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Interactions of consolidation drainage and climate on water-level dynamics, wetland productivity, and waterbirds

Completed
By Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center June 27, 2018

Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) recently completed a project aimed at understanding the impacts of wetland drainage on wetlands that receive drainage water. The biological communities of prairie pothole wetlands evolved in a hydrologically dynamic system due to periodic wet and dry conditions.  NPWRC research indicates that relative to wetlands in undrained landscapes, wetlands that receive consolidation drainage water drawdown less during dry conditions and progressively get larger and stabilize at their spill point during wet conditions. The implications of this water-level increase and eventual stabilization is that it reduces biological productivity and favors invasive species. These results have informed conservation efforts toward watershed-oriented restoration and protection of wetlands in the prairie pothole region. 

Below are publications associated with this project.

Is consolidation drainage an indirect mechanism for increased abundance of cattail in northern prairie wetlands?

In the Prairie Pothole Region of North America, disturbances to wetlands that disrupt water-level fluctuations in response to wet–dry climatic conditions have the potential to alter natural vegetative communities in favor of species that proliferate in stable environments, such as cattail (Typha spp.). We evaluated the effect of water-level dynamics during a recent fluctuation in wet–dry condition
Authors
Mark T. Wiltermuth, Michael J. Anteau
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Prerequisites for understanding climate-change impacts on northern prairie wetlands

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) contains ecosystems that are typified by an extensive matrix of grasslands and depressional wetlands, which provide numerous ecosystem services. Over the past 150 years the PPR has experienced numerous landscape modifications resulting in agricultural conversion of 75–99 % of native prairie uplands and drainage of 50–90 % of wetlands. There is concern over how and
Authors
Michael J. Anteau, Mark T. Wiltermuth, Max Post van der Burg, Aaron T. Pearse
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

A Bayesian approach for temporally scaling climate for modeling ecological systems

With climate change becoming more of concern, many ecologists are including climate variables in their system and statistical models. The Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) is a drought index that has potential advantages in modeling ecological response variables, including a flexible computation of the index over different timescales. However, little development has been m
Authors
Max Post van der Burg, Michael J. Anteau, Lisa A. McCauley, Mark T. Wiltermuth
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Consolidation drainage and climate change may reduce Piping Plover habitat in the Great Plains

Many waterbird species utilize a diversity of aquatic habitats; however, with increasing anthropogenic needs to manage water regimes there is global concern over impacts to waterbird populations. The federally threatened Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus; hereafter plovers) is a shorebird that breeds in three habitat types in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Canada: ri
Authors
Lisa A. McCauley, Michael J. Anteau, Max Post van der Burg
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Generating nested wetland catchments with readily-available digital elevation data may improve evaluations of land-use change on wetlands

The important ecosystem functions wetlands perform are influenced by land-use changes in their surrounding uplands and thus, identifying the upland area that flows into a wetland is important. We provide a method to define wetland catchments as the portion of the landscape that flows into a wetland; we allowed catchments to be nested and include other wetlands and their catchments, forming a hydro
Authors
Lisa A. McCauley, Michael J. Anteau
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) recently completed a project aimed at understanding the impacts of wetland drainage on wetlands that receive drainage water. The biological communities of prairie pothole wetlands evolved in a hydrologically dynamic system due to periodic wet and dry conditions.  NPWRC research indicates that relative to wetlands in undrained landscapes, wetlands that receive consolidation drainage water drawdown less during dry conditions and progressively get larger and stabilize at their spill point during wet conditions. The implications of this water-level increase and eventual stabilization is that it reduces biological productivity and favors invasive species. These results have informed conservation efforts toward watershed-oriented restoration and protection of wetlands in the prairie pothole region. 

Below are publications associated with this project.

Is consolidation drainage an indirect mechanism for increased abundance of cattail in northern prairie wetlands?

In the Prairie Pothole Region of North America, disturbances to wetlands that disrupt water-level fluctuations in response to wet–dry climatic conditions have the potential to alter natural vegetative communities in favor of species that proliferate in stable environments, such as cattail (Typha spp.). We evaluated the effect of water-level dynamics during a recent fluctuation in wet–dry condition
Authors
Mark T. Wiltermuth, Michael J. Anteau
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Prerequisites for understanding climate-change impacts on northern prairie wetlands

The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) contains ecosystems that are typified by an extensive matrix of grasslands and depressional wetlands, which provide numerous ecosystem services. Over the past 150 years the PPR has experienced numerous landscape modifications resulting in agricultural conversion of 75–99 % of native prairie uplands and drainage of 50–90 % of wetlands. There is concern over how and
Authors
Michael J. Anteau, Mark T. Wiltermuth, Max Post van der Burg, Aaron T. Pearse
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

A Bayesian approach for temporally scaling climate for modeling ecological systems

With climate change becoming more of concern, many ecologists are including climate variables in their system and statistical models. The Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) is a drought index that has potential advantages in modeling ecological response variables, including a flexible computation of the index over different timescales. However, little development has been m
Authors
Max Post van der Burg, Michael J. Anteau, Lisa A. McCauley, Mark T. Wiltermuth
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Consolidation drainage and climate change may reduce Piping Plover habitat in the Great Plains

Many waterbird species utilize a diversity of aquatic habitats; however, with increasing anthropogenic needs to manage water regimes there is global concern over impacts to waterbird populations. The federally threatened Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus; hereafter plovers) is a shorebird that breeds in three habitat types in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Canada: ri
Authors
Lisa A. McCauley, Michael J. Anteau, Max Post van der Burg
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Generating nested wetland catchments with readily-available digital elevation data may improve evaluations of land-use change on wetlands

The important ecosystem functions wetlands perform are influenced by land-use changes in their surrounding uplands and thus, identifying the upland area that flows into a wetland is important. We provide a method to define wetland catchments as the portion of the landscape that flows into a wetland; we allowed catchments to be nested and include other wetlands and their catchments, forming a hydro
Authors
Lisa A. McCauley, Michael J. Anteau
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
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