Modeling wetland plant metrics to improve the performance of vegetation-based indices of biological integrity

Jones, Robin C.; Hawkins, Charles P.; Fennessy, M. Siobhan; Laan, Jacob J. Vander

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.07.030

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…At the scale of the conterminous United States, natural variation in plant species composition and environmental conditions related to ecoregion and wetland type has implications for identifying reference sites and setting expectations for biotic condition. In large-scale condition assessments, ecoregional or typological classifications or modeling approaches have often been employed to adjust for this variation (e.g., Stoddard 2004; Stoddard et al 2006, 2008; Herlihy et al 2008; Pont et al 2009; Hawkins et al 2010; Minnesota Pollution Control Agency 2015; Jones et al 2016). For the NWCA, a classification hierarchy was developed to (1) help account for continental-scale differences in wetland vegetation and environmental factors and (2) define groups that maximize within-class similarity and maintain sufficient sample size for characterizing reference expectations and evaluating ecological condition (Herlihy et al 2019a).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many disturbances are reflected in shifts in the presence or abundance of particular plant species (Magee and Kentula 2005; Johnston et al 2008), plant functional or trait groups (Lopez and Fennessy 2002; Quétier et al 2007), plant assemblages (Galatowitsch et al 1999; Magee et al 1999; DeKeyser et al 2009; Johnston et al 2009), or vegetation structural elements (Mack 2007), making vegetation a powerful indicator of wetland condition (Mack and Kentula 2010). Existing VMMIs or VIBIs have proven useful for monitoring condition and prioritizing conservation or management actions for specific wetland types at local or regional scales within the United States and elsewhere (e.g., DeKeyser et al 2003; Miller et al 2006; Reiss 2006; Mack 2007; Hargiss et al 2008; Rothrock et al 2008; Lemly and Rocchio 2009; Mack 2009; Veselka et al 2010; Euliss and Mushet 2011; Genet 2012; Rooney and Bayley 2012; Deimeke et al 2013; Wilson et al 2013; Hernandez et al 2015; Savage et al 2015; Jones et al 2016; Miller et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A national-scale vegetation multimetric index (VMMI) as an indicator of wetland condition across the conterminous United States

Magee

Blocksom

Fennessy

2019

Environ Monit Assess

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In 2011, the US Environmental Protection Agency and its partners conducted the first National Wetland Condition Assessment at the continental-scale of the conterminous United States. A probability design for site selection was used to allow an unbiased assessment of wetland condition. We developed a vegetation multimetric index (VMMI) as a parsimonious biological indicator of ecological condition applicable to diverse wetland types at national and regional scales. Vegetation data (species presence and cover) were collected from 1138 sites that represented seven broad estuarine intertidal and inland wetland types. Using field collected data and plant species trait information, we developed 405 candidate metrics with potential for distinguishing least disturbed (reference) from most disturbed sites. Thirty-five of the metrics passed range, repeatability, and responsiveness screens and were considered as potential component metrics for the VMMI. A permutation approach was used to calculate thousands of randomly constructed potential national-scale VMMIs with 4, 6, 8, or 10 metrics. The best performing VMMI was identified based on limited redundancy among constituent metrics, sensitivity, repeatability, and precision. This final VMMI had four broadly applicable metrics (floristic quality index, relative importance of native species, richness of disturbance-tolerant species, and relative cover of native monocots). VMMI values and weights from the survey design for probability sites ( n = 967) were used to estimate wetland area in good, fair, and poor condition, nationally and for each of 10 ecoregion by wetland type reporting groups. Strengths and limitations of the national VMMI for describing ecological condition are highlighted. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10661-019-7324-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A national-scale vegetation multimetric index (VMMI) as an indicator of wetland condition across the conterminous United States

Magee

Blocksom

Fennessy

2019

Environ Monit Assess

Self Cite

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“…An aquatic ecological model was developed using the STELLA (Structural Thinking, Experiential Learning Laboratory with Animations) modeling software, demonstrating that the simulation precision of the model is sufficient to reflect the trend of changes in the aquatic ecological indexes . Jones, Hawkins, et al (2016) concluded that the use of model- thus, SWATrw integrates a more flexible wetland morphometric formula to model wetland-river interaction (Rahman et al, 2016).…”

Section: Wetland Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment

Castillo-Valenzuela¹,

Martinez‐Guerra²,

Gude³

2017

Water Environment Research

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This article provides an update on the wastewater treatment technologies, which utilize natural processes or passive components to remove various pollutants. The focus is on the wetland systems and their applications in wastewater treatment (as an advanced treatment unit or a decentralized system), and nutrient and pollutant removal (heavy and hazardous metals, industrial and emerging pollutants including pharmaceutical and personal care products and endocrine disrupting chemicals). A summary of studies involving the effects of vegetation, wetland design and operation, modeling, hybrid and innovative systems, storm water treatment, sludge treatment, landfill leachate treatment, and pathogen removal is also included.

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“…The concept of ES was therefore useful for capturing the multiple functions of wetlands (MA, 2005;Maltby, 2009;Horwitz and Finlayson, 2011;Qiao et al, 2018;Yan and Zhang, 2019). It allows multi-target evaluation, which becomes an important stage of promoting the wetland health assessment instead of traditional single domain evaluation (e.g., landscape development intensity, indices of biological integrity, pressure-state-response model method and landscape pattern index) (Niemeijer and Groot, 2008;Zhang et al, 2012;Péron et al, 2013;Jones et al, 2016;Martin et al, 2018;Purvaja et al, 2018;Schmidt et al, 2019). Index evaluation methods, based on the ES concept, have been widely concerned and applied (Doyle et al, 2013;Aslaksen et al, 2015;Rodríguez-Loinaz et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2016;Xie et al, 2018;Blumetto et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining Health of Wetlands with Multiple Ecosystem Services as Targets in China’s Coastal Regions

Zhou

Dou

et al. 2020

Chin. Geogr. Sci.

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Coastal zones are key interconnectors of terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Due to the degradation and fragmentation of coastal wetlands, there is an urgent need to develop assessment methodology to compare the health of wetland ecosystems at different spatial scales. This will help efficiently develop and implement protections using easy-to-access ecosystem health data. This study aims to understand the spatial distribution of coastal and inland wetland health for China's coastal regions. A Wetland Health Index (WHI) was developed to provide a basis for policy and decision making. Four utilization models-Long Term Model, Open Model, Nature Reserve Model, and Protected and Economic Model-were defined in the context of China's coastal regions to specifically examine wetland health. Results show that the average WHI score was 63.6 with the range of 44.8-84.3 for 35 National Nature Reserves (NNRs), and the southern NNRs generally performed better than the northern NNRs. The wetlands in the southern provinces/municipalities are relatively healthier than their northern counterparts. The competent authority has slight influence on WHI scores but duration of conservation establishment does not show a clear correlation. With increasing economic activity, the differences in health conditions (WHI scores) of China's coastal regions also increase. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or economic intensification does not relate to WHI scores. Appropriate trade-offs between wetland management and economic development could contribute to improve health conditions, conservation and utilization of coastal and inland wetlands.

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Modeling wetland plant metrics to improve the performance of vegetation-based indices of biological integrity

Cited by 7 publications

References 51 publications

A national-scale vegetation multimetric index (VMMI) as an indicator of wetland condition across the conterminous United States

A national-scale vegetation multimetric index (VMMI) as an indicator of wetland condition across the conterminous United States

Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment

Examining Health of Wetlands with Multiple Ecosystem Services as Targets in China’s Coastal Regions

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