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Wetland Science Practice published by the Society of Wetland Scientists
Vol. 38, No. 2 April 2021 ISSN: 1943-6254
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK Spring is officially here and things are warming up here in New England and we’re seeing signs of spring. This weekend I noticed that the silver maples have begun to flower along the banks of the Connecticut River and that pussy willow twigs are for sale along the roadside. I haven’t heard the wood frogs from the vernal pools yet, but by the end of this week they should be chorusing. Ice fishing is over and folks are launching boats on our local pond. I think all peoples in temperate and colder regions look forward to the coming of spring. Ralph Tiner In other regions, people may look WSP Editor forward to the wet season as the rains bring a similar rebirth and greening to the landscape. I often think of how most of us in the “first world” are largely disconnected from Nature and able to pick and choose how to relate to the natural world – to experience Nature for recreation or spiritual enlightenment, for example. At the same time I think about how many of our fellow brothers and sisters are impacted daily by the vagaries of Nature and how they deal with it, especially the indigenous peoples and those self-sufficient folks living in rural areas and wilderness. Our Society (SWS) has recently endorsed a Declaration for the Rights of Wetlands (see notice and article in this issue) which attempts to give more status to a significant portion of the natural world upon which many of these folks owe their existence. In addition to providing habitats for countless plants and animals, wetlands and associated waters provide food, materials for shelter, handicrafts, medicines, etc., and support local economies for these peoples. Nature has provided a wealth of resources for humankind and it is time that we all show more respect for the natural world, rather than using it as a disposable and infinite resource. It will be interesting to see where the Declaration takes us on our journey to advance wetland conservation around the globe. In this issue we also have a couple of articles on South American wetlands – one dealing with floodplain connectivity and another addressing recent wildfires in the Pantanal, plus abstracts from our Wetland Restoration Section’s December 2020 virtual symposium “Wetland Restoration: Dispelling Myths.” As usual, thanks to all our contributors for providing our readers with interesting information and insights. (Continued on page 83) 80 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
CONTENTS Vol. 38, No. 2 April 2021
ISSN:1943-6254 80 / From the Editor’s Desk 81 / President’s Message 82 / SWS News 85 / SWS Webinars ARTICLES 86 / Symposium Abstracts from the Wetland Restoration Section of the SWS Terry Doss 89 / Shifting the Paradigm: A Society of Wetland Scientists Rights of Wetlands Initiative Gillian T. Davies and others 94 / Measuring Connectivity in Floodplains Rivers: Application of FITRAS Function to the Lower Paraná Sylvina L. Casco and others 107 / Lessons to be Learned from the Wildfire Catastrophe of 2020 in the Pantanal Wetland Geraldo Alves Damasceno-Junior
116 / Wetlands in the News 119 / Wetland Bookshelf 121 / What’s New in the SWS Journal - WETLANDS 122 / About WSP/Submission Guidelines
COVER PHOTO: Jaguar (Panthers onca) along banks of Paraguay River. (Photo by Geraldo Alves Damasceno Junior) SOCIETY OF WETLAND SCIENTISTS 1818 Parmenter St., Ste 300, Middleton, WI 53562 (608) 310-7855 www.sws.org
Note to Readers: All State-of-the-Science reports are peer reviewed, with anonymity to reviewers.
PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS
Change is in the air! Like many of us here in the northern hemisphere, I’m enjoying the arrival of spring and the beauty that emerges as wetlands explode with unblemished foliage and infinite shades of green. Wetlands in the southern hemisphere are changing too – cooling off, slowing down as winter is coming, with a touch of frosting in some spots. Some of these transformations seem to happen almost overnight, and makes me wonder if the flora and fauna are sometimes caught off guard by the powerful forces of nature. Mother Nature teaches so Loretta Battaglia, Ph.D. many important lessons and the Southern Illinois changing seasons remind me yet University again that nothing is constant. SWS President Sometimes the changes are abrupt and intense and yet they are part of the beauty of nature and often a precursor to growth and cycles of renewal.
