Climate Change Effects on Prairie Pothole Wetlands: Findings from a Twenty-five Year Numerical Modeling Project

Johnson, William C.; Poiani, Karen A.

doi:10.1007/s13157-016-0790-3

Cited by 49 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…As such, these wetlands have the potential to help stabilise β‐ and regional diversity in the face of climate change. This will be especially important for pond and wetland biota because these small, shallow habitats are considered among the world's most vulnerable ecosystems to changes in temperature and precipitation (Barnett, Adam, & Lettenmaier, ; Johnson & Poiani, ; Winter, ; Zhu et al., ). Our findings suggest that conservation of all successional stages within catchments is essential, as no single stage contains the full range of diversity present in the larger wetland‐stream complex.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beaver‐created successional gradients increase β‐diversity of invertebrates by turnover in stream‐wetland complexes

et al. 2019

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Beavers are ecosystem engineers known to modify the environment primarily via dam building. Beaver wetlands are complexes of newly created, mature, and abandoned beaver constructions within a stream network. Invertebrate dynamics across all habitats derived from these successional stages remains poorly explored. Here, we test how this natural successional gradient created by beaver affects invertebrate β‐diversity and its components (turnover and nestedness). Invertebrates were sampled in the Piedmont region of Georgia (U.S.A.) in two seasons (autumn and spring) in each of four stages of habitat succession: natural stream channels, forested wetlands created by newly formed beaver dams, mature open wetland marshes, and abandoned wetland meadows. In autumn, invertebrate communities were different among successional stages, apart from new versus abandoned wetlands and new versus mature wetlands, which were only marginally different, and streams versus abandoned wetlands. In spring, only the mature beaver wetland communities were unique, differing from both streams and from newly formed or abandoned wetlands. Beta‐diversity was nearly twice as high for the overall study‐system than any individual successional stage, which all had similar diversity. Additionally, turnover was significantly higher than nestedness in all stages. Community differences combined with high turnover among successional stages indicates that beaver wetland communities are not merely a subset of more stable mature wetlands or streams; instead, each stage has a different taxonomic make‐up. Our results strengthen the idea that beaver activity can be an important conservation tool by contributing substantially to diversity in areas where they are present. Beaver wetlands have the potential to help stabilise β‐ and regional diversity in the face of wetland loss from climate change and other human impacts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beaver‐created successional gradients increase β‐diversity of invertebrates by turnover in stream‐wetland complexes

et al. 2019

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“…However, the current inability to quantify differences in hydrologic functions of riparian vs. non‐riparian wetlands or of non‐riparian wetlands located at different distances from the main stream network has led to concerns over where wetland management funds and efforts should be spent (Anteau et al. ; Johnson and Poiani ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Wetland Location Matter When Managing Wetlands for Watershed‐Scale Flood and Drought Resilience?

Ameli

Creed

2019

J American Water Resour Assoc

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Wetland protection and restoration strategies that are designed to promote hydrologic resilience do not incorporate the location of wetlands relative to the main stream network. This is primarily attributed to the lack of knowledge on the effects of wetland location on wetland hydrologic function (e.g., flood and drought mitigation). Here, we combined a watershed‐scale, surface–subsurface, fully distributed, physically based hydrologic model with historical, existing, and lost (drained) wetland maps in the Nose Creek watershed in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America to (1) estimate the hydrologic functions of lost wetlands and (2) estimate the hydrologic functions of wetlands located at different distances from the main stream network. Modeling results showed wetland loss altered streamflow, decreasing baseflow and increasing stream peakflow during the period of the precipitation events that led to major flooding in the watershed and downstream cities. In addition, we found that wetlands closer to the main stream network played a disproportionately important role in attenuating peakflow, while wetland location was not important for regulating baseflow. The findings of this study provide information for watershed managers that can help to prioritize wetland restoration efforts for flood or drought risk mitigation.

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“…, Werner et al. , Johnson and Poiani , Mushet , Sofaer et al. ), which is predicted to affect wetland‐dependent bird populations at a continental scale (Batt et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This region comprises the core breeding range of most of the Western Hemisphere's dabbling duck and several diving duck species, as well as critical breeding and migration stopover habitats for over 200 other bird species (Sanderson 1976). Climate change is forecast to alter waterbody size, abundance, and distribution in the PPR (Poiani and Johnson 1991, Larson 1995, Poiani et al 1995, 1996, Johnson et al 2004, 2005, 2010, Werner et al 2013, Johnson and Poiani 2016, Mushet 2016, Sofaer et al 2016, which is predicted to affect wetlanddependent bird populations at a continental scale (Batt et al 1989, Sorenson et al 1998, Loesch et al 2012, Steen et al 2014, 2016. Historical changes in climate have already exacerbated an existing longitudinal precipitation gradient in the PPR, with drier conditions occurring more Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulating the effects of climate variability on waterbodies and wetland‐dependent birds in the Prairie Pothole Region

et al. 2019

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Understanding how bird populations respond to changes in waterbody availability in the climatically variable Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America hinges on being able to couple hydrological and climate modeling to represent potential future landscapes. Model experiments run with the Pothole Complex Hydrologic Model using downscaled climate data (variables relating to precipitation, temperature, and potential evapotranspiration at 1/8° spatial resolution under four general circulation climate models and two gas emissions scenarios) were used to forecast the abundances of six focal wetland‐dependent bird species in the Missouri Coteau portion of the PPR, providing ensemble scenarios at a spatial scale relevant to resource management. Although the projected number of May ponds (waterbodies present during bird breeding season) fluctuated through time with some decadal periodicity (and with the number present in a given year reflecting abundance over the previous three years), the ensemble model average indicated an increase in the average number of waterbodies present by the turn of the next century. Overall, the model experiments conservatively projected an 11.75% increase in the number of waterbodies present by 2090–2099 compared to a baseline period from 1967 to 2005 in the PPR. Wetland‐dependent bird occurrence and abundance were significantly associated with temporal patterns and decadal periodicity in waterbody dynamics. Because of the strong associations between wetland‐dependent bird occurrence and abundance and the number of prairie potholes, projected waterbody increases are forecasted to result in an 11.97% overall increase in occurrence and 8.63% increase in abundance of the six focal species by the end of the 21st century; these results contrast with forecasted drought‐associated declines in waterbodies and birds in the PPR. This integrated hydrological–climatological approach offers a means of assessing how wetland‐dependent bird populations may respond to changes in wetland habitat availability due to a changing climate. Our results provide information that can help managers decide how to mitigate the effects of climate shifts on the distribution of wetland habitat and biota.

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Climate Change Effects on Prairie Pothole Wetlands: Findings from a Twenty-five Year Numerical Modeling Project

Cited by 49 publications

References 37 publications

Beaver‐created successional gradients increase β‐diversity of invertebrates by turnover in stream‐wetland complexes

Beaver‐created successional gradients increase β‐diversity of invertebrates by turnover in stream‐wetland complexes

Does Wetland Location Matter When Managing Wetlands for Watershed‐Scale Flood and Drought Resilience?

Simulating the effects of climate variability on waterbodies and wetland‐dependent birds in the Prairie Pothole Region

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