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At least 1,027 records · Page 57Linked to original sources

USGS2021

Reply to comment by R. Parkinson on “Increasing rates of carbon burial in southwest Florida coastal wetlands” by J. Breithaupt et al.

Breithaupt et al. (2020) investigated why rates of organic carbon (OC) burial in coastal wetlands appear to increase over the past ∼120 years. After comparing dating methods and applying biogeochemical analyses, we concluded that neither dating method nor carbon degradation contribute to the observed trend. Rather, we concluded that OC burial has increased in the past century. Parkinson's (2021) Comment disagrees with our conclusion, contending that: 1) use of a density correction to account for soil auto‐compaction is a flawed methodology that artificially shortens a core's length, 2) there is limited evidence for an acceleration in the regional sea‐level rise (SLR) rate, and 3) vertical accretion rates in previous papers by Breithaupt et al. (2014, 2017) are lower than the regional mean rate of SLR and are not to be believed as these wetlands should have converted to open water by now. We reject these contentions because: 1) no density correction was applied to the cores in this study, 2) local tide gauge records and analyses in the literature support an increase in SLR rates coinciding with the timeframe of our OC burial records, and 3) Parkinson's comparison of the 100‐yr mean rate of SLR neglects temporal variability and uncertainties in the long‐term sea‐level record, as well as biophysical feedbacks between wetland surface elevation and SLR. Here, we provide detailed responses to Parkinson's contentions and establish the importance of differentiating operational definitions of OC burial and accretion to clarify why an auto‐compaction correction is not applicable for OC burial measurements.

Florida↗

USGS1996

Identifying coseismic subsidence in tidal-wetland stratigraphic sequences at the Cascadia subduction zone of western North America

Tidal-wetland stratigraphy reveals that great plate boundary earthquakes have caused hundreds of kilometers of coast to subside at the Cascadia subduction zone. However, determining earthquake recurrence intervals and mapping the coastal extent of past great earthquake ruptures in this region are complicated by the effects of many sedimentologic, hydrographic, and oceanographic processes that occur on the coasts of tectonically passive as well as active continental margins. Tidal-wetland stratigraphy at many Cascadia estuaries differs little from that at similar sites on passive-margin coasts where stratigraphic sequences form through nonseismic processes unrelated to coseismic land level changes. Methods developed through study of similar stratigraphic sequences in Europe provide a framework for investigating the Cascadia estuarine record. Five kinds of criteria must be evaluated when inferring regional coastal subsidence due to great plate boundary earthquakes: the suddenness and amount of submergence, the lateral extent of submerged tidal-wetland soils, the coincidence of submergence with tsunami deposits, and the degree of synchroneity of submergence events at widely spaced sites. Evaluation of such criteria at the Cascadia subduction zone indicates regional coastal subsidence during at least two great earthquakes. Evidence for a coseismic origin remains equivocal, however, for the many peat-mud contacts in Cascadia stratigraphic sequences that lack (1) contrasts in lithology or fossils indicative of more than half a meter of submergence, (2) well-studied tsunami deposits, or (3) precise ages needed for regional correlation. Paleoecologic studies of fossil assemblages are particularly important in estimating the size of sudden sea level changes recorded by abrupt peat-mud contacts and in helping to distinguish erosional and gradually formed contacts from coseismic contacts. Reconstruction of a history of great earthquakes for the Cascadia subduction zone will require rigorous application of the above criteria and many detailed investigations.

Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth↗

USGS2025

A comprehensive sulfate and DOM framework to assess methylmercury formation and risk in subtropical wetlands

