Depressional wetlands are highly vulnerable to changes in land surface temperature and rainfall but little is known about their responses to future climate change. This study assessed the variation in edaphic factors between wetlands and along their littoral gradients to detect the boundary between the endorheic wetlands and upland zones. A sample of 202 paired measurements of three edaphic factors

In wetland restoration, adaptive management is a rarely used but potentially effective way to test initial assumptions of factors controlling recovery and adjust ongoing management to encourage ecosystem recovery. Limited development of monitoring practices and governance approaches hinder broader adoption of adaptive management. Reports of adaptive management for small wetlands, in particular, are

Lesotho has only one wetland designated as a Ramsar site, found at Letšeng-la-Letsie, which is located within the Maloti-Drakensberg region. Despite its designation as a wetland of international importance, little is known about its ecology and biodiversity. Information on wetland biodiversity is crucial for monitoring and conservation planning. This study investigated the vegetation-environment relationships

The stoneflies of the Maghreb (Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco) are characterized by high endemicity but their ecology remains poorly known. We have surveyed the stonefly assemblages of northeastern Algeria mountain streams, a relatively unstudied region, and attempted to identify through co-inertia analysis the environmental correlates of their distribution. Species richness varied from nine taxa in

Calcareous fens provide habitat for a disproportionate number of rare and specialist plant species, yet little is known about the conditions that allow fens to support these species. We compared the importance of geography, land-use legacies, current hydrologic disturbance, and stressors in predicting rare and specialist species occurrence and richness in calcareous fens throughout their Wisconsin

Salt marshes can protect coastlines against flooding by attenuating wave energy and enhancing shoreline stabilization. However, salt-marsh functioning is threatened by human influences and sea level rise. Although it is known that protection services are mediated by vegetation, little is known about the role of vegetation structure in salt-marsh accretion. We investigated the role of vegetation presence

The hydrology of seasonally inundated depression wetlands can be highly sensitive to climatic fluctuations. Hydroperiod—the number of days per year that a wetland is inundated—is often of primary ecological importance in these systems and can vary interannually depending on climate conditions. In this study we re-examined an existing hydrologic model to simulate daily water levels in Sinking Pond,

Climate change in arid areas leads to intensive drought, which causes widespread degradation in wetland ecosystems. Since wetlands play an important role in the sustainability of arid regions, climate change adaptation measures are required to conserve wetlands. However, how can we determine the regions that need increased adaptation measures? This paper aims to respond to this question and determine

Little is known about the element composition of groundwater along flow paths between wetlands. What is known is based on a few major elements, such as Na and Ca. We examined the spatial and temporal variation of elements in a depressional-wetland, groundwater-flow system in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota, USA. Wetlands of the region are characterized by their occurrence in hydrologically

Reed is an important wetland species. In some places it provides valuable ecosystem services, while in other places it poses a threat as an invasive species. Thus, monitoring and predicting reed dynamics is crucial. We not only detected changes in reed area using remote sensing, but also developed indicators for the stability of reed wetlands based on remote sensing that would allow to predict its

Small water bodies including drainage ditches can be hotspots for methane (CH4) emissions from peatlands. We assessed the CH4 emissions of a drained and a rewetted temperate fen including emissions of managed and unmanaged drainage ditches over the course of 2.5 years, covering three vegetation periods. Ditch CH4 emissions in the rewetted fen were significantly higher than in the drained fen. In the

In the context of coastal marshland reduction due to sea level rise, we evaluated the value of fragmented reed beds located within agricultural polders for the conservation of habitats exploited by marshland passerines characterized by different ecological requirements. Although our study was carried out within sites sampled over different years, analyses of body condition and diet of birds during

Plants are key elements of wetlands due to their evolutionary strategies for coping with life in a water-saturated environment, providing the basis for supporting nearly all wetland biota and habitat structure for other taxonomic groups. Sardinia, the second largest island of the Mediterranean Basin, hosts a great variety of wetlands, of which 16 are included in eight Ramsar sites. The 119 hydro- and

Although palustrine wetlands cover only about 6% of the earth’s surface, they are among the most productive and socio-economically valuable ecosystems globally. However, these ecosystems are facing various threats. The current study uses literature and field observations to explore the montane palustrine wetlands of Lesotho, in terms of their distribution, coverage, vegetation, ecosystem services,

Floodplains provide a multitude of ecosystem functions and services with water purification being one of them. For this study we modelled the retention of total phosphorous (TP) in the floodplains of the river Rhine and the river Elbe, looking at sediment deposition as the main process responsible for removing TP from rivers during inundation events. We applied two different approaches: a proxy-based