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Wetland Science Practice PRESIDENT / Loretta Battaglia, Ph.D. PRESIDENT-ELECT / Gregory Noe, Ph.D. IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT / Max Finlayson, Ph.D. SECRETARY GENERAL / Leandra Cleveland, PWS TREASURER / Lori Sutter, Ph.D. EXECUTIVE ADMINISTRATOR / Suzanna Hogendorn CONSULTING DIRECTOR / Michelle Czosek, CAE WETLAND SCIENCE & PRACTICE EDITOR / Ralph Tiner, PWS Emeritus CHAPTERS ASIA / Wei-Ta Fang, Ph.D. CANADA / Nigel Roulet, Ph.D. CENTRAL / Tim Fobes, PWS CHINA / Xianguo Lyu EUROPE / Matthew Simpson, PWS INTERNATIONAL / Ian Bredlin, Msc; Pr.Sci.Nat and Tatiana Lobato de Magalhães, Ph.D., PWS MID-ATLANTIC / Jennifer Slacum NEW ENGLAND / Dwight Dunk, PWS NORTH CENTRAL / Christina Hargiss, Ph.D. OCEANIA / Phil Papas PACIFIC NORTHWEST / Josh Wozniak, PWS ROCKY MOUNTAIN / Ryan Hammons, PWS SOUTH ATLANTIC / Brian Benscoter, Ph.D. SOUTH CENTRAL / Scott Jecker, PWS WESTERN / Richard Beck, PWS, CPESC, CEP SECTIONS BIOGEOCHEMISTRY / Beth Lawrence, Ph.D. EDUCATION / Derek Faust, Ph.D. GLOBAL CHANGE ECOLOGY / Wei Wu, Ph.D. PEATLANDS / Bin Xu, Ph.D. PUBLIC POLICY AND REGULATION / John Lowenthal, PWS RAMSAR / Nicholas Davidson, Ph.D. STUDENT / David Riera WETLAND RESTORATION / Andy Herb WILDLIFE / Andy Nyman, Ph.D. WOMEN IN WETLANDS / Carrie Reinhardt Adams, Ph.D.
Spring in coastal forest, St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, USA. Live oak flushing new leaves.
SWS is also changing. Like many of our sister societies, we experienced many ups and downs over the past year. The pandemic forced us to change the way we communicate, conduct the Society’s business, and share our science. We adapted, we innovated, and now we have many more 21st century tools in our toolkit to move SWS forward. (Continued on page 88) 81 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
COMMITTEES AWARDS / Siobhan Fennessy, Ph.D. EDUCATION AND OUTREACH / Jeffrey Matthews, Ph.D. HUMAN DIVERSITY / Kwanza Johnson and Jacoby Carter, Ph.D. MEETINGS / Yvonne Vallette, PWS MEMBERSHIP / Leandra Cleveland, PWS PUBLICATIONS / Keith Edwards WAYS & MEANS / Lori Sutter, Ph.D. WETLANDS OF DISTINCTION / Roy Messaros, Ph.D. Bill Morgante, Steffanie Munguia and Jason Smith, PWS REPRESENTATIVES PCP / Scott Jecker, PWS WETLANDS / Marinus Otte, Ph.D. WETLAND SCIENCE & PRACTICE / Ralph Tiner, PWS Emeritus ASWM / Jill Aspinwall AIBS / Dennis Whigham, Ph.D.
