Ecological Character Of Wetlands Research Articles

Impact of climate change factor on the resource (providing) ecosystem services of the Lower Danube wetlands

Problem Statement. Wetlands perform many vital functions, in particular: accumulation and storage of surface waters; protection from storms and floods; strengthening the coastline and curbing water erosion; hydraulic connection with groundwater; surface water purification; nutrient content; deposit formation; pollutants retention; stabilization of local climatic conditions, especially the amount of precipitation and temperature of the near-surface layer of the atmosphere. They are the world's most productive ecosystems, focus of biodiversity, sources of water and primary productivity on which the existence of innumerable species of plants and animals depends. Wetlands support numerous species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates. The ecological character of wetlands is the totality of their ecosystem components, processes and services at one time or another. Wetland ecosystem services are understood as the benefits that people receive from these. These are providing services (water and food); regulatory services (regulation of floods, droughts, land degradation, etc.); supporting services (soil formation, nutrient cycling, photosynthesis, biodiversity); cultural services (cultural and entertainment, spiritual, religious and other intangible benefits). In Ukraine, there are 2417 wetlands with a total area of about 255 million hectares. Among them are 50 wetlands of international importance with a total area of about 734 thousand hectares, a significant proportion of which falls on the territory of the North-Western Black Sea region coastal zone. The aim of this study is to determine the state, vulnerabilities and climate change impact on the ecosystem services of the «Chilia Branch» wetlands. Research Methodology. To determine the periods of drought, the study used the Standardised Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) from April to October 1980-2023. The SPEI index was calculated at a point located in the southern part of the Danube Biosphere Reserve. The assessment of the state of the vegetation cover was carried out on the basis of the analysis of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) the period 2017-2023 at two sites (Ermakov Island and Limba Island). To analyze dynamics land cover in the wetland area, were used Sentinel-2 land use satellite imagery for the period 2017-2021. Results. Analysis of the SPEI index showed that during the study period there was a positive statistically significant linear trend towards an increase in dry conditions (0.26 / 10 years). In the period 1980-2023 during the growing season on the territory of the "Chilia Branch" wetland, there is a change in weather conditions towards arid, which poses a certain threat. At the same time, it should be noted that the unique hydrological complex of the Danube Delta has a mitigating effect of the atmospheric drought impact on the vegetation. Also, it should be noted that the threat to coastal wetlands is the anthropogenic transformation of coastal natural systems (urbanization processes, expansion of land for agricultural needs, pollution of soil and surface waters), which can lead to loss of habitats of living organisms and deterioration of ecosystem services.

A review of the adequacy of reporting to the Ramsar Convention on change in the ecological character of wetlands

We review the mechanisms established by the Ramsar Convention for reporting on the status and change in the ecological character of wetlands. We assess the extent of their implementation and compliance, but not issues of the adequacy of their design nor the consequences of their extent of implementation. We conclude that, with the exception of qualitative national-scale reporting in triennial Contracting Party National Reports, there is inadequate implementation and compliance with most of these mechanisms, notably concerning required reporting under Article 3.2 of the Convention and the updating of the Information Sheet on Ramsar Wetlands (RIS). This limits the ability of the Convention to assess the status, and trends in status, of designated Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites), and to inform future decision-making and priority-setting for the wise use of all wetlands. As has been recognised by the Ramsar Convention, unless compliance with these mechanisms is improved, sufficient information will not be gathered through the mechanisms of Ramsar Convention to assess fully the Sustainable Development Goal 6.6.1 indicator supported by the Convention on change in the extent of water-related ecosystems over time.

