Characterization and Classification of Vernal Pool Vegetation, Soil, and Amphibians of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Schrank, Amy J.; Resh, Sigrid C.; Previant, Wilfred J.; Chimner, Rodney A.

doi:10.1674/0003-0031-174.1.161

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Our pool was fairly representative of New England vernal pools. Using the system in Schrank et al (2015), the pool would be classi ed as "classic", and according to Brooks (1998), it is in the same size class as 10% of other pools studied. The pool is the average, in terms of size and contributing area, of the three in the immediate area, and is located in a typical landscape position for New England pools.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies based in the Northeast focus mainly on inventorying sites and evaluating habitat, while the niche of studies on hydrology remains largely un lled. Schrank et al (2015) discusses hydrologic characteristics of vernal pools in the upper Midwest, but only so far as the surface water area, hydroperiod index, and precipitation, without discussion of evapotranspiration, storage, or leakage (terms which are integral to water balance calculations). Montrone (2013) explores the water balance of a vernal pool in greater detail, but is a study of the Sierra Nevada, a region distinctly climatically different from New England.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Annual water balance analysis for a vernal pool in southern New England.

Axthelm

Barten

2022

Preprint

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Vernal pools are ephemeral wetlands lacking an inlet or outlet. Generally, these wetlands are found in a range of biomes, but specific characteristics such as size, vegetation, and wildlife inhabitants vary based on location. While the vegetation of western U.S. pools and amphibians of eastern U.S. pools have been extensively studied, other aspects remain relatively unexplored. Although the general seasonal wetting and drying cycle is understood qualitatively, few studies have attempted to quantify the hydrological regime. As water level variation drives most of the defining characteristics of these systems, more research on this is needed. Our primary objective was to better understand vernal pool hydrology through the study of a typical pool in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. Using a water balance analysis, we found that the countervailing effects of precipitation and evapotranspiration were the primary drivers of water level change. An estimate of storage derived specifically for the pool, through estimated inflow, and outflow via deep seepage, was also successful at estimating water level changes during spring transition, the period most important to amphibian breeding.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Annual water balance analysis for a vernal pool in southern New England.

Axthelm

Barten

2022

Preprint

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“…In eastern Canada, EPs are typically filled by spring snowmelt, gradually dry out in early summer and are replenished by fall precipitation. Research has shown that their hydroperiods (i.e., the period during which a pond holds water), as well as the subsequent dry period, are key elements influencing the reproduction of amphibians and invertebrate species (Brooks, 2000;Schrank et al, 2015). Pond hydroperiods are regulated by morphologic properties, such as maximum pond volume, area and maximum depth (Brooks & Hayashi, 2002), by their position on the landscape (Roux et al, 2023), as well as by precipitation and evapotranspiration (Brooks, 2004), seepage to the underlying soil and flow exchange with the groundwater (Brooks & Hayashi, 2002;Roux et al, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improvement of Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) wetland module for modelling of ephemeral pond hydrology

Bizhanimanzar,

Larocque,

Roux

2024

Hydrological Processes

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Ephemeral ponds (EPs) are seasonally flooded isolated wetlands that provide a variety of hydroecological benefits, including the provision of breeding habitat for several amphibian and invertebrate species. However, the lack of their explicit representation in hydrological models limits a comprehensive understanding of their interaction with surrounding landscapes and their vulnerability in the context of human interventions and climate change. The purpose of this research was to improve the isolated wetland module of the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to better represent EP hydrology. The changes include (1) representation of groundwater and hypodermic flow as the only inflows from the pond drainage surface, due to the intermittent and negligible presence of inflow from surface runoff in forested ponds, (2) revision of how evapotranspiration within EPs is represented and (3) implementation of distinct volume‐area‐depth relationships for ponds based on their geometrical shape. The accuracy of these improvements was assessed against that of a previous isolated wetland formulation in replicating water depth observations of 10 EPs of a portion of the Kenauk forest (68 km2) in the Canadian Shield of the Outaouais region (Québec, Canada). The comparison results show that the revised SWAT model presented here significantly improves the distinct filling and drying water cycle of EPs (average root mean square error of 0.1 m of the revised model vs. 0.23 m for the original model). Besides, the new module allowed to identify that hypodermic flow, evapotranspiration and seepage to the underlying soil are the main EP source and sinks. The new module also allowed to explicitly quantify the differences in filling/drying pattern of the EPs of the Kenauk forest and unlike the original model structure, the new module was able to closely replicate the interannual variation of spring and annual hydroperiod duration.

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