SWS NEWS
Latin American wetlands issue planned for Wetland Science & Practice
T
he Society of Wetland Scientists' e-publication, Wetland Science & Practice (WSP), is planning an issue focused on Latin American wetlands. The purpose is to provide readers with an update of current research, restoration and conservation activities and concerns involving wetlands. Articles on the natural history of wetland fauna or flora are also of interest, as well as profiles of individual wetlands of national or local significance. Photographs of
wetland animals, plants or scenes are also sought for consideration for display in the Notes from the Field section; please include an appropriate description for the caption. The deadline for submissions is October 1, 2021. Please review WSP publication guidelines. If you have any questions feel free to contact Tatiana Lobato de Magalhaes, Special Issue Coordinator, or Ralph Tiner, WSP editor. n
Lake Ohrid: Soon to become a Ramsar Wetland
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he SWS Europe chapter has some good news to share. We were alarmed by people from North Macedonia in 2015 because the very last wetland bordering the famous Lake Ohrid, Studenchishte Marsh, was threatened to be drained for tourist infrastructure development. After writing letters to the authorities on behalf of SWS, we organized
our annual chapter meeting in Ohrid in 2018 and called for the protection of the wetland and the Lake by a Ramsar designation. We are very glad that this designation has now been submitted and that Studenchishte Marsh and Lake Ohrid are closer to protection and wise use. Read more. n
Opportunity for a student to serve on section board
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he SWS Public Policy and Regulation Section would like to provide an opportunity for a student to serve on the Section Board. The student should be working in wetland policy and/or regulation and potentially looking for
career opportunities in the same area. Please submit a brief statement of why you want to serve on this section board and the board will review all applicants. Please send all requests to the section president John.lowenthal@cardno-gs.com. n
The SWS Job Board is back!
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e have received many requests for a Job Board on the new SWS website, and we are excited to announce that SWS members can now post opportunities on our Careers page, found under the Resources menu drop-down.
In order to post your announcement, login to the Member Info Hub. Select Job Postings in the left-side column, and then click the green “Add” button in the upper right corner of the screen. n
Just a couple of weeks left to apply: New HumMentor program
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umMentor is a mentoring program sponsored by the Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS) for senior undergraduate and early graduate students from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries who are conducting research
or scientific outreach in wetland science. The deadline to submit an application is April 30, 2021. Mentorships will be selected by June 2021. For more details on HumMentor and to apply, please visit the HumMentor webpage. n
SWS Wildlife Section offers new award
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he Wildlife Section has replaced its $600 "Best Student Presentation Award" with a $1,000 "Wildlife Section Student Travel Award." The first awardee is Madelyn McFarland, Graduate Research Assistant in Wildlife, Fisheries 82 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
& Aquaculture at Mississippi State University. The presentation of this award will be included in the Wildlife Section's invited symposium at the virtual SWS Annual Meeting in June. n
16th SWS Europe Chapter Virtual Conference June 15-17
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his online conference will feature two excellent plenary speakers each day. The conference is mainly dedicated to young scientists, who are strongly encouraged to submit
their work and participate at the conference. A prize will be offered for the best presentation. More information and to register. n
SWS joins other Aquatic Science Societies in letter to President Biden
T
he Consortium of Aquatic Science Societies (CASS), including SWS, recently sent a letter to the Biden
Administration urging clean water regulations that are backed by science. Read the letter. n
SWS Wetland Interviews team looking for interviewee nominations
T
he primary goal of Wetland Interviews is to share lessons learned, challenges, and experiences in wetland research and conservation across the globe and from diverse perspectives. We seek to highlight international connections in wetland science and increase knowledge exchange by interviewing wetland researchers and practitioners from around the world. The SWS Wetlands Interviews Initiative is looking for nominations for interviewees that can speak about their intercultural, international, and/ or interdisciplinary experiences. In particular, we are
