Linking Plant Ecology and Long-Term Hydrology to Improve Wetland Restoration Success

Caldwell, Peter V.; Vepraskas, M. J.; Gregory, James D.; Skaggs, R. W.; Huffman, Raegan L.

doi:10.13031/2013.40662

Cited by 18 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…A soil utility program within DRAINMOD calculates the relationships between the water table depth and the drained volume, upward flux, and Green and Ampt Infiltration Parameters (Green and Ampt, 1911) from the SWCC, Ksat V , soil layer thicknesses, and root depths. Caldwell et al (2011) showed that natural wetland hydrology of Carolina bays can be reliably predicted in DRAINMOD by adjusting the drainage parameters even though a ditch or drain network did not exist. This was done by adjusting the depth of drains, drain pipe spacing, drain pipe radius, maximum surface storage and surface roughness (micro-topography) to recreate surface and subsurface drainage intensities appropriate for the wetland.…”

Section: Soil Hydraulic and Physicochemical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Caldwell et al (2011) gave the measurement of AAD more credence in the calibration process compared to the R 2 values because the intent of the model is to mimic water table fluctuations. However, in recent years more criticism has been put on the calibration methods (Moriasi et al, 2007), and therefore the Nash-Sutcliffe measure of efficiency (E) was also used to critique the calibration performance as defined in Legates and McCabe (1999).…”

Section: Calibration Of Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessment of water budgets and the hydrologic performance of a created mitigation wetland—A modeling approach

Petru

Chescheir

Ahn

2014

Ecological Engineering

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Section: Soil Hydraulic and Physicochemical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Calibration Of Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of water budgets and the hydrologic performance of a created mitigation wetland—A modeling approach

Petru

Chescheir

Ahn

2014

Ecological Engineering

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“…The authors conclude that the current forestry BMPs were effective in preventing sediment increases due to harvest and site preparation at these sites. Caldwell et al (2011) describe how hydrologic models, such as DRAINMOD (Skaggs, 1978), can be used to characterize the long-term hydrology of wetland communities (pond pine woodland, nonriverine swamp forest, high pocosin, and bay forest) commonly found in the Atlantic Coastal Plain and their application to define wetland design criteria for restoring such wetlands. The goal of wetland restoration is to regain wetland functions by returning the hydrology and vegetative communities of disturbed wetland sites to their natural condition.…”

Section: Forest Hydrologic Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in Forest Hydrology: Challenges and Opportunities

Amatya¹,

Douglas-Mankin²,

Williams³

et al. 2011

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ABSTRACT.Forests are an integral component of the landscape, and maintaining their functional integrity is fundamental for the sustainability of ecosystems and societies alike. Tools, innovations, and practices, analogous or more than a century, agricultural and biological engineers have provided major advances in science, engineering, and technology to increase food and fiber production to meet the demands of a rapidly growing global population. Much of our agricultural land base originates from historically forested lands (Amatya et al., 2009), which have experienced dramatic declines, as well as periods of resurgence, over the past century, including in the south (U.S. Forest Service, 2011 set asides have decreased the industrial forest base for timber production, leading in some instances to more intensive silvicultural practices on the remaining forest land. Through time, the land use, hydrology, and ecosystem products and services of this mosaic have been modified to an extent that may jeopardize long-term sustainability.Forests cover about one-third of the U.S. (Sedell et al., 2000;Jones et al., 2009), totaling about 300 million ha and making up about 7% of the world's forestland area (USDA, 2001). There are many different types of forests in the U.S., stretching from the subtropical forests in south Florida to boreal forests of Alaska, and from the deciduous and mixed forests of the eastern U.S. to the conifer-dominated forests of the west. These diverse ecosystems provide habitat for wildlife, help clean the air and water, and supply timber, fuelwood, and other harvested products, while serving our recreational needs as places for hiking, camping, hunting, and fishing. U.S. forests are the single largest producer of industrial timber in the world (Prestemon and Abt, 2002). Furthermore, about two-thirds of the nation's scarce freshwater resources originate on forested lands (Jones et al., 2009). Maintaining their functional integrity is fundamental to the sustainability of ecosystems and societies alike. However, there is increased recognition that forest management is needed to maintain forest, ecosystem, and watershed health and resilience.Understanding watershed hydrology is critical to forest ecosystem management, as it drives nutrient cycling and loading dynamics in the soil, through plants, animals, precip- itation inputs, and surface and subsurface flow networks that support downstream water quality. Because forests make up a relatively large portion of many of our watersheds, it is important to understand the hydrology of both natural forests and silvicultural operations, while considering the contribution of other land uses. New activities and forest products often emerge in response to specific needs. Growth in biofuel demand could lead to increased removal of biomass from plantation forests, which would have substantial hydrologic impacts on these lands. In its first comprehensive forecast on southern forests, the U.S. Forest Service (2011) stated that urbanization, bioenergy use, weather pa...

