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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fort Collins, Colorado » Center for Agricultural Resources Research » Water Management and Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #365758
Research Project: Response of Ecosystem Services in Agricultural Watersheds to Changes in Water Availability, Land Use, Management, and Climate

Location: Water Management and Systems Research

Title: Wetland ecosystem resiliency: Protecting and restoring valuable ecosystems

Author
item MESSER, TIFFANY - University Of Nebraska
item Mankin, Kyle
item NELSON, NATALIE - North Carolina State University
item ETHERIDGE, J - East Carolina University

Submitted to: Transactions of the ASABE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/26/2019
Publication Date: 12/28/2019
Citation: Messer, T.L., Douglas-Mankin, K.R., Nelson, N.G., Etheridge, J.R. 2019. Wetland ecosystem resiliency: Protecting and restoring valuable ecosystems. Transactions of the ASABE. 62(6):1541-1543. https://doi.org//10.13031/trans.13578.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.13031/trans.13578

Interpretive Summary: Wetlands provide valuable ecosystem services, but continue to be threatened worldwide. This article introduces a collection of articles that explore current research and thinking on wetland ecosystem resilience. The Collection contains articles on wetland resiliency to climate change, agricultural land use-driven change, and recreational land use along with evaluation of wetland resiliency through high-resolution monitoring and modeling tools. Wetlands studied in this collection span tidal marshes and coastal plain non-riverine wetlands in North Carolina, prairie potholes in Iowa, Appalachian floodplain wetlands, and floating treatment wetlands in the Midwestern U.S. The studies found accumulation of 0.7 to 4.0 mm/yr of sediments in a tidal marsh, a wide range of potential wetland hydroperiod responses to climate change, substantial decreases in inundation period, crop yield, and surface-water nitrate (but increases in phosphorus) in artificially drained potholes, and nitrate removal in carbon-amended floating treatment wetlands. Further work is needed to better understand how to design and enhance wetland systems in agricultural regions, better preserve wetland ecosystem services in areas affected by land use and climate change, and provide technical standards for the wide range of designs currently used for wetland treatment systems.

Technical Abstract: The objective of this article is to introduce a collection of articles that explore current research and thinking on wetland ecosystem resilience. The Collection contains articles on wetland resiliency to climate change, agricultural land use-driven change, and recreational land use along with evaluation of wetland resiliency through high-resolution monitoring and modeling tools. Wetland settings span tidal marshes and coastal plain non-riverine wetlands in North Carolina, prairie potholes in Iowa, Appalachian floodplain wetlands, and floating treatment wetlands in the Midwestern U.S. The studies found 0.7 to 4.0 mm/yr vertical accretion rates in a tidal marsh, a wide range of potential wetland hydroperiod responses to climate change, substantial decreases in inundation period, crop yield, and surface-water nitrate (but increases in phosphorus) in artificially drained potholes, and nitrate removal in carbon-amended floating treatment wetlands. Further work is needed to better understand how to design and enhance wetland systems in agricultural regions, better preserve wetland ecosystem services in areas affected by land use and climate change, and provide technical standards for the wide range of designs currently used for wetland treatment systems.