Abstract
Sediment accumulation threatens the viability and hydrologic functioning of many naturally formed depressional wetlands across the interior regions of North America. These wetlands provide many ecosystem services and vital habitats for diverse plant and animal communities. Climate change may further impact sediment accumulation rates in the context of current land use patterns. We estimated sediment accretion in wetlands within a region renowned for its large populations of breeding waterfowl and migrant shorebirds and examined the relative roles of precipitation and land use context in the sedimentation process. We modeled rates of sediment accumulation from 1971 through 2100 using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) with a sediment delivery ratio and the Unit Stream Power Erosion Deposition model (USPED). These models predicted that by 2100, 21–33 % of wetlands filled completely with sediment and 27–46 % filled by half with sediments; estimates are consistent with measured sediment accumulation rates in the region reported by empirical studies. Sediment accumulation rates were strongly influenced by size of the catchment, greater coverage of tilled landscape within the catchment, and steeper slopes. Conservation efforts that incorporate the relative risk of infilling of wetlands with sediments, thus emphasizing areas of high topographic relief and large watersheds, may benefit wetland-dependent biota.
Highlights
Formed depressional wetlands of midcontinental North America provide vital habitats that support biodiversity at many trophic levels, including terrestrial wildlife species (Tiner 2003)
Modern day pothole wetlands within the Prairie Pothole Region were formed as the ice sheet of the Wisconsin glaciations retreated 12,000 to 10,000 years ago (Kehew and Teller 1994), leaving depressions that filled with water to form wetlands of varying types: lakes and semipermanent wetlands that are hydrologically connected to groundwater, and shallower temporary and seasonal wetlands that fill with precipitation and runoff (Winter and Rosenberry 1995)
Because Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and Unit Stream Power Erosion Deposition model (USPED) are both general models based on widespread applicability across the U.S (Renard et al 1997), we investigated the relative importance of model variables in influencing rates of sediment accumulation in wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR)
Summary
Formed depressional wetlands of midcontinental North America provide vital habitats that support biodiversity at many trophic levels, including terrestrial wildlife species (Tiner 2003) These wetlands deliver numerous ecosystem services, including surface-water storage and flooddamage protection, ground-water recharge, and global cycling of nutrients (van der Kamp and Hayashi 1998; Tiner 2003; Smith et al 2011). Nearly 90 % of the shallow depressional wetlands, or playas, in the west-central Great Plains are predicted to completely fill with sediments by 2100 (Burris and Skagen 2012).
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