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“…The field-scale hydrologic model DRAINMOD has been demonstrated as a useful tool for accurately simulating the long-term daily water level fluctuations in natural, forested wetlands (e.g., Caldwell et al, 2007Caldwell et al, , 2011He et al, 2002). This study extends the application of DRAINMOD, in conjunction with an ensemble of high-resolution, downscaled climate change projections, to evaluate the impacts of climate change on wetland hydrology, at the site scale, of two wetlands located in the southeastern U.S.…”

mentioning

confidence: 93%

The Potential Long-Term Impacts of Climate Change on the Hydrologic Regimes of North Carolina’s Coastal Plain Non-Riverine Wetlands

Kurki-Fox¹,

Burchell²,

Kamrath³

2019

Transactions of the ASABE

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HighlightsBased on current emissions, mean water table decline in these wetlands will likely range from 25 to 65 cm by 2100.Projected changes could lead to a decline or loss of the important ecosystem services that wetlands provide to society.Results indicate a potential need to allocate more resources to developing strategies for managing wetlands.Abstract. Wetlands are especially at risk from climate change because of their intermediate landscape position (i.e., transition between upland and aquatic environments), where small changes in precipitation and/or evapotranspiration can have substantial impacts on wetland hydrology. Because hydrology is the primary factor influencing wetland structure and function, the important ecosystem services that wetlands provide may be altered or lost as a result of climate change. While a great deal of uncertainty is associated with the projected impacts of climate change on wetlands, hydrologic models and downscaled climate model projections provide tools to reduce this uncertainty. DRAINMOD is one such process-based hydrologic model that has been successfully adapted to simulate the daily water level fluctuations in natural wetlands. The objective of this project was to determine the range of possible impacts of climate change on the hydrologic regimes of non-riverine, non-tidal Coastal Plain wetlands in North Carolina. DRAINMOD models were calibrated and validated for two minimally disturbed, natural wetland sites using observed water table and local weather data. Two representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios were evaluated: RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. Nine models were selected from an ensemble of 32 climate models to represent the range of possible changes in mean precipitation and temperature. Downscaled climate projections were obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Simulations were run from 1986 to 2099, and results were evaluated by comparing the projected mean water table levels between the base period (1986-2015) and two future evaluation periods: 2040-2069 and 2070-2099. The model simulation results indicated that the projected mean water table level may decline by as much as 25 to 84 cm by the end of this century (2070-2099) for the RCP8.5 scenario and may decline by 4 to 61 cm for the RCP4.5 scenario. In Coastal Plain wetlands, declines in water tables can lead to the subsidence of organic soils, which can lead to the loss of stored carbon and increased risk of peat fires. Lower mean water levels can also lead to shifts in vegetation community composition and loss of habitat functions for wetland-dependent fauna. These results provide an overview of the potential impacts of climate change on North Carolina wetlands, and they provide a range of scenarios to inform and guide possible changes to water management strategies in wetland ecosystems that can be implemented now to limit the loss of ecosystem services over the long term. Keywords: Climate change, DRAINMOD, Hydrology, Modeling, North Carolina, Wetlands.

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Linking Plant Ecology and Long-Term Hydrology to Improve Wetland Restoration Success

Cited by 18 publications

References 25 publications

Assessment of water budgets and the hydrologic performance of a created mitigation wetland—A modeling approach

Assessment of water budgets and the hydrologic performance of a created mitigation wetland—A modeling approach

Advances in Forest Hydrology: Challenges and Opportunities

The Potential Long-Term Impacts of Climate Change on the Hydrologic Regimes of North Carolina’s Coastal Plain Non-Riverine Wetlands

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