Water quality, habitat, land use, waterfowl, and fish community data from wetlands in the Boreal Transition Zone, Alberta

Abstract

Water quality, environment, agricultural land use, waterfowl, and fish community data were collected from wetlands in four landscapes (West Peace Lowlands, East Peace Lowlands, West Central, and East Central) in the Boreal Transition Zone (BTZ) of Alberta (AB) and with one landscape in British Columbia (East Peace Lowlands, BC) during May and August over three years (2005–2007). This data set is unique in that it provides comprehensive water quality sampling, habitat conditions, and associated breeding and molting waterfowl data over a three‐year period, which includes a drought year. Land use in the BTZ has rapidly changed with at least 73% of the BTZ, particularly in Saskatchewan, AB, being converted from forest to agriculture since the early 20th century. The BTZ has experienced a drying trend over the past 60 years with the lowest cumulative effective precipitation since 1943 with a −2323‐mm precipitation deficit recorded in 2006. A total of 723 and 489 wetlands were surveyed for waterfowl abundance during the breeding and molting seasons, respectively. A subset of 214 and 213 wetlands in May and August, respectively, was further sampled for habitat, limnology, and agricultural encroachment surrounding the wetland. A subset of 25 wetlands was sampled in 2006 for fish abundance data. This data set has been used in several papers in assessing the impact of drought and agricultural impact on water quality and wetland conditions, as well as drought and land use impacts on habitat associations between breeding and molting waterfowl and wetland condition.