Wetlands play a vital role in contaminant cycling and uptake. Understanding how sulfate (SO 4 2‒ ) influences the conversion of inorganic mercury (Hg(II)) to toxic methylmercury (MeHg) is critical for predicting wetland responses to land use and climate change. Here, we sampled surface and pore waters across SO 4 2‒ gradients in three freshwater Everglades wetlands to assess linkages between SO 4 2‒ , MeHg, dissolved organic matter (DOM), and inorganic sulfide (S(‒II)). Increasing SO 4 2‒ concentrations increase S(‒II) and DOM concentrations and DOM aromaticity. MeHg concentration show a unimodal response to surface water SO 4 2‒ , which reflect high Hg(II) methylation at low-to-intermediate SO 4 2‒ concentration (2-12 mg/L) and low Hg(II) methylation at higher SO 4 2‒ concentrations ( > 12 mg/L). MeHg concentrations in surface waters correlate positively with MeHg concentrations in prey fish. The coherent biogeochemical relationships between SO 4 2‒ and MeHg concentrations and biologic uptake improve MeHg risk assessment for aquatic food webs and are globally relevant due to anthropogenic and climate-driven increases in SO 4 2‒ .

Florida↗

USGS2026

The accelerating loss and shifting dynamics of US tidal wetlands

Tidal wetlands are critical ecosystems for coastal sustainability, yet despite growing regulatory protection, they continue to decline globally. Their long-term resilience to interacting chronic stressors and extreme events remains uncertain, in part because comprehensive, high-frequency monitoring has been lacking. While direct land-use conversion has been substantially restricted in the United States, the true trajectory of these protected habitats has remained unclear. Here, we use four decades of high-resolution satellite records to analyze the shifting dynamics of US tidal wetlands. We reveal a widespread and previously unquantified acceleration in the rate of tidal wetland loss, amounting to a net loss of −1640 km 2 at the rate of −40.53 km 2 year −1 , accelerating by −0.73 km 2 year −2 , of which tidal marsh contributed the majority of this loss with a cumulative decline of 1567 km 2 . Furthermore, we show that the drivers of this decline are shifting: while chronic stressors like relative sea level rise have caused the largest cumulative loss (~60% of the total area loss), acute shocks from extreme weather now dominate (1.4 times that of the chronic stressors) the acceleration of that loss. By contrast, direct human activities were a minor driver, accounting for only 4% of total observed losses. These findings indicate that the resilience of these protected ecosystems is declining. It provides an urgent warning that existing conservation strategies, initially concerned with direct human impacts and increasingly focused on relative sea level rise as a slow-moving pressure, are ill-equipped for a future of increasing extreme weather events and highlights the need to redesign adaptation policies.

conterminous United States↗

USGS2026

Temperate wetlands lose climate-cooling capacity under warming

Temperate inland wetlands have long been viewed as climate regulators, with sustained CO₂ sequestration offsetting continuous CH₄ emissions over centennial–millennial timescales. However, the net climatic effect of these opposing fluxes remains uncertain under anthropogenic warming as they differ in both magnitude and atmospheric lifetime. We combine 19,000 CH₄ chamber measurements from 202 temperate inland wetlands with carbon burial rates from 16 dated sediment cores in North America’s Prairie Pothole Region to estimate greenhouse gas dynamics over two centuries. Here we show that CH₄ emissions rise by ~1.39 kg CH₄ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ over the historical period and are projected to approach 950 kg CH₄ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ under high-forcing scenarios by 2100, while CO₂ sequestration is expected to decline by ~0.3 kg CO₂ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, driving a shift toward persistent net CO₂-equivalent source behaviour and a weakening of the long-term cooling effect that wetlands have provided under natural conditions.

Prairie Pothole Region↗

USGS2023

Mapping methane reduction potential of tidal wetland restoration in the United States

Coastal wetlands can emit excess methane in cases where they are impounded and artificially freshened by structures that impede tidal exchange. We provide a new assessment of coastal methane reduction opportunities for the contiguous United States by combining multiple publicly available map layers, reassessing greenhouse gas emissions datasets, and applying scenarios informed by geospatial information system and by surveys of coastal managers. Independent accuracy assessment indicates that coastal impoundments are under-mapped at the national level by a factor of one-half. Restorations of freshwater-impounded wetlands to brackish or saline conditions have the greatest potential climate benefit of all mapped conversion opportunities, but were rarer than other potential conversion events. At the national scale we estimate potential emissions reduction for coastal wetlands to be 0.91 Teragrams of carbon dioxide equivalents year −1 , a more conservative assessment compared to previous estimates. We provide a map of 1,796 parcels with the potential for tidal re-connection.