EDITOR'S LETTER, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 80
interested in having participants from Latin America and the Caribbean region and doing interviews in Spanish, Portuguese, or English. The interviewee need not be a member of SWS, and can be at any stage in their professional development. The Wetland Interviews Initiative is also seeking SWS members interested in conducting these interviews (in English and other languages). Visit the SWS Wetland Interviews webpage if you would like to nominate an interviewee or are interested in conducting an interview. Please email membership@sws.org with questions. n
We are looking forward to our upcoming annual conference which again this year will be a virtual meeting - to be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the first two weeks in June, with optional workshops on Wednesday June 9. While we are planning to publish the abstracts in the July issue of Wetland Science & Practice (WSP), if you’re planning to give a presentation please consider contributing an article to WSP for publication in October or later. It should be fairly easy to convert a powerpoint presentation to an article. WSP articles do not preclude publication of more detailed accounts in scientific journals. Even if you are not giving a talk and would like to write about wetlands, or display some of your wetland images (scenes, animals, or plants) in our Notes from the Field section, please feel free to contact me about your interest (ralphtiner83@gmail.com). Meanwhile, we hope that the pandemic is on its way out and that a return to normalcy will be here by Fall. Stay Safe and Happy Swamping! n
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SWS ANNUAL MEETING 2021
Register today for the Virtual 2021 Annual Meeting! The SWS 2021 Annual Meeting will be fully virtual and held on June 1, 3, 8, and 10, with optional workshops on June 9. Centered around the theme Wetland Sciences 2021: Adaptation Drives Innovation, the virtual meeting will include opportunities for engagement, including symposia, contributed sessions, workshops, plenary sessions, and space to connect with other attendees from across the globe. The plenary speakers have been announced for Annual Meeting: • Jacob F. Berkowitz, PhD, CPSS, PWS, US Army Engineer Research and Development Center • Evelyn Gaiser, PhD, Florida International University • Ms. Martha Rojas Urrego, Secretary General, Convention on Wetlands • Neil Saintilan, PhD, Macquarie University Register today - Registration rates increase May 16. We look forward to welcoming you to the SWS Virtual Annual Meeting in June!
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SPONSORSHIP PACKAGES
A variety of sponsorship levels are available on a first-come, first-selected basis. Our fully virtual meeting is sure to provide international exposure to all our sponsors. For more information, visit the 2021 Annual Meeting Support web page. n
84 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
WEBINARS
SOCIETY WETLAND SCIENTISTS
Monthly webinars are offered by the Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS) as a benefit of membership. Once each quarter, in March, July, September and December (marked with an asterisk below), the monthly SWS webinar is open for non-members to attend, at no cost. Spanish language webinars are always free for both members and non-members, as well.
ENGLISH
SPANISH:
4/15/2021 | 1:00 pm ET
6/23/2021 | 1:00 pm ET
Assessing multiple functions of Missouri’s bottomlands: Laying the groundwork For wetland conservation Presenter: Frank Nelson
Macrophytes and invertebrate herbivores in subtropical wetlands * Presenter: Celeste Franceschini 9/22/2021 | 1:00 pm ET
5/20/2021 | 1:00 pm ET Bois D’Arc Restoration Site Presenter: Matt Stahman, PWS, CERP
Climate-resilient environmental flows: Theory, practice and outlook on a changing climate in Mexico * Presenter: Sergio A. Salinas-Rodríguez 12/01/2021 | 1:00 pm ET The first 10 years of data of the Central American Waterbird Count, organized by Manomet/Wetlands International * Presenter: John van Dort, Arne Lesterhuis
ARCHIVES Did you miss a webinar? All webinars are recorded and archived. To view member-only webinars, visit the calendar view of the SWS events page and navigate back to the applicable event date. Quarterly public webinars and Spanish language webinars are archived on our YouTube channel.
Thank you to our 2021 Webinar Series sponsors
2021 Webinar Series sponsorships available We are excited to announce sponsorship opportunities for our webinar series, as a means of partnering with other organizations in the wetland field, like you! Webinars are offered complimentary to all SWS members, and are offered FREE to the public on a quarterly basis, providing maximum exposure for your organization.
