Wetland Ecology Exam 1

telmatology

the study of wetlands

what is a wetland

geomorphology and climate are the drivers, hydrology drives variety, physiochemical environment and biota interact

variation within wetlands

hydrology, soils, and vegetation in lowland, middle, and upland

bottomland hardwood

wet winter-spring, surface water fed

tidal salt marshes

inundated twice a day, predictable, surface fed

bofesales

snowmelt and precipitation fed, high elevation

depressions

snow fed, inundated in spring

when was the term wetland first used

1960s

hydraulic civilization view

using and manipulating water sources

aquatic civilization

working with water sources

wetland loss

swampland acts sold land to farmers to drain wetland and farm them, lost about 50%, 80% in Kentucky

Migratory bird treaty act of 1918

started wildlife refuge system

migratory bird hunting stamp act of 1934

preserved 5.7 million acres

US FWS circular 1953

first classification of wetlands and definition focused on hydrology

Federal water pollution control act 1972

included all waters of the U.S., changes in 1977 for permitting and minimizing damage

NEPA

EPA added guidelines on permitting, “avoid, minimize, compensate”

US Army Corp of Engineers definition

focused on hydrophytes

National wetland inventory

identify extent of wetlands, identify types of wetlands, monitoring trends

USFWS definition

includes hydric soils and hydrophytic vegetation

USDA subsidies

still given out until 1984

Food security act definition

focused on soils, allowed farmers to farm on it as long as they didn’t change the soils

Wetland reserve program

put land aside as restored wetlands

National wetland policy forum

few permit were being denied, “no net loss” to restore wetlands if you destroy one

national wetland mitigation plan

improving wetland banking and the no net loss

US National academy of science definition

brings everything together

Ramsar

international cooperation, 170 countries with preserved wetland sites

Population wetland values

animal harvest, waterfowl, fish and shellfish, timber and other vegetation harvest, medicinal products, endangered/threatened species

Ecosystem wetland values

flood mitigation, water quality, storm abatement

Global wetland values

carbon storage, nitrogen cycle

Quantifying ecological value

list values and assign a value of 1, scale factors in terms of max ability, weight scaled factors in terms of importance, add weighted/scaled factors together; HGM classification

quantifying economic value

willingness to pay, opportunity costs, replacement value, energy analysis

willingness to pay

how much would you pay beyond what you have already paid

replacement value

cost to replace the functions taken away

energy analysis

energy flow and how much it would cost to product that energy per hectare per year

Cowardin Classification system

hierarchical classification, systems, subsystems, classes and subclasses

Hydrogeomorphic classification system

geomorphic setting, water source, and hydrodynamics; key made for each region, classified by dominant water source

Bog

precipitation fed, nutrient poor, acidic, carnivorous plants

Fen

groundwater fed, more nutrients, grasses and taller trees

Seep

groundwater fed, spring fed

Riverine/fringe

surface water fed

Tidal wetland

surface flow fed

LLWW classification

combines HGM and Cowardin

precipitation

stemflow + throughfall

Pnet = P - I

interception

precipitation stopped from getting to the ground

affected by: precipitation amount, rain intensity, vegetation characteristics, human activity

infiltration

water entering soil

percolation

water moving through soil

soil capillary action

soil is negatively charged, water is positive, so the water is attracted to the soil by adhesion

infiltration and percolation characteristics

driven by gravity and soil capillary action

affected by: soil properties, layering of soil, soil moisture content, amount of vegetation, vertebrate and invertebrate activity, groundwater dynamics, air temperature

surface flow

when precipitation is greater than infiltration

overland flow

modeled based on area of watershed, average precipitation, and hydrologic response coefficient

channelized flow

modeled based on average velocity and cross-sectional area of channel; manning equation

confined aquifer

aquifer under an aquitard or aquiclude that blocks water from percolating in

unconfined aquifer

aquifer that is open to the atmosphere and is recharged

Darcy’s law

volume of flow per unit time using saturated hydraulic conductivity, cross sectional area, and hydraulic gradient

evapotranspiration

evaporation and transpiration; wind and humidity are important

latent heat of vaporization

600

stomatal transpiration

stoma let CO2 in

cuticular transpiration

through the outer coating

lenticular transpiration

through pores in woody stems

factors that affect transpiration

humidity, wind, temp, light, LAI, water availability

Leaf Area Index (LAI)

proportion of the canopy covered by leaves

wetland water budget

V/T=Pn+SFi+IFi+Gi-ET-SFo-IFo-Go±T

hydropatten

typical or average behavior of wetland water level; permanence, phenology, duration, and harshness are important

hydrologic metrics

duration of inundation, start/end dates, stage duration curve, stage excursion frequency, stage reoccurrence curve, flashiness

stage duration curve

% of the time that it is at a given water level

stage excursion frequency

how many events when the water table hits a certain depth

stage reoccurrence curve

probability of reaching a water level within so many days

flashiness

how intensely the water level changes

stage gage

measures water level

subsurface wells

slotted well and piezometer

slotted well

slotted all the way down

piezometer

only slotted at the bottom, isolates the pressure head at a certain depth, tells you if groundwater is discharging or recharging

discharge wetland

water coming from below

recharge wetland

water comes from above

steel rod oxidation

steel rusts when oxygen and moisture are present

hydric soils

soils formed under conditions of saturation, flooding, or ponding long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part

soil ecosystem services

flood control, carbon sequestration, nutrient uptake

soil formation

Climate, Organisms, Relief, Parent material, Time

organic soils

muck, mucky peat, or peat

muck

highly decomposed, low nutrient availability

peat

more fibers visible

loss on ignition

used to tell if soil is organic, put soil in combustion oven to get organic matter content

mineral soils

sand, silt, clay

sand size

0.05-2 mm

silt size

0.002-0.05mm

clay size

<.002mm

ribbon test

roll into ball and spread, distance it goes tells you the type

settling

put soil in jar, sand will fall first, then silt, then clay; measure each and calculate %

mineral redoximorphic features

reduced matrix, redox depletion, redox concentrations

reduced matrix

dominant color looks more grey

redox depletion

iron or clay depletions

redox concentrations

nodules/concretions, masses, pore linings

why do we get redoximorphic features

microbes are redcuing other elements instead of oxygen to get energy

redox reaction

electrons are transferred between atoms

oxidation state rules

oxidation number of a free element is 0

sum of all oxidation numbers is 0

oxidation number of oxygen in a compound is usually -2

oxidation number of hydrogen in a compound is usually 1

oxidation

losing an electron

reduction

gaining an electron

soil horizons

O Horizon

A - alluvial horizon

E - eluviated horizon

B - illuvial horizon (where grey color and redoximorphic features are

C - unconsolidated

R - bedrock

Munsell color chart

hue - R → YR → Y

value - dark vs light

chroma - clarity of color

eDNA

environmental DNA, DNA excreted into the environment to detect organisms