Download Wetland Ecology - 2 - Forestry Information Center

Other Factors

Agricultural disturbances
– draining
– grazing/trampling
•
unless severe  higher species diversity, more
complex distribution patterns, sharper boundaries
between zones
– wind and water erosion
•
runoff  sedimentation/suspended solids
– algal blooms
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Other Factors 2

Burning
– common in many wetland ecosystems
– removes accumulated litter
– releases nutrients
– may reduce trapping of snow  local
hydrology
– impact on species composition variable
•
(frequency and severity)
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Animal Communities

Attributes important to wildlife:
– predominance of woody plant communities
•
often only wooded habitats remaining
– predominance of mast-producing species
– presence of surface water and abundant soil
moisture
– diversity and interspersion of habitats
– corridors for dispersal and migration
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Wetland Invertebrates

Why is there interest in wetland invertebrates?

Functional roles within wetland habitats
– herbivores
– predators
– detritivores

•
decomposition
•
nutrient cycling
Pest insects
– nuisance insects and disease transmission
•
mosquitoes, horse flies, deer flies, punkies
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Wetland Invertebrates 2

Food chain support
– major links from primary producers/detritus to higher
consumers
– food resource for waterfowl
•
to meet nutritional requirements for reproduction
•
growth of ducklings
•
differences in invertebrate consumption among waterfowl
species, seasons, habitats, and availability
– food resource for other marsh wildlife
•
other marsh birds, e.g. blackbirds, marsh wrens, shorebirds
•
other insectivorous birds around the marsh
•
amphibians, reptiles, mammals and fish
•
interactions between waterfowl and fish
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Invertebrate Communities

Highly dynamic nature of prairie pothole wetlands
– need to consider important hydrologic, chemical, and
climatic events

Habitats occupied by aquatic invertebrates
– permanent wetland habitats
•
benthic (bottom)
•
epiphytic (plant-associated)
•
nekton (limnetic, pelagic, planktonic—swimming)
•
neuston (surface)
•
aerial (flying insects—emergence)
– ephemeral habitats
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Factors Controlling Invertebrates

Habitat conditions
– water levels (hydrology)
•
temporary (seasonal) habitats
•
timing and duration of flooding
– water quality
•
salinity, oxygen, temperatures
– vegetation (habitat structure)
– biotic factors (predation/competition)
•
fish and waterfowl
– human impacts
•
habitat destruction, pesticides, sedimentation
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Factors Controlling Invertebrates 2

Invertebrate requirements
– evolved life history characteristics
•
physiological, morphological and behavioral adaptations

Seasonality/Abundance

Wetland Management
– water manipulation
•
drawdown and reflooding
– vegetation manipulation
•
fire, mowing, rototilling
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Aquatic Communities

Huge importance to fish communities
– food, both invertebrates and plants/vegetation
– safety from predation in backwater areas or
unconnected wetlands
– seasonal connectivity to adjacent permanent
water bodies critical
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Wetlands—Fish



Fish life very limited due to:
– isolation
– short hydroperiod
– low DO in summer and winter
– shallow wetlands nearly or completely freeze in winter
Few native spp. (e.g., fathead minnow, common
mummichog, and brook stickleback) can tolerate
low DO and high conductivities ([SO4-2] and
[HCO3-]) found in shallow wetlands
– have high reproductive rates
Consequently, valuable for amphibian and
invertebrate reproduction
– can get in to breed and then get out (or diapause)
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Amazonian Lungfish
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Wildlife—Herptiless

Wetlands often used to secure food, reproduce,
find shelter

Amphibians prefer temporary and seasonal
wetlands to reproduce
– no fish predation
– need 3+ months from egg-laying to metamorphosis
– tiger salamander (Ambystoma) larvae densities
–
>5,000/ha
tadpoles consume inverts and are eaten by variety of
avian and mammalian predators
•
•
IN: 19 salamander spp., 13 frogs and toads, 11 turtles, and
several spp. of snakes regularly utilize shallow wetlands
SC: (Four Holes Swamp): 17 salamanders, 21 frogs and toads,
10 turtles, 9 lizards, 31 snakes, and 1 alligator
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Wildlife Benefits—Birds

Waterfowl use of shallow wetlands
– ephemeral wetlands
•
good feeding areas during migration, early nesting
due to flooded grains, seeds, and earthworms
•
invertebrates limited due to short water period
– temporary wetlands
•
early ice out and warm up  early supply of inverts
•
invertebrates very important to female waterfowl
prior to and during egg laying; provide protein, Ca
•
also provide isolated areas for breeding pairs
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Wildlife Benefits—Birds
– seasonal wetlands
•
major source of invertebrates for laying females
•
isolated areas for breeders
•
provide sites for over-water nesters
•
wet years: provides brood habitat
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Wildlife Benefits—Birds
– semipermanent wetlands
•
best all around; supply most needs of common
waterfowl and broods
•
last to be ice-free; delay on invertebrates
•
main general habitat for staging and fall migration
•
principal breeding areas for diving ducks
•
equal parts open water and emergent vegetation
(“hemi-marsh”) ideal
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Wildlife Benefits—Mammals

Wide variety utilize wetlands
– muskrat, beaver, nutria, mink, otter, raccoon,
red fox, coyote, and many small rodents,
shrews, etc.

“Those who often criticize the preservation
of wetlands cite that many protected
wetlands dry up after a few weeks or by
mid-summer and state that they are of little
value to wildlife. On the contrary, we can
show they are quite valuable to many
wildlife species at varying times and for
varying reasons.”
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Landuse Influences

Agricultural value of farmland has tremendously
impacted wetland ecosystems
– wetland drainage (both surface and tile) to enhance
agricultural production has been primary factor
resulting in loss of wetlands in many regions
– remaining wetlands are impacted by a number of
agricultural practices that result in elevated
sedimentation rates, drift of agricultural chemicals into
wetlands, large inputs of nutrients, unnatural variance
in water-level fluctuation, and altered vegetative
communities
– major nonagricultural impacts include alteration of
hydrologic and chemical regimes due to road
construction and urban development
– extent to which land use has altered ecology of aquatic
biota is poorly studied but must be understood to
facilitate effective management of remaining wetlands
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Wetland Restoration
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Conclusions

Wetland hydrology (directly and indirectly)
influences sediment texture,
microtopographic relief, moisture gradients,
redox reactions, hydric soils, and vegetation
– important implictions for fish and wildlife
management
– major consequences for wetland restoration

Wetland restoration based upon identification
of areas where wetlands previously occurred
(hydric soils).
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Paul J. DuBowy, Ph.D.
Ecohydrology Associates, LLC
P.O. Box 816
Lovell, Wyoming 82431 USA
[email protected]
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