Abstract
The connectivity among distributed wetlands is critical for aquatic habitat integrity and to maintain metapopulation biodiversity. Here, we investigated the spatiotemporal fluctuations of wetlandscape connectivity driven by stochastic hydroclimatic forcing, conceptualizing wetlands as dynamic habitat nodes in dispersal networks. We hypothesized that spatiotemporal hydrologic variability influences the heterogeneity in wetland attributes (e.g., size and shape distributions) and wetland spatial organization (e.g., gap distances), in turn altering the variance of the dispersal network topology and the patterns of ecological connectivity. We tested our hypotheses by employing a DEM-based, depth-censoring approach to assess the eco-hydrological dynamics in a synthetically generated landscape and three representative wetlandscapes in the United States. Network topology was examined for two end-member connectivity measures: centroid-to-centroid (C2C), and perimeter-to-perimeter (P2P), representing the full range of within-patch habitat preferences. Exponentially tempered Pareto node-degree distributions well described the observed structural connectivity of both types of networks. High wetland clustering and attribute heterogeneity exacerbated the differences between C2C and P2P networks, with Pareto node-degree distributions emerging only for a limited range of P2P configuration. Wetlandscape network topology and dispersal strategies condition species survival and biodiversity.
Highlights
The connectivity among distributed wetlands is critical for aquatic habitat integrity and to maintain metapopulation biodiversity
We address the following overarching research question: how does temporal variability in hydrological conditions affect ecological connectivity of wetland-patch habitats? We posit that the variability in wetland attributes and spatial organization should condition the patch-network topology
For all four case studies, and for both metrics, an asymmetric, unimodal shape (Fig. 2) characterizes the dependence on zgw;sharp peaks suggest that small variations in zgw cause a rapid shift in both metrics
Summary
The connectivity among distributed wetlands is critical for aquatic habitat integrity and to maintain metapopulation biodiversity. We investigated the spatiotemporal fluctuations of wetlandscape connectivity driven by stochastic hydroclimatic forcing, conceptualizing wetlands as dynamic habitat nodes in dispersal networks. We hypothesized that spatiotemporal hydrologic variability influences the heterogeneity in wetland attributes (e.g., size and shape distributions) and wetland spatial organization (e.g., gap distances), in turn altering the variance of the dispersal network topology and the patterns of ecological connectivity. Landscape complexity and variations in hydrological conditions affect the structure and dynamics of depressional (wetland) patterns, and the dispersal network that connects them. In wetlands connected to shallow groundwater, the indirect effects of the hydroclimatic forcing are reflected in synchronous temporal fluctuations in groundwater and wetland stages[26] Such stochasticity in hydroclimatic forcing contributes to the spatiotemporal fluctuations in heterogeneity and connectivity of patch habitats
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