SWS WEBINAR SPONSORSHIP BENEFITS:
Pre-Webinar • Recognition with company logo and link to organization website on SWS promotional items, including member emails and advertisement on SWS Webinars webpage
During Webinar • Verbal recognition of organization during introductory webinar slides, as well as presentation of organization logo • Contact slide at end of the webinar presentation featuring organization contact information
Post-Webinar • Additional exposure from on-demand webinars, which are viewed recordings (generally, 45 viewings per month)
Annual Sponsorship rate of $1,000 includes recognition during at least 10 SWS Webinars per year. Sponsorship is limited to only five (5) sponsors per subscription year. Contact Jordan Haag at jhaag@sws.org.
www.sws.org 85 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
#SWSWebinars
#SWS
#Wetlands
#WetlandScience
CHAPTER NEWS
Symposium Abstracts from the Wetland Restoration Section of the SWS Terry Doss
A
t the December 2020 virtual SWS meeting, the Wetland Restoration Section held a virtual symposium on “Wetland Restoration: Dispelling Myths.” Given past and ongoing stresses on wetlands, coupled with the backdrop of rising sea levels and changing climates, it is likely that ecological restoration will continue to be an important tool in preventing further degradation and increasing ecological diversity. However, too often, due to funding limits, lack of time, knowledge gaps, fatuous regulations, or any number of limitations, our efforts to restore wetland functions and services have fallen short or have resulted in unintended consequences. Our knowledge of wetland science has grown exponentially over the past 40 years, but so too has our awareness of all of the unknowns related to the complexities of the natural world. This symposium focused on dispelling some myths often associated with wetland restoration by examining past projects, scrutinizing common restoration practices, and investigating some of the unplanned outcomes of management actions. We also delved into some of the theoretical questions regarding the management of these complex natural resources, questioning the definition of ecological baseline and levels of intervention. The goal of this symposium was to acknowledge that even after 40 plus years of managing and restoring wetlands, ecological restoration is still a relatively new science and we do not fully comprehend the complexities of our ecosystems. But in looking at past efforts and acknowledging that we cannot control nature, particularly in a changing world with an unknown future, we have developed some ideas and approaches to how to assist in the recovery of wetlands in the future. The following are abstracts from the presentations. n
TO INTERVENE OR NOT TO INTERVENE: THAT IS THE QUESTION IN THE ANTHROPOCENE Metthea Yepsen, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Science and Research, Trenton, NJ metthea.m.yepsen@gmail.com Brittany Wilburn, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA Wetland restorations can take decades before their functions begin to look like that of natural wetlands. It may even be argued that restored sites can never replace natural wetlands. For this reason, non-intervention methods of conservation, like protection, are generally preferable to restoration. Restoration is reserved for areas where wetlands once were, but are no longer. This makes sense given that we are only just scratching the surface in our understanding of these complicated ecosystems. However, humans have a heavy impact on these “natural” systems. There is increasing evidence that tidal wetlands in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States are not keeping pace with accelerating rates of sea level rise. Large losses of tidal wetland acreage are projected in New Jersey by 2050 under moderate rates of sea level rise. The loss of marsh is expected to cause the extinction of the salt marsh sparrow, increase exposure of coastal communities to storms and reduce other valuable ecosystem services. But many of the tidal wetlands that 86 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
modeling and monitoring suggest are especially vulnerable to sea level rise still look healthy, provide functional habitat for animals and are relatively intact. Do we begin to heavily manage these systems by elevating them with dredged sediment and increasing drainage to proactively increase their resilience to sea level rise or do we leave them alone out of a concern that our nascent understanding may do more harm than good in relatively intact habitats? n
RESPONSE OF BIOMASS STRUCTURE AND GREENHOUSE GAS FLUX TO REPEATED LARGESCALE MECHANICAL TREATMENT OF INVASIVE TYPHA ACROSS VARIABLE WATER CONDITIONS Olivia F. Johnson, Department of Natural Resources & Environment, Center for Environmental Science & Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT and U.S. Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, ND olivia.2.johnson@uconn.edu Abha Panda, Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Shane C. Lishawa, Institute of Environmental Sustainability, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL Beth A. Lawrence, Department of Natural Resources & Environment, Center for Environmental Science & Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Invasive species management typically aims to promote diversity and wildlife habitat, but little is known about how these efforts affect wetland carbon (C) dynamics. Further, the interplay of hydrologic extremes and invasive species is fundamental to managing wetlands in a changing world. Recent rapid water level rise in the Laurentian Great Lakes offered an opportune time to test how mechanical treatment of invasive Typha × glauca shifts plant-mediated C metrics amidst changing water levels. From 2015 to 2017, we implemented large-scale treatment plots of harvest (i.e., cut above