From “Duck Factory” to “Fish Factory”: Climate Induced Changes in Vertebrate Communities of Prairie Pothole Wetlands and Small Lakes

McLean, Kyle I.; Mushet, David; Stockwell, Craig A.

doi:10.1007/s13157-016-0766-3

Cited by 24 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Furthermore, consolidation of wetlands through surface or subsurface drainage is a common practice in intensively farmed landscapes (Turner et al, 1987;Bartzen et al, 2010) and leads to reduced availability of small, seasonal wetlands and increased prevalence of large wetlands with more permanent hydroperiods (Miller et al, 2011;Anteau, 2012;Wiltermuth, 2014;McCauley et al, 2015;Vanderhoof and Alexander, 2015). The attendant increase in water permanency and artificially inflated connectivity can lead to increased colonization and persistence of fish and amphibians, which have cascading and well-documented impacts on wetland function for waterfowl (Bouffard and Hanson, 1997;Zimmer et al, 2002;Hanson et al, 2005;Anteau et al, 2011;Maurer et al, 2014;McLean et al, 2016). Studies in prairie wetlands have demonstrated intra-wetland factors, such as fish or submersed macrophyte communities, have more impacts on invertebrate communities than watershed factors like upland cultivation (Tangen et al, 2003;Anteau et al, 2011;Hanson et al, 2012) and results from separate analyses in the present study have shown comparable results with duck refueling performance (Janke, 2016).…”

Section: Additional Considerations For Defining Agricultural Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Janke

Anteau

Stafford

2019

Biological Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Section: Additional Considerations For Defining Agricultural Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Janke

Anteau

Stafford

2019

Biological Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Additionally, the occurrence of fish has increased markedly throughout the PPR over the past several decades [44]. Transitioning to more permanently inundated and less-saline wetlands can increase suitable habitat for the persistence of fish populations, Sustainability 2019, 11, 6581 6 of 20 facilitate movements of fish among aquatic habitats, and increase a wetland's susceptibility to human translocations of fish [45].…”

Section: Climate Driversmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synergistic Interaction of Climate and Land-Use Drivers Alter the Function of North American, Prairie-Pothole Wetlands

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Prairie-pothole wetlands provide the critical habitat necessary for supporting North American migratory waterfowl populations. However, climate and land-use change threaten the sustainability of these wetland ecosystems. Very few experiments and analyses have been designed to investigate the relative impacts of climate and land-use change drivers, as well as the antagonistic or synergistic interactions among these drivers on ecosystem processes. Prairie-pothole wetland water budgets are highly dependent on atmospheric inputs and especially surface runoff, which makes them especially susceptible to changes in climate and land use. Here, we present the history of prairie-pothole climate and land-use change research and address the following research questions: 1) What are the relative effects of climate and land-use change on the sustainability of prairie-pothole wetlands? and 2) Do the effects of climate and land-use change interact differently under different climatic conditions? To address these research questions, we modeled 25 wetland basins and measured the response of the lowest wetland in the watershed to wetland drainage and climate variability. We found that during an extremely wet period (1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000) wetland drainage decreased the time at which the lowest wetland reached its spill point by four years, resulting in 10 times the amount of water spilling out of the watershed towards local stream networks. By quantifying the relative effects of both climate and land-use drivers on wetland ecosystems our findings can help managers cope with uncertainties about flooding risks and provide insight into how to manage wetlands to restore functionality.Sustainability 2019, 11, 6581 2 of 20 and biological (e.g., vegetation and aquatic macroinvertebrate communities) variables of interest in areas where vulnerable wetlands that have been well documented as a "disappearing ecosystem" [4].The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) covers approximately 777,000 km 2 of the North American midcontinent (Figure 1). Over half of the historical wetlands in the PPR have been drained, and conversion of upland areas to crops has altered wetland functioning and the ecosystem services provided by wetlands [5]. Millions of small, glacially derived wetlands that provide critical habitat for migratory waterfowl [5] and other wetland-dependent species [6,7] occur in the PPR, making it a continentally significant region for biodiversity [8]. The wetlands of the PPR also provide additional ecosystem services such as floodwater storage, sediment reduction, water-quality improvement [9], and carbon sequestration [10]. The need to tease apart the complexity caused by interactions between climate and land-use change drivers and how they affect biodiversity, in general, has been recently established as a pressing research priority for ecosystem scientists and land managers [2]. Understanding the relative impacts of climate and land-use change on wetland hydrology is critical for developing land-management strategies...

show abstract

“…Therefore, fishes were not historically a significant component of the region's biota (McLean et al. ). The FEMs in this region are amenable to species capable of short‐distance overland and aerial movements (e.g., painted turtles [ Chrysemys picta ], Griffin ; some midges [Chironomidae], Bataille and Baldassarre ), while still supporting long‐distance dispersers (e.g., waterfowl) and some species with resistance traits due to longer term periodic drought (e.g., some cladocerans [Gleason et al.…”

Section: Example Femsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differing Modes of Biotic Connectivity within Freshwater Ecosystem Mosaics

Mushet

Alexander

Bennett

et al. 2018

J American Water Resour Assoc

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We describe a collection of aquatic and wetland habitats in an inland landscape, and their occurrence within a terrestrial matrix, as a “freshwater ecosystem mosaic” (FEM). Aquatic and wetland habitats in any FEM can vary widely, from permanently ponded lakes, to ephemerally ponded wetlands, to groundwater‐fed springs, to flowing rivers and streams. The terrestrial matrix can also vary, including in its influence on flows of energy, materials, and organisms among ecosystems. Biota occurring in a specific region are adapted to the unique opportunities and challenges presented by spatial and temporal patterns of habitat types inherent to each FEM. To persist in any given landscape, most species move to recolonize habitats and maintain mixtures of genetic materials. Species also connect habitats through time if they possess needed morphological, physiological, or behavioral traits to persist in a habitat through periods of unfavorable environmental conditions. By examining key spatial and temporal patterns underlying FEMs, and species‐specific adaptations to these patterns, a better understanding of the structural and functional connectivity of a landscape can be obtained. Fully including aquatic, wetland, and terrestrial habitats in FEMs facilitates adoption of the next generation of individual‐based models that integrate the principles of population, community, and ecosystem ecology.

show abstract

From “Duck Factory” to “Fish Factory”: Climate Induced Changes in Vertebrate Communities of Prairie Pothole Wetlands and Small Lakes

Cited by 24 publications

References 41 publications

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

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

Synergistic Interaction of Climate and Land-Use Drivers Alter the Function of North American, Prairie-Pothole Wetlands

Differing Modes of Biotic Connectivity within Freshwater Ecosystem Mosaics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About