Editorial: Understanding change in the ecological character of wetlands

The world’s wetlands of international importance are overseen by host nations under processes established through the intergovernmental Convention on Wetlands, commonly known as the Ramsar Convention. Signatory nations to the Convention are required to list at least one wetland as internationally important (known as Ramsar sites) and describe and maintain their ecological character (Gardner and Davidson 2011). Wetlands that satisfy one of a suite of ecological criteria, many of which relate to wetland biodiversity, may be listed as internationally important; the list of internationally important wetlands currently contains 2231 sites covering 214 936 005 ha (17March 2016). The signatories are also required to report on any likely and actual variations in the ecological character of the wetland that may bring it to a state where it may be considered degraded (Finlayson 1996). They are then required to mitigate this degradation or follow prescriptions to delist and offset, with the former being potentially biophysically complex (Alexander et al. 2011) and the latter potentially bedevilled by complex processes (Pittock et al. 2010). As outlined in theMillenniumEcosystemAssessment (MEA 2005), many wetlands, including those listed as Ramsar sites, are increasingly under pressure from (1) anthropogenic climate change causing changes in their hydrology, and (2) the direct impacts of people, notably by modification to their water regimes (increasing water use and/or decreasing water quality), changes in land use, and the introduction or facilitation of invasive species. The Ramsar site description, which is provided at the time of listing of a wetland as internationally important, provides a baseline against which change can be measured. However, as outlined in thisSpecial Issue ofMarineF MacKay et al. 2009). Other techniques to understand the condition or trajectory of change in a wetland include palaeoecology. While these approaches, which are largely sediment-based, may not reconstruct the nature of waterbird or fish populations over time, they are capable of reporting on long-term changes in water quality, sediment load, plant and algal communities and invertebrates, particularly ostracods, cladocerans and chironomids. These records can extend the knowledge of change back centuries or even millennia, but with decreasing resolution over longer periods. With the scope or potential of these approaches being increasingly articulated (Gell 2012), there is an opportunity, or even a need, for contemporary ecologists andmanagers to explore the ecological heritage of their wetlands. Finlayson et al. (2016) also report that there are now many palaeoecological records from sediment sequences collected from Ramsar wetlands across the world, as shown by the papers included in this special issue (Gell and Finlayson 2016). These records show the extent of change through time, with some revealing variation in response to low-frequency climate cycles and others revealing the pervasive andmore recent impacts from industrial development. These studies can be used to reveal how well the ecological condition of awetland at the time of listing as internationally important represents the historical condition and variability of the wetland or if it is a consequence of more recent humanmodification. As explained by Gell et al. (2016), this can create considerable tension in discussions about the ‘ecological character’ of Ramsar-listed wetlands, as well as the ‘limits of acceptable change’, and what constitutes a ‘degraded state’, and can obfuscate the obligations of a signatory nation to remediate or offset adverse ecological change in a wetland of international significance. These issues provided the background for the workshop ‘RamsarWetlands: Understanding Change in Ecological Character’ at Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia, 5–8 November 2013. Sponsored by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (now Future Earth) project PAGES (Past Global Changes), this meeting brought together what was possibly an eclectic group of palaeoecologists andwetlandmanagers andecologists. It included representatives from PAGES and from the Ramsar Convention’s CSIRO PUBLISHING

Limits of Acceptable Change

This paper gives a broad overview of existing approaches and other considerations concerning the definition and operation of concepts and approaches for “limits of acceptable change” (LAC) which may be applicable to the Ramsar context of defining and detecting change in the ecological character of wetlands, as required by Article 3.2.The paper identifies different purposes for LAC in the context of existing Ramsar information management and decision-making frameworks. It highlights conceptual distinctions between interpretations of “trivial” change, benchmarks for establishing the range of normal variability, recreational management compromise protocols, precautionary envelopes for ecosystem status reporting, early warning indicators, adaptive management triggers, expressions of risk appetite and degrees of approximation/tolerance bandwidths for the achievement of conservation objectives.Examples of existing approaches are given from Australia, the European Union, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as from the Convention’s own guidance. Some of these approaches operate with substantial volumes of data and well-resourced agencies, but any global Ramsar standards or guidance which may be developed on this issue will need to cater for more capacity-constrained parts of the world, perhaps through a “framework” or “tiered” approach. Elements of the scope of desirable future work by the Ramsar Scientific & Technical Review Panel towards this are identified.The term “Limits of Acceptable Change” has been used in significantly different ways in different contexts, giving rise to some confusion and mistaken conceptual extrapolations. It is suggested that different terminology should be used for defining “how much change constitutes relevant change” for the purposes of Article 3.2. For Article 3.2 purposes it is therefore recommended that the term “Limits for Defining Change in Ecological Character” (LDCEC) should be used instead.

Assessing wetland ecosystem services and poverty interlinkages: a general framework and case study

The wise use of wetlands is expected to contribute to ecological integrity, as well as to secure livelihoods, especially of communities dependent on their ecosystem services for sustenance. This paper provides a conceptual framework capable of examining the goals of wetland management, poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods. The framework highlights ecological character as a social construct and, with the notion of wetlands as settings for human well-being, builds a concept for assessing the inter-linkages between ecosystem services and livelihoods. The value and broader applicability of our framework is then tested by applying it to a case study from India (Lake Chilika) to evaluate the degree to which the mutual goals of improving both human well-being and the ecological character of wetlands have been achieved. The case study maps changes in human well-being induced in the basin communities due to external vulnerability contexts, institutions and freedoms. It further assesses the response strategies in terms of their impacts on ecological character and poverty status. Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Guest editor M.C. Acreman Citation Kumar, R., Horwitz, P., Milton, R.G., Sellamuttu, S.S., Buckton, S.T., Davidson, N.C., Pattnaik, A.K., Zavagli, M. and Baker, C., 2011. Assessing wetland ecosystem services and poverty interlinkages: a general framework and case study. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 56 (8), 1602–1621.