Water-level fluctuation in wetlands as a function of landscape condition in the prairie pothole region

Abstract

We evaluated water-level fluctuation (maximum water depth -minimum water depth/catchment size) in 12 temporary, 12 seasonal, and 12 semipermanent wetlands equally distributed among landscapes dominated by tilled agricultural lands and landscapes dominated by grassland. Water levels fluctuated an average of 14.14 cm in wetlands within tilled agricultural landscapes, while water levels in wetlands within grassland landscapes fluctuated an average of only 4.27 cm. Tillage reduces the natural capacity of catchments to mitigate surface flow into wetland basins during precipitation events, resulting in greater waterlevel fluctuations in wetlands with tilled catchments. In addition, water levels in temporary and seasonal wetlands fluctuated an average of 13.74 cm and 11.82 cm, respectively, while water levels in semipermanent wetlands fluctuated only 2.77 cm Semipermanent wetlands receive a larger proportion of their water as input from ground water than do either temporary or seasonal wetlands. This input of water from the ground has a stabilizing effect on water-levels of semipermanent wetlands, Increases in water-level fluctuation due to tillage or due to alteration of ground-water hydrology may ultimately affect the composition of a wetland's flora and fauna. In this paper, we also describe an inexpensive device for determining absolute maximum and minimum water levels in wetlands.

Land use and wetland drainage affect water levels and dynamics of remaining wetlands

“…It has been suggested that row-cropped landscapes have more runoff and this would tend to increase water surface areas in terminal wetlands of cropped landscapes during wet climates (Euliss and Mushet 1996, Voldseth et al 2007). However, our data do not agree with that because, in wet periods, the proportion of crops in a catchment did not appear to affect water surface areas; although it is possible that highly cropped catchments also had terminal wetlands that were already at their spill point, which would not allow them to get v www.esajournals.org larger.…”

“…2007) increases in agricultural commodity prices (Gleason et al 2008(Gleason et al , 2011. We expected that crops or soil tillage would affect wetland hydrology (Euliss and Mushet 1996, Voldseth et al 2007). Accordingly, we estimated agricultural land use during the historical era ; using the earliest year in which ;1-m cell size photos for the entire catchment were available) and multiple times during the current era (2003/2004, 2009, and 2010).…”

Effects of land use on greenhouse gas fluxes and soil properties of wetland catchments in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America

“…These abiotic and biotic factors are linked to weather and climate, groundwater interactions (e.g., recharge, discharge), and geomorphology, and can vary by landscape positions which span the wetland to upland transitional gradient. Land use also can have considerable effects on these factors (Euliss and Mushet, 1996;Gleason and Euliss, 1998;van der kamp et al, 2003;Gleason et al, 2009;Liu and Greaver, 2009;Kumar et al, 2014;Serrano-Silva et al, 2014).…”

“…For example, water depths and hydroperiods of PPR wetlands are highly dependent on runoff from spring snowmelt and summertime precipitation and evapotranspiration. Further, surface runoff, sedimentation, catchment vegetation composition, and soil chemistry and physical properties (e.g., bulk density) can be greatly influenced by land use (Martin and Hartman, 1987;Euliss and Mushet, 1996;Gleason and Euliss, 1998;van der Kamp et al, 2003;Gleason et al, 2009). Moreover, land-use practices can have opposing effects on the production or consumption of GHGs such as CH 4 and N 2 O.…”

Simulating the water budget of a Prairie Potholes complex from LiDAR and hydrological models in North Dakota, USA

“…The hydrological process and water levels in the PPR wetland are very complex and affected by many factors: wetland size, basin morphometry, soil type, land use, catchment size, topographic position and wetland drainage patterns, as well as precipitation (Kantrud et al 1989, Euliss and Mushet 1996, van der Kamp et al 1999. Rainfall, snowfall, snowmelt and rainstorm runoff, evapotranspiration, as well as fill-and-spill mechanisms, all influence water mass balance (van der Kamp and Hayashi 2009).…”