Several ecological factors, including hydrology, soil type, and vegetation, influence wetland soil carbon (C) storage, but the relationship among these factors is complex making it difficult to evaluate the potential for increased C storage in natural and restored systems. This study investigated the relationship between hydrologic variables, wetland plant communities, and wetland soil C storage in

Total organic carbon (TOC) sediment stocks as a CO2 mitigation service require exclusion of allochthonous black (BC) and particulate inorganic carbon corrected for water–atmospheric equilibrium (PICeq). For the first time, we address this bias for a temperate salt marsh and a coastal tropical seagrass in BC hotspots that represent two different blue carbon ecosystems of Malaysia and Australia. Seagrass

Wetlands are unique, highly biodiverse ecosystems of high conservation value that provide multiple ecosystem services to human society. However, the dynamic nature of wetlands creates abundant opportunities for the establishment and spread of invasive species, especially those well adapted to the current global prevalence of environmental change. Wetland invasibility is influenced by ongoing changes

Wetlands are essential habitats for amphibians, but for many species, no information is available regarding how and when they make use of the different environments within the upland-wetland ecotone, nor which variables affect spatial and temporal distribution. We sought to determine the habitat preferences of two tree frog species using a capture-recapture approach in a wetland located in the Paraguayan

Carbon fractionation (Δ13C) is well documented for various plants functional types. Yet, specific studies on Δ13C on mangroves are particularly rare although they have a key role in coastal carbon (C) cycling. In this study, we investigated the 13C exchanges between leaves and the atmosphere and between the main plant’s organs in two common mangroves species, Avicennia marina and Rhizophora stylosa

Despite increasing pressures on freshwater resources worldwide, and the threatened status of most freshwater turtles, there is still limited knowledge of habitat use and niche partitioning in Afrotropical freshwater turtle communities. In this study, we describe habitat associations, community diversity, and temporal patterns of occurrence of freshwater turtle species in the Dahomey Gap ecoregion of

Aquatic insects are important to the transfer of energy in freshwater wetlands. They link primary producers and organic matter to higher trophic levels, and pass energy from the aquatic environment to the terrestrial ecosystem via predation of adults. Introduction of the invasive free-floating aquatic fern giant salvinia, Salvinia molesta Mitchell, threatens aquatic insect communities and life cycle

Introduced species and climate change can have direct impacts on wetland communities, but they can also produce indirect effects such that climate change (i.e., effects of flooding and salinity) can affect native plants by exacerbating or reducing invasion. We assessed the direct and indirect effects of flooding, salinity, and introduced species on wetland communities across a salinity gradient by

Soil bacteria play important roles in regulating biogeochemical cycles and maintaining ecosystem function. However, our knowledge of patterns and driving factors of permafrost microbial communities under typical alpine meadow habitats with different vegetation communities is limited. We analyzed the relationship between soil bacterial community and changes of environmental factors among four habitats

Aquatic vegetation is a key component of large floodplain river ecosystems. In the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS), there is a long-standing interest in restoring aquatic vegetation in areas where it has declined or disappeared. To better understand what constrains vegetation distribution in large river ecosystems and inform ongoing efforts to restore submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV), we delineated

Despite substantial contrary evidence, there has been a growing tendency to present prescribed vegetation burning as a management practice that is always damaging to peatland ecosystems in the UK. This is exemplified by the “Burning and Peatlands” position statement published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature UK Peatland Programme. Indeed, while we strongly agree with several of

Carretas-Pereyra is an estuarine lagoon system located in the southern Mexican Pacific coast. Its connection to the sea is intermittent, because the mouth of the system closes seasonally under natural conditions, but it is often opened artificially for artisanal fishery purposes. In order to know the degree of development, structure, and functioning of this system, under intermittent communication

Water is essential for wetland function and sustaining migratory networks for wetland wildlife across broad landscapes. Groundwater declines and surface flow reductions that impact aquatic and wetland organisms are common in the western U.S. and increasingly in the eastern U.S. Agriculture is the largest consumptive water use in the U.S. and understanding economic incentives of water-use practices

Alpine wetlands are an important natural source of methane (CH4) to the atmosphere. However, the temporal variations and main driving factors of CH4 fluxes in alpine wetlands are not yet well understood. In this study, CH4 fluxes were measured from an alpine wetland in the Qinghai Lake using eddy covariance (EC) technique. Strong seasonal variability in the daily CH4 fluxes was observed, ranging from

