Low extent but high impact of human land use on wetland flora across the boreal oil sands region

Ficken, Cari D.; Cobbaert, Danielle; Rooney, Rebecca C.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133647

Cited by 26 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Wetlands are the third major ecosystem type on Earth and have unique hydrological and soil conditions and biodiversity [54]. However, they are highly sensitive to and threatened by human activities [19,55,56]. The Northeast region has one of the most extensive wetland areas in China, and with the ever-growing human demand for water and food, heavy grazing, and land reclamation has severe adverse environmental impacts in this wetland region, resulting in a decline in the wetland flora, biodiversity, populations, and coverage [12,18].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling Responses of the Subsurface Microbiome to Wetland Status and Implications for Indicating Ecosystem Functions

et al. 2021

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In this study, we analyzed microbial community composition and the functional capacities of degraded sites and restored/natural sites in two typical wetlands of Northeast China—the Phragmites marsh and the Carex marsh, respectively. The degradation of these wetlands, caused by grazing or land drainage for irrigation, alters microbial community components and functional structures, in addition to changing the aboveground vegetation and soil geochemical properties. Bacterial and fungal diversity at the degraded sites were significantly lower than those at restored/natural sites, indicating that soil microbial groups were sensitive to disturbances in wetland ecosystems. Further, a combined analysis using high-throughput sequencing and GeoChip arrays showed that the abundance of carbon fixation and degradation, and ~95% genes involved in nitrogen cycling were increased in abundance at grazed Phragmites sites, likely due to the stimulating impact of urine and dung deposition. In contrast, the abundance of genes involved in methane cycling was significantly increased in restored wetlands. Particularly, we found that microbial composition and activity gradually shifts according to the hierarchical marsh sites. Altogether, this study demonstrated that microbial communities as a whole could respond to wetland changes and revealed the functional potential of microbes in regulating biogeochemical cycles.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling Responses of the Subsurface Microbiome to Wetland Status and Implications for Indicating Ecosystem Functions

et al. 2021

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“…plots) should be located using tape measure and bearing (with level for lidar data), or preferably, differentially corrected GNSS data (Figure 6). Depending on the application, short vegetation plot measurements (Figure 6a) should capture local vegetation community species [375][376][377], structural and composition characteristics. These may include dominant and sub-dominant vascular and moss species types, fractional cover (using point intercept method) or a leaf area index using a Licor LAI-2000 plant canopy analyser (Lincoln, Nebraska) [378], and height within each plot.…”

Section: Objective 4: Recommendations For Field Validation Of Remote Sensing Data For Classification and Inventorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote Sensing of Boreal Wetlands 2: Methods for Evaluating Boreal Wetland Ecosystem State and Drivers of Change

et al. 2020

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The following review is the second part of a two part series on the use of remotely sensed data for quantifying wetland extent and inferring or measuring condition for monitoring drivers of change on wetland environments. In the first part, we introduce policy makers and non-users of remotely sensed data with an effective feasibility guide on how data can be used. In the current review, we explore the more technical aspects of remotely sensed data processing and analysis using case studies within the literature. Here we describe: (a) current technologies used for wetland assessment and monitoring; (b) the latest algorithmic developments for wetland assessment; (c) new technologies; and (d) a framework for wetland sampling in support of remotely sensed data collection. Results illustrate that high or fine spatial resolution pixels (≤10 m) are critical for identifying wetland boundaries and extent, and wetland class, form and type, but are not required for all wetland sizes. Average accuracies can be up to 11% better (on average) than medium resolution (11–30 m) data pixels when compared with field validation. Wetland size is also a critical factor such that large wetlands may be almost as accurately classified using medium-resolution data (average = 76% accuracy, stdev = 21%). Decision-tree and machine learning algorithms provide the most accurate wetland classification methods currently available, however, these also require sampling of all permutations of variability. Hydroperiod accuracy, which is dependent on instantaneous water extent for single time period datasets does not vary greatly with pixel resolution when compared with field data (average = 87%, 86%) for high and medium resolution pixels, respectively. The results of this review provide users with a guideline for optimal use of remotely sensed data and suggested field methods for boreal and global wetland studies.

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“…Disturbance was represented as the combined percent of developed and agriculture area within each sample landscape. These anthropogenic land use and land cover types include a combination of impervious and pervious surfaces that restrict or alter biogeochemical (e.g., nutrient cycling; DuPont et al 2009;Mattsson et al 2005;Ye et al 2009), biogeophysical (e.g., latent and sensible heat fluxes, albedo; Ban-Weiss et al 2011; de Noblet-Ducoudré et al 2012), and biogeographical (e.g., species distribution and migration; Ficken et al 2019;Morissette et al 2019;Thuiller et al 2008;Zhang et al 2012) processes relative to undisturbed natural landscapes. Furthermore, the combination of these alterations to the surface of the earth affect local, and cumulatively across large regions, global climate (Stohlgren et al 1998;Kalnay and Cai 2003).…”

Section: Prepare Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the potential of integrating distribution and structure of permanent open-water wetlandscapes in reclamation design: a case study of Alberta, Canada

Ridge

Robinson

Rooney

2020

Wetlands Ecol Manage

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Wetlands are multi-functional systems that provide a disproportionate number of ecosystem services given the spatial extent they occupy both nationally and globally. The ecological functioning of these wetlands is dependent on the structure of the landscape, which poses unique challenges when reclaiming wetlands in areas where resource extraction is occurring. Resource extraction mega-projects require that entire wetlandscapes be reclaimed and often involve timelines that necessitate the consideration of climate projections to create self-sustaining, naturally appearing wetlandscapes that meet policy objectives. To understand wetlandscape structure and guide reclamation planning and closure permitting evaluation, a random sample of 13,676 1-km2 landscapes were subselected to identify 1684 permanent open-water wetlandscapes. A parsimonious set of landscape metrics were applied and compared across levels of anthropogenic disturbance and across natural regions (i.e., Grassland, Parkland and Boreal). Results demonstrated that permanent open-water wetlands are relatively rare (12.3% of our total random sample) and typically occupy less than 8% of wetlandscapes when present. The majority of wetlands in the study area are less permanent and more variable in nature than the permanent open water wetlandscapes created by megaproject reclamation, which has the potential to alter the distribution and size of open-water wetlands beyond their natural occurrence. Comparison across disturbance levels and natural regions yield statistical differences among landscape structure. General wetland landscapes representing a combination of disturbance level and natural region can be created for each metric to guide reclamation design and closure planning approval.

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Low extent but high impact of human land use on wetland flora across the boreal oil sands region

Cited by 26 publications

References 43 publications

Disentangling Responses of the Subsurface Microbiome to Wetland Status and Implications for Indicating Ecosystem Functions

Disentangling Responses of the Subsurface Microbiome to Wetland Status and Implications for Indicating Ecosystem Functions

Remote Sensing of Boreal Wetlands 2: Methods for Evaluating Boreal Wetland Ecosystem State and Drivers of Change

Assessing the potential of integrating distribution and structure of permanent open-water wetlandscapes in reclamation design: a case study of Alberta, Canada

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