water surface), crush (i.e., ran over biomass with a tracked vehicle), and Typha-dominated controls. Treated Typha regrew with less biomass than controls each year, while Typha production in control stands increased with rising water levels across seasons. Harvested stands had total methane (CH4) flux rates (measured using clear in-situ chambers) twice as high as in controls, while crushing did not change total CH4 flux. One year after final treatment implementation, crushed stands had elevated surface water diffusive CH4 flux rates (measured using dissolved gas in water). Two years after final treatment, floating Typha mats were present only in harvested and crushed stands, with higher frequency in deeper water and a positive correlation with surface water diffusive CH4 flux. Our study demonstrates two mechanical treatments have differential effects on Typha structure and consequent wetland CH4 emissions, suggesting C-based responses, variable water conditions, and multi-year monitoring can improve assessment of how management impacts ecological function. n
GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLAND RESTORATION AT THE SHIAWASSEE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE - PLANNING REQUIRES ADAPTATION Kurt P. Kowalski, U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Ann Arbor, MI kkowalski.wetlands@gmail.com Eric Dunton, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, Saginaw, MI Sasha Bozimowski, U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Ann Arbor, MI The restoration of over 400 ha (1,000 ac) of coastal wetland habitat in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding areas is a high priority for the region. Years of extensive planning took place to design and execute a landscape-scale restoration approach that mimics historical conditions while maximizing hydrologic connectivity and benefits to fish and wildlife. However, widespread flooding, a global pandemic, and other unanticipated events created delays and challenges that prevented planned construction, ecological research, and management approaches. Therefore, the detailed plans were 87 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
adapted to both respond to the new challenges and take advantage of newly-created opportunities. The lessons learned through this project will help others prepare for and then adapt to unexpected challenges. n
ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION: RESTORING NATURAL OR NOVEL AND DOES IT MATTER? Joe Berg, Biohabitats, Inc., Baltimore, MD jberg@biohabitats.com Ecological restoration is a new endeavor supported by a relatively young science that hasn’t always developed with an understanding of our historical landscape modifications nor the long-term effects these modifications have had on our current natural resource condition. As a result, current resource management values and priorities may not serve society’s best long-term interests in terms of ecological restoration. As an example, many of our floodplain forest communities have developed on abandoned pasture/cropland floodplains, which have degraded groundwater and surface water resources which result from stormwater dominated stream channels formed and modified during agricultural land clearing practices and left to naturalize. Protection of these ‘novel’ floodplain forest communities (and other misguided regulatory programs) limits the ability to restore these systems to a more functional resource with greater complexity. If society continues to understand and value only what they have learned in the last generation or two, our perspective will be dominated by a ‘changing baseline’ which is moving to a lower diversity, less resilient natural world. Alternatively, if we focus instead on historical landscape conditions present prior to European colonization and strive to restore resource linkages and functions present at that time, we will be diversifying our landscape resources, increasing our resilience to climate change, and protecting society against the slow loss of ecosystem services associated with our many generation ‘changing baseline’. n
KEEPING IT SIMPLE IN A COMPLEX WORLD Terry Doss, Director of Natural Resources, New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, Lyndhurst, NJ TDoss@njsea.com Over the past thirty years, more than 1,000 acres of tidal marshes located within the Hackensack Meadowlands have been “restored” primarily for mitigation purposes due to past wetland impacts and loss. These wetland impacts will continue to occur in the future due to the Meadowlands’ urban location and adjacency to major transportation and other urban infrastructure. This is concerning because, in general, the mitigated wetlands are not being ecologically restored but rather are being built
as carbon copies of the impacted wetlands using oversimplified concepts that ignore the complexity of natural systems and future uncertainties. The underlying causes for these failures stem from outdated regulations that push for over-engineered solutions and the use of mitigation banks. Restoration approaches that have been more successful at replacing wetland services and functions tend to be smaller projects that are conducted over years, with a focus on treating the causes of degradation rather than the
symptoms and allowing for adaptation as external factors change and uncertainties arise. In other words, moving from the use of simplified concepts and techniques, and instead simplifying the process and the project, and relying on nature to take the lead. Project examples from the Meadowlands will illustrate practical restoration approaches that have proven successful in restoring wetland services and functions over time. n
PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 81
Autumn in high elevation peatlands, Mt. Field, Tasmania, Australia. Note the Tasmanian snow gums forming the tree line.