We investigated the impact of converting a natural tropical freshwater wetland in Uganda into a rice paddy wetland on climate change mitigation, by comparing carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes from the natural section (under different vegetation communities dominated by Cyperus papyrus, Typha latifolia and Phragmites mauritianus) and from a rice paddy section, during the dry and wet seasons

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-021-01447-0

Wetlands provide essential habitat for shorebirds, songbirds, and waterfowl. Invasive species can disrupt trophic interactions within wetlands by altering the arthropod assemblages on which birds rely. An invasive grass species, Phragmites australis (common reed), has invaded wetlands across North America, including those surrounding the Great Salt Lake, Utah, U.S.A. Phragmites outcompetes native vegetation

Coastal wetlands provide a series of ecosystem services, including flood risk reduction. However, the flood risk reduction from such a complex ecosystem is dependent on incoming extreme hurricane-driven hydrodynamic and wave conditions. This study develops a numerical modeling-based approach for investigating coastal wetlands exposure to storm surge and waves during hurricanes by combining maximum

Manipulative experiments and space-for-time substitutions are two main approaches used to infer the impacts of future climate change on ecological processes, such as litter decomposition. The potential limitations of these approaches are well-recognized. Here, we address the congruence between these two approaches by comparing decomposition rates of leaf litter from four wetland plant species in response

Shorelines are the dynamic interfaces of both terrestrial and marine environments and are sensitive to climate and anthropogenic influences. The change in the shoreline plays a critical role in intertidal mudflat resources and coastal ecological environment. This paper extracts shoreline along the coast of Yancheng from 1983 to 2020 using a new procedure. The proposed procedure is based on a combination

Biological invasion by Spartina alterniflora is widespread in coastal wetlands in China, threatening native vegetation. Obtaining the distribution of native and invasive vegetation at the small community scale is important to understand the invasion mechanism of S. alterniflora and the protection of wetland ecosystems. Remote sensing images can quickly and effectively identify vegetation at a large

The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Qatar is a rapidly developing region within the Arabian Gulf, where monitoring of changes in benthic biodiversity and its functioning is needed. The influence of mangroves and seasonality on the nearshore subtidal molluscan diversity at three distinct khors (nearshore tidal bays) – natural mangroves (Al Dhakhira), planted mangroves (Al Mafyar) and no-mangroves (Dawhat

The Guangdong Xinhui National Wetland Park (GXNWP) in the Pearl River Delta is an important stopover for migratory birds in China and East Asia. Due to high levels of interference, high sensitivity and fragile environmental constraints, an efficient method to assess the health status of wetland parks such as the GXNWP is urgently needed for sustainable development. In this study, we proposed a hab

Habitat characteristics and microhabitat of organisms pose a number of choices to foraging species, for example where and how to search for prey, which prey to select and what foraging technique to employ. Predators can enhance the profitability of foraging by adapting their strategies flexibly in relation to prey characteristics and environmental factors. To investigate the influence of rocky shore

Many wetland environmental gradients structure plant community composition, yet controls of plant community composition within rich fens, botanically diverse groundwater-fed wetlands, are still incompletely understood. Porewater chemistry and plant community composition were recorded for eight calcareous rich fens encompassing both calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate geological inputs in the Central

Mangroves can store more sediment organic carbon (SOC) than freshwater and salt marshes. Understanding how mangroves have responded to historical sea-level rise (SLR) is fundamental to assessing their resilience and capacity to store carbon as SLR accelerates. We quantified landscape-level temporal and spatial trends in historical coastal wetland sediment accumulation and associated SOC content (i

This paper arose from collaboration and discussions over the past years between the authors about what wetlands should be restored to in landscapes that have been intensively altered due to human activities over many centuries and where reference conditions are lacking. It is not intended as an in-depth review of the thinking about reference conditions, but as an opinion paper, with the goal of stimulating

Ecosystem-atmosphere exchanges of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor were investigated in a moist mountain meadow (Loney Meadow) at 1822 m MSL in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA. An eddy covariance (EC) tower was deployed for most of the snow-free period from May to September 2016. The meadow ecosystem progressed from a strong sink of CO2 in the peak of the growing season under saturated to wet

Wetlands, like East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW) in present study, are vulnerable to habitat alteration and other anthropogenic threats affecting avifauna. Consequently, prioritizing avifaunal conservation based on suitable habitats and their connectivity is essential. White-breasted waterhen (WBW, Amaurornis phoenicurus) and bronze-winged jacana (BWJ, Metopidius indicus) are two resident birds of EKW. We

