Dynamic connectivity of temporary wetlands in the southern Great Plains

Ruiz, Luis Fernando Chimelo; Parikh, Niki; McIntyre, Nancy E.; Collins, Steven; Starr, Scott M.; Wright, Christopher K.; Henebry, Geoffrey M.; Gestel, Natasja van

doi:10.1007/s10980-013-9980-z

Cited by 43 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…This indicates, however, that 64.0% of playa basins in our focal area did not hold detectable water even during the wettest date examined. This number is comparable to the findings of Ruiz et al [65] for Landsat 5 TM scene 30/36 (just north of our focal area): they found that fewer than half of the 8404 playa basins in their study area ever held water over 37 dates spanning a five-year period, with a maximum of 2955 (35.2%) basins wet on a single date (and a minimum of 127 = 1.5%). During the drought (3 May 2014 image), 91.4% of the relatively few wet playas present were associated with urban development (34 playas) or other human modifications (41 playas) that increase hydroperiod (such as construction of pits, inflow channels, etc.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Using Remotely Sensed Imagery to Document How Land Use Drives Turbidity of Playa Waters in Texas

et al. 2016

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Sedimentation (primarily from human land use) is a major threat to runoff-fed wetlands of the Great Plains of North America (playas), but it is unknown how many playas are turbid, how prevalence of turbidity has changed over time, and how turbidity is related to surrounding land use. We used remotely sensed imagery to assess sedimentation in the waters of over 7700 playa basins in Texas on four dates during a 29-year span: 25 July 1986 (a regionally wet time), 3 May 2014 (during drought), 4 June 2014 (after the drought was broken), and 25 July 2015 (one year post-drought). Even on the wettest date examined, 64% of playa basins did not hold water. Turbidity varied over time, was already present in over half of the basins examined in 1986, and prevalence of turbidity was not simply proportional to overall wet playa abundance. There was an increase in total and irrigated cropland in our focal region and a statistically significant association between sedimentation and land use within 100 m of a playa: clear playas were associated with more urban development and pasture/grassland, and turbid playas were surrounded mostly by cropland.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Using Remotely Sensed Imagery to Document How Land Use Drives Turbidity of Playa Waters in Texas

et al. 2016

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“…Previous graph theory studies have assessed structural connectivity by measuring Euclidean distances between habitats (e.g., Pyke 2005;Fortuna et al 2006;Ribeiro et al 2011;Peterman et al 2013;Ruiz et al 2014;Tulbure et al 2014;Uden et al 2014). Euclidean distance graph connection strategies may correlate well with amphibian species richness in relatively undisturbed areas with optimal movement terrain (Ribeiro et al 2011), but regularly over-predict connectivity in complex heterogeneous landscapes (Fletcher et al 2011).…”

Section: Effect Of Graph Connection Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, remotely sensed time series of surface water extent and distribution have been used to study connectivity in spatiotemporally dynamic landscapes (Ruiz et al 2014;Tulbure et al 2014). Such an approach would greatly benefit future work studying ecological connectivity at regional scales by providing improved spatial data on potential organism habitats and flooding inundation, and by incorporating the temporality of landscape dynamics.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Graph theory uses networks to model complex interacting systems, and has recently seen a rapid uptake in landscape ecology for analysing connectivity in terrestrial (e.g., Bunn et al 2000;Urban and Keitt 2001;Minor and Urban 2007;Saura et al 2014), marine (e.g., Treml et al 2007;Kininmonth et al 2009;Hock et al 2014), and surface water systems (e.g., Fortuna et al 2006;Wright 2010;McIntyre and Strauss 2013;McIntyre et al 2014;Ruiz et al 2014;Tulbure et al 2014). When applied to habitat patches, amphibian habitats such as wetlands form network ''nodes'' which are linked by ''edges'' if ecologically connected (Urban and Keitt 2001;Urban et al 2009;Galpern et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Surface water network structure, landscape resistance to movement and flooding vital for maintaining ecological connectivity across Australia’s largest river basin