Communications Earth & Environment↗

USGS1988

Effectiveness of an urban runoff detention pond - Wetlands system

The effectiveness of an urban detention system, composed of a detention pond and wetlands in series, in reducing constituent loads carried in runoff was determined. The detention pond was effective in reducing loads of suspended solids and suspended metals. Suspendedphase efficiencies for solids, lead, and zinc ranged between 42 and 66%. Nutrient efficiencies were variable, ranging for all species and phases, from less than 0 to 72%. The wetlands generally was effective in reducing both suspended and dissolved loads of solids and metals. Total (dissolved + suspended) solids, lead, and zinc efficiencies ranged between 41 and 73%. Efficiencies for total nitrogen and phosphorus were 21 and 17%, respectively. The system, by combining the treatment of the pond and wetlands, was very effective in reducing loads of most constituents. Total solids, lead, and zinc efficiencies ranged between 55 and 83%. Total nitrogen and phosphorus efficiencies were 36 and 43%, respectively.

Journal of Environmental Engineering↗

USGS2019

The potential role of very high-resolution imagery to characterise lake, wetland and stream systems across the Prairie Pothole Region, United States

Aquatic features critical to watershed hydrology range widely in size from narrow, shallow streams to large, deep lakes. In this study we evaluated wetland, lake, and river systems across the Prairie Pothole Region to explore where pan-sharpened high-resolution (PSHR) imagery, relative to Landsat imagery, could provide additional data on surface water distribution and movement, missed by Landsat. We used the monthly Global Surface Water (GSW) Landsat product as well as surface water derived from Landsat imagery using a matched filtering algorithm (MF Landsat) to help consider how including partially inundated Landsat pixels as water influenced our findings. The PSHR outputs (and MF Landsat) were able to identify ~60–90% more surface water interactions between waterbodies, relative to the GSW Landsat product. However, regardless of Landsat source, by documenting many smaller (<0.2 ha), inundated wetlands, the PSHR outputs modified our interpretation of wetland size distribution across the Prairie Pothole Region.

Prairie Pothole Region↗

USGS2007

Aircraft MSS data registration and vegetation classification of wetland change detection

Portions of the Savannah River floodplain swamp were evaluated for vegetation change using high resolution (5a??6 m) aircraft multispectral scanner (MSS) data. Image distortion from aircraft movement prevented precise image-to-image registration in some areas. However, when small scenes were used (200-250 ha), a first-order linear transformation provided registration accuracies of less than or equal to one pixel. A larger area was registered using a piecewise linear method. Five major wetland classes were identified and evaluated for change. Phenological differences and the variable distribution of vegetation limited wetland type discrimination. Using unsupervised methods and ground-collected vegetation data, overall classification accuracies ranged from 84 per cent to 87 per cent for each scene. Results suggest that high-resolution aircraft MSS data can be precisely registered, if small areas are used, and that wetland vegetation change can be accurately detected and monitored.

International Journal of Remote Sensing↗

USGS2026

Atlas of pollen and spores from forests and wetlands in the mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain, USA

This atlas includes descriptions and illustrations of pollen and spores from plant species found in the mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain of the United States of America, with a focus on taxa that grow in or near riparian wetlands. We include light micrographs and detailed descriptions of 141 species spanning 106 genera and 69 families. This atlas was compiled to facilitate the identification of palynomorphs from sedimentary archives in the mid-Atlantic region. We include both wetland taxa and those from surrounding uplands that may be deposited in wetland sediments.

North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia↗

USGS2001

Caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera) of fringing wetlands of the Laurentian Great Lakes

Fringing wetlands of the Laurentian Great Lakes are subject to natural processes, such as water-level fluctuation and wave-induced erosion, and to human alterations. In order to evaluate the quality of these wetlands over space and time, biological communities are often examined. This paper reports on the use of adult caddisflies to evaluate fringing wetlands of Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior.

Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ontario, W↗

USGS1978

Wetland classification in the United States

Wetland is part of a continuum of land types between deep water and dryland. Only one wetland classification was available for the United States prior to preparation of the new system described here, but numerous regional and special-purpose classifications are in use. The new classification is hierarchical, progressing from five systems (marine, estuarine, lacustrine, riverine, and palustrine) at the most general level to dominance types based on plant or animal communities at the most specific level. The system is currently in use for prototype maps of wetlands of the United States. It is hoped that it may be incorporated into a classification of all land.