Prairie Pothole Region wetlands are integral in reducing nutrient mobility in prairie watersheds. Wetland soil CaCO3 content likely plays an important role in wetland phosphorus retention capacity. Accurate predictions of the spatial distributions of wetlands with CaCO3-enriched soils would allow for further study on these relationships and prioritized wetland conservation efforts to encourage this

Turkey became a party to the Ramsar Convention in 1994 and has since made effective progress on the legislation and administration for the protection of wetlands. We assessed the provisions of the Ramsar Convention with Turkish legislation by using a five-points scoring chart. We determined that there is 64,7% compliance rate among the examined legislation. Of 156 countries, Turkey is one of the best

One way to deal with the future effects of climatic changes on the water resources and to cope with water shortages in basins is to have a clear understanding of the future climate change trends. To this end, this study proposes an integrated hydrological-water transfer and supply (HWTS) framework including a coupled SWAT-Bi level programming model to investigate future optimal water supply between

Seasonal depressional wetlands, or vernal pools, offer critical breeding habitats for diverse species (primarily amphibians and invertebrates) in northeastern America. Their seasonal aspect contributes to their uniqueness. Degradation and loss of these habitats are attributed to human activities such as urban development and some forestry activities. Thus, it is important to map vernal pools to plan

Coastal salt marshes are some of the most productive ecosystems on Earth, providing numerous services such as soil carbon storage, flood protection and nutrient filtering, several of which are mediated by the sediment microbiome associated with marsh vegetation. Here, nutrient filtering (nitrate removal through denitrification) was examined by determining microbial (bacteria and archaea) community

Wetlands hold significant potential for climate change mitigation due to their high capacity to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Colombo, Sri Lanka was recently declared as one of the eighteen global Ramsar wetland cities. The current study represents the first attempt to quantify soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks held by the urban freshwater wetlands in Colombo. The study focused on the

Metals are harmful inorganic pollutants in aquatic environments when their concentrations are higher than expected (or tolerated) and, in low concentrations, they can lead sublethal genetic injuries. Baseline frequencies of micronucleated cells (MN‰) of three mangrove crab species were established in a pristine mangrove (Juréia-Itatins Ecological Station, JIES). Aratus pisonii, Ucides cordatus and

Historical and contemporary Indigenous wetland management influences wetland ecological character and conservation in ways not well recognised by western science and mainstream natural resource management. For example, the Australian government funds Aboriginal-led management of traditional lands, but Aboriginal knowledge is rarely enabled to critique, enrich or provide alternatives to conventional

A 2.5 km stretch of a sandur (glacial outwash plain) neighbouring a wetland in South-east Iceland was monitored from 1 September 2015 to 2 September 2016. Improved understanding of the hydrological regime at this sandur-wetland boundary is warranted as local farmers are losing ground to the frequent flooding of their wet meadows despite the existence of elevated berms. A series of water wells were

Modern Yellow River Delta (MYRD) is a typical petrochemical and agricultural industrial area of China. To effectively assess the current status of the four heavy metals (Cr, Pb, Ni and Cd) of topsoil residues, soil samples (0 ~ 20 cm) (n = 104) in the MYRD were collected and analyzed. The results showed that the contents of the four heavy metals were all below or equal to the level 1 background content

This paper aims to determine how both climate and local drivers, such as groundwater withdrawals influence surface water - groundwater interactions in Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems (GDEs). We studied the hydroperiod in eight of the most representative ponds of Doñana National Park (southern Spain) during a 21-year period. We analyzed the average flooded phase of each pond as well as the average

In North American wetlands, two cattail species -native Typha latifolia and exotic T. angustifolia- hybridize generating T. x glauca. Typha angustifolia and the hybrid spread invasively, negatively affecting wetlands. Due to high trait variability and hybridization, Typha species are difficult to identify morphologically. Building on previous work that relied on microsatellite markers to differentiate

Gökçeada Salt Lake (GSL) (Gökçeada Island, North Aegean Sea) is an important wetland area situated on established bird migratory routes. The waterbody is subject to significant variability in seasonal water quality and species diversity. Monthly observations indicate that a total of 29 waterbird species were present during 2015–2016. Rainfall was observed to influence waterbird abundance. There was

Throughout sub-Saharan Africa wetlands provide ecosystem services that are critical to the development needs of many people. Local wetland use, however, is often at odds with broader national policy goals in which narratives of conservation and protection dominate, hence a recurring challenge is how to reconcile these tensions through the development of policies and field practice that deliver sustainable