invertebrate prey densities were higher in more intensively cultivated landscapes. Our results demonstrated extant wetlands in modern, intensively farmed landscapes make meaningful contributions to spring-migrating ducks despite likely negative impacts of proximate upland cultivation. This insight raises questions about the consequences of agricultural perturbations and the baseline functionality of wetlands in agriculturally productive landscapes that have implications for wetland restoration and conservation strategies employed here and in intensively farmed landscapes globally.

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“…Confidence intervals were based on random draws using the sample size of the comparison study b As our study did not extend into Montana, our comparison is with nearby North Dakota Missouri Coteau wetlands however, suggest increases in annual precipitation that are in agreement with our wettest model (CSIRO), with the greatest increases occurring in spring when newly tilled landscapes are susceptible to erosion. The ability of prairie pothole wetlands to support vertebrate communities is influenced by land use modification, changing agricultural practices, pothole drainage systems, and climate change, which collectively result in altered patterns of wetland inundation (Johnson et al 2005;Johnson et al 2008;Oslund et al 2010;Anteau 2012). Functionality will be lost by the sizeable percentage of wetlands likely to lose at least half of their volume.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sediment Accumulation in Prairie Wetlands under a Changing Climate: the Relative Roles of Landscape and Precipitation

2016

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Sediment accumulation threatens the viability and hydrologic functioning of many naturally formed depressional wetlands across the interior regions of North America. These wetlands provide many ecosystem services and vital habitats for diverse plant and animal communities. Climate change may further impact sediment accumulation rates in the context of current land use patterns. We estimated sediment accretion in wetlands within a region renowned for its large populations of breeding waterfowl and migrant shorebirds and examined the relative roles of precipitation and land use context in the sedimentation process. We modeled rates of sediment accumulation from 1971 through 2100 using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) with a sediment delivery ratio and the Unit Stream Power Erosion Deposition model (USPED). These models predicted that by 2100, 21-33 % of wetlands filled completely with sediment and 27-46 % filled by half with sediments; estimates are consistent with measured sediment accumulation rates in the region reported by empirical studies. Sediment accumulation rates were strongly influenced by size of the catchment, greater coverage of tilled landscape within the catchment, and steeper slopes. Conservation efforts that incorporate the relative risk of infilling of wetlands with sediments, thus emphasizing areas of high topographic relief and large watersheds, may benefit wetland-dependent biota.

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Assessing Wetland Changes in the Prairie Pothole Region of Minnesota from 1980 to 2007

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

Long‐term spatial heterogeneity in mallard distribution in the Prairie pothole region

Long‐term spatial heterogeneity in mallard distribution in the Prairie pothole region

Prairie wetlands confer consistent migrant refueling conditions across a gradient of agricultural land use intensities

Sediment Accumulation in Prairie Wetlands under a Changing Climate: the Relative Roles of Landscape and Precipitation

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