2015

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Context Landscape-scale research quantifying ecological connectivity is required to maintain the viability of populations in dynamic environments increasingly impacted by anthropogenic modification and environmental change.Objective To evaluate how surface water network structure, landscape resistance to movement, and flooding affect the connectivity of amphibian habitats within the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), a highly modified but ecologically significant region of southeastern Australia. Methods We evaluated potential connectivity network graphs based on circuit theory, Euclidean and least-cost path distances for two amphibian species with different dispersal abilities, and used graph theory metrics to compare regional-and patch-scale connectivity across a range of flooding scenarios. Results Circuit theory graphs were more connected than Euclidean and least-cost equivalents in floodplain environments, and less connected in highly modified or semi-arid regions. Habitat networks were highly fragmented for both species, with flooding playing a crucial role in facilitating landscape-scale connectivity. Both formally and informally protected habitats were more likely to form important connectivity ''hubs'' or ''stepping stones'' compared to nonprotected habitats, and increased in importance with flooding. Conclusions Surface water network structure and the quality of the intervening landscape matrix combine to affect the connectivity of MDB amphibian habitats in ways which vary spatially and in response to flooding. Our findings highlight the importance of utilising organism-relevant connectivity models which incorporate landscape resistance to movement, and accounting for dynamic landscape-scale processes such as flooding when quantifying connectivity to inform the conservation of dynamic and highly modified environments.

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“…Our aim was to advance previous efforts using the static National Wetland Inventory (NWI) dataset to map wetlands lacking obvious surface water connections (Tiner 2003;Lane et al 2012), and more recent efforts to map climatically variable biological connectivity among wetlands Ruiz et al 2014). Our objectives were to quantify (1) the interannual variation in wetland extent, (2) how spatial and interannual changes in wetland extent translate into variability in observed wetland-wetland and wetland-stream connectivity, and (3) how interannual variability in waterbody merging and connectivity is related to climate conditions and stream flow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal and spatial patterns of wetland extent influence variability of surface water connectivity in the Prairie Pothole Region, United States

2015

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Context Quantifying variability in landscape-scale surface water connectivity can help improve our understanding of the multiple effects of wetlands on downstream waterways. Objectives We examined how wetland merging and the coalescence of wetlands with streams varied both spatially (among ecoregions) and interannually (from drought to deluge) across parts of the Prairie Pothole Region. Methods Wetland extent was derived over a time series (1990-2011) using Landsat imagery. Changes in landscape-scale connectivity, generated by the physical coalescence of wetlands with other surface water features, were quantified by fusing static wetland and stream datasets with Landsat-derived wetland extent maps, and related to multiple wetness indices. The usage of Landsat allows for decadal-scale analysis, but limits the types of surface water connections that can be detected.Results Wetland extent correlated positively with the merging of wetlands and wetlands with streams. Wetness conditions, as defined by drought indices and runoff, were positively correlated with wetland extent, but less consistently correlated with measures of surface water connectivity. The degree of wetlandwetland merging was found to depend less on total wetland area or density, and more on climate conditions, as well as the threshold for how wetland/upland was defined. In contrast, the merging of wetlands with streams was positively correlated with stream density, and inversely related to wetland density. Conclusions Characterizing the degree of surface water connectivity within the Prairie Pothole Region in North America requires consideration of (1) climate-driven variation in wetness conditions and (2) within-region variation in wetland and stream spatial arrangements.

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Dynamic connectivity of temporary wetlands in the southern Great Plains

Cited by 43 publications

References 40 publications

Using Remotely Sensed Imagery to Document How Land Use Drives Turbidity of Playa Waters in Texas

Using Remotely Sensed Imagery to Document How Land Use Drives Turbidity of Playa Waters in Texas

Surface water network structure, landscape resistance to movement and flooding vital for maintaining ecological connectivity across Australia’s largest river basin

Temporal and spatial patterns of wetland extent influence variability of surface water connectivity in the Prairie Pothole Region, United States

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