Flood, drought and the inter-annual variation to the number and size of ponds and small wetlands in an English lowland landscape over three years of weather extremes

Abstract

Ponds are biodiversity hotspots, but pond conservation is hampered by problems auditing these small, often temporary, habitats. Data on temporal changes to the number of ponds in response to weather variations are lacking. Annual and seasonal changes to the numbers and area of wetted ponds in a lowland farm in England were surveyed by field walks between November 2010 and November 2013. Plant communities were recorded to identify variations in pond type between land-uses. The study period coincided with severe drought up until April 2012 followed by record breaking precipitation. The wetted areas of ponds in wetlands and dune slacks showed the strongest relationship with rainfall over the preceding 4-6 months, whilst the areas of ponds in arable or pasture fields varied more with rainfall in the previous month. Ponds from different land-uses supported different plant communities and all types added to the overall total site biodiversity. Plant communities of ponds in arable fields benefitted from the extreme wet summer of 2012. The results show that the number and area of ponds varied significantly between years and seasons and that different pond types in different land-uses may vary in their response to extreme weather.

Dynamic of Dominant Plant Communities in Kettle Holes (Northeast Germany) during a Five-Year Period of Extreme Weather Conditions

“…The understanding of ecosystem functioning in small, highly variable wetland ecosystems such as potholes or kettle holes requires sufficient knowledge about their spatiotemporal dynamics [1][2][3]. This is even more important under climate change conditions where changing precipitation patterns cause extreme weather conditions [4].…”

“…On the basis of these temporal constraints, we aimed at quantifying differences among dominant plant communities of kettle holes during five years with extreme weather events based on manual digitization using maps derived by UAS. We first (1) hypothesized that different groups of dominant plant communities will be significantly affected to different degrees by dry and wet periods, with an increase in terrestrial plants and helophytes during drought and in moisture indicators during wet periods. Second (2), we calculated turnover, loss, and gain rates between time intervals to determine the effects of different hydrological conditions on changes in dominant plant communities.…”

Development of Research Based Field Guide Book about Dragonfly Diversity (Odonata)

“…The number or extent of ponds that vary, and extreme temperatures also affect the diversity of species around the pond [6]. Furthermore, the research conducted by [7], the abundance of individuals and the wealth of dragonfly species obtained at each station was different.…”

The importance of historical maps for man-made pond research: From the past extent of ponds to issues of the present landscape. A case study from the Czech Republic

“…Ponds (natural and anthropogenic) are an integral part of the rural landscape. As such, their existence as an everyday feature of the landscape has 'prevented' expert discovery of their original role and history (Upex, 2004), and they have escaped the mainstream attention of scientists for a considerable amount of time (Jeffries, 2016;Ruggiero et al, 2008). This view has changed, together with the result of dynamic changes of European landscapes during the last two centuries (Antrop, 2004;Jeffries, 2012).…”

“…A number of ponds were turned into agricultural land in the 19 th and 20 th centuries due to the intensification of agriculture (Boothby and Hull, 1997;Curado et al, 2011;Havlíček et al, 2014), cleared for advancing urbanisation (Burgin et al, 2016), and other anthropogenic activities such as mining and transport infrastructure construction (Kopp et al, 2015). Many other ponds face growing anthropogenic pressure including agricultural drainage, pollution and landfilling (Juszczak and Kedziora, 2003), as well as the impacts of climate extremes (Jeffries, 2016).…”