Journal of Forestry↗

USGS2024

Recent increases in annual, seasonal, and extreme methane fluxes driven by changes in climate and vegetation in boreal and temperate wetland ecosystems

Climate warming is expected to increase global methane (CH 4 ) emissions from wetland ecosystems. Although in situ eddy covariance (EC) measurements at ecosystem scales can potentially detect CH 4 flux changes, most EC systems have only a few years of data collected, so temporal trends in CH 4 remain uncertain. Here, we use established drivers to hindcast changes in CH 4 fluxes (FCH 4 ) since the early 1980s. We trained a machine learning (ML) model on CH 4 flux measurements from 22 [methane-producing sites] in wetland, upland, and lake sites of the FLUXNET-CH 4 database with at least two full years of measurements across temperate and boreal biomes. The gradient boosting decision tree ML model then hindcasted daily FCH 4 over 1981–2018 using meteorological reanalysis data. We found that, mainly driven by rising temperature, half of the sites ( n = 11) showed significant increases in annual, seasonal, and extreme FCH 4 , with increases in FCH 4 of ca. 10% or higher found in the fall from 1981–1989 to 2010–2018. The annual trends were driven by increases during summer and fall, particularly at high-CH 4 -emitting fen sites dominated by aerenchymatous plants. We also found that the distribution of days of extremely high FCH 4 (defined according to the 95th percentile of the daily FCH 4 values over a reference period) have become more frequent during the last four decades and currently account for 10–40% of the total seasonal fluxes. The share of extreme FCH 4 days in the total seasonal fluxes was greatest in winter for boreal/taiga sites and in spring for temperate sites, which highlights the increasing importance of the non-growing seasons in annual budgets. Our results shed light on the effects of climate warming on wetlands, which appears to be extending the CH 4 emission seasons and boosting extreme emissions.

Global Change Biology↗

USGS2025

Biotic and abiotic drivers of ecosystem temporal stability in herbaceous wetlands in China

Maintaining the stability of ecosystems is critical for supporting essential ecosystem services over time. However, our understanding of the contribution of the diverse biotic and abiotic factors to this stability in wetlands remains limited. Here, we combined data from a field vegetation survey of 725 herbaceous wetland sites in China with remote sensing information from the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) from 2010 to 2020 to explore the contribution of biotic and abiotic factors to the temporal stability of primary productivity. We found that plant species richness directly contributed to stability on a national scale, but that this contribution differed among climate zones, hydrological regimes, and vegetation types. In addition, many abiotic factors, including soil properties, geographical location, and climate also contributed to stability. Piecewise structural equation modeling identified that soil properties, including soil pH, total nitrogen, and soil organic carbon, emerged as primary factors modulating ecosystem stability, both directly and indirectly by affecting species richness and vegetation type. Higher species richness and soil organic carbon were related to higher ecosystem stability in peatlands but less so in coastal and inland marshes. These findings enhance our ability to forecast how wetland ecosystems may respond to future environmental changes and biodiversity loss and can inform policy decisions related to ecosystem stability.

Global Change Biology↗

USGS2019

Wetland-scale mapping of preferential fresh groundwater discharge to the Colorado River

Quantitative evaluation of groundwater/surface water exchange dynamics is universally challenging in large river systems, because existing methodology often does not yield spatially‐distributed data and is difficult to apply in deeper water. Here we apply a combined near‐surface geophysical and direct groundwater chemical toolkit to refine fresh groundwater discharge estimates to the Colorado River through a 4‐km 2 wetland that borders the town of Moab, Utah, USA. Preliminary characterization of raw electromagnetic imaging (EMI) data, collected by kayak and by walking, was used to guide additional direct‐contact electrical measurements and installation of new monitoring wells. Chemical data from the wells strongly supported the EMI spatial characterization of preferential fresh groundwater discharge embedded in natural brine groundwaters and weighted to the southern wetland section. Inversion of the EMI data revealed sub‐meter scale detail regarding bulk electrical conductivity zonation across approximately 15.5 km of transects, collected in only 3 days. This electrical detail indicates processes such as salinization of the unsaturated zone and direct discharge through the Colorado River sediments and a tributary creek bed. Overall, the study contributed to a substantial reduction in fresh groundwater discharge estimates previously made using sparse existing well data and a simplified assumption of diffuse fresh groundwater discharge below the entire wetland. EMI will likely become a widely used tool in systems with natural electrical contrast as groundwater/surface water hydrogeologists continue to recognize the prevalence of preferential groundwater discharge processes.

Groundwater↗

USGS2010

Mapping of forested wetland: Use of Seasat radar images to complement conventional sources

Distinguishing forested wetland from dry forest using aerial photographs is handicapped because photographs often do not reveal the presence of water below tree canopies. Radar images obtained by the Seasat satellite reveal forested wetland as highly reflective patterns on the coastal plain between Maryland and Florida. Seasat radar images may complement aerial photographs for compiling maps of wetland. A test with experienced photointerpreters revealed that interpretation accuracy was significantly higher when using Seasat radar images than when using only conventional sources.

Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South ↗

USGS2008

Avian movements and wetland connectivity in landscape conservation

The current conservation crisis calls for research and management to be carried out on a long-term, multi-species basis at large spatial scales. Unfortunately, scientists, managers, and agencies often are stymied in their effort to conduct these large-scale studies because of a lack of appropriate technology, methodology, and funding. This issue is of particular concern in wetland conservation, for which the standard landscape approach may include consideration of a large tract of land but fail to incorporate the suite of wetland sites frequently used by highly mobile organisms such as waterbirds (e.g., shorebirds, wading birds, waterfowl). Typically, these species have population dynamics that require use of multiple wetlands, but this aspect of their life history has often been ignored in planning for their conservation. We outline theoretical, empirical, modeling, and planning problems associated with this issue and suggest solutions to some current obstacles. These solutions represent a tradeoff between typical in-depth single-species studies and more generic multi-species studies. They include studying within- and among-season movements of waterbirds on a spatial scale appropriate to both widely dispersing and more stationary species; multi-species censuses at multiple sites; further development and use of technology such as satellite transmitters and population-specific molecular markers; development of spatially explicit population models that consider within-season movements of waterbirds; and recognition from funding agencies that landscape-level issues cannot adequately be addressed without support for these types of studies.

Conservation Biology↗

USGS2019

Jump-starting coastal wetland restoration: A comparison of marsh and mangrove foundation species

During coastal wetland restoration, foundation plant species play a critical role in creating habitat, modulating ecosystem functions, and supporting ecological communities. Following initial hydrologic restoration, foundation plant species can help stabilize sediments and jump-start ecosystem development. Different foundation species, however, have different traits and environmental tolerances. To understand how these traits and tolerances impact restoration trajectories, there is a need for comparative studies among foundation species. In subtropical and tropical climates, coastal wetland restoration practitioners can sometimes choose between salt marsh and/or mangrove foundation species. Here, we compared the early life history traits and environmental tolerances of two foundation species: (1) a salt marsh grass (Spartina alterniflora), and (2) a mangrove tree (Avicennia germinans). In an 18-month study of a recently-restored coastal wetland in southeastern Louisiana (USA), we examined growth and survival along an elevation gradient and compared expansion and recruitment rates. We found that the rapid growth, expansion, and recruitment rates of the salt marsh grass make it a better species for quickly establishing ecological structure at suitable elevations. The slower growth, limited expansion, and lower recruitment of the mangrove species show its limited capacity for immediate structural restoration, especially in areas where it co-occurs with perennial salt marsh foundation species. Our findings suggest that the structural attributes needed in recently-restored areas (e.g., erosion control, vegetation structure) can be achieved more quickly using fast-growing foundation marsh species. Following salt marsh grass establishment, mangroves can then be used to further assist ecosystem development. This work highlights how appropriate foundation species can help jump-start ecosystem development to meet restoration objectives.

Restoration Ecology↗