Spring in coastal marshes, Jekyll Island, Georgia, USA. Parade of fiddler crabs in the foreground.
88 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
Another big change on the horizon concerns AMPED, our long-time business office and partner. They are ending the contract with SWS early. After September 1, 2021, AMPED will no longer provide business services to the Society. Our goal is to keep everything running as smoothly as possible, but there may be a few minor bumps in the road during this transition period. Your patience is much appreciated and, as always, don’t hesitate to contact me or other members of the Executive Board if you have problems, questions, concerns, or feedback. We are in the process of reviewing our governance model and also drawing up a new request for proposals (RFP) to find our next business office partner. Although a challenging phase, it is also a time for capitalizing on new opportunities, and continued growth and evolution of SWS. n
Spring in floodplain forest, Jean Lafitte National Historical Park & Preserve, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Rough green snake on palmetto.
Autumn in fringing lakeside wetlands, Mt. Field, Tasmania, Australia.
RIGHTS OF WETLANDS
Shifting the Paradigm: A Society of Wetland Scientists Rights of Wetlands Initiative Gillian T. Davies1,2, C. Max Finlayson3,4, William R Moomaw2,5,7, and Nick Davidson3,6
INTRODUCTION: THE IMPERATIVE
R
ecognizing the failure of past efforts to turn the tide of wetland degradation and loss (Ramsar Convention on Wetlands 2018, Davidson et al. 2020) and responding to the ongoing global crises of climate destabilization and biodiversity degradation and loss (Moomaw et al. 2018, IPBES 2019, Ripple et al. 2020, Bradshaw et al. 2021), Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS) members and others, largely through Ramsar Section and the SWS Climate Change and Wetlands Initiative discussions, articles and symposia, have recognized the need for new approaches (Simpson et al. 2020, Fennessy et al. 2021, Davidson et al. 2021), and the responsibility that scientists have for responding to these global crises (Ripple et al. 2017, Ripple et al. 2020). The growing Rights of Nature movement (Koons 2012, Cullinan 2011), led by non-governmental organizations, Indigenous peoples, and local communities (Pecharroman 2018, Studley and Bleisch 2018, Wilson and Lee 2019), provides a model that could lead to a fundamental change in outcomes based on a paradigm shift in our ethical and legal thinking. With these thoughts in mind, we have developed a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands (hereafter referred to as the Declaration) as a wetlands-specific response to the global crises and the Rights of Nature movement, a proposal for a fundamental paradigm shift in our relationship with wetlands (Davies et al. 2020) and have discussed and proposed establishment of a Rights of Wetlands Initiative (ROW Initiative) with the SWS Executive Board.
APPROACH
The Executive Board has accepted the proposal and located the Rights of Wetlands Initiative under the umbrella of 1 - BSC Group, Inc., Worcester, Massachusetts, USA 2 - Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA 3 - Institute for Land, Water, and Society, Charles Sturt University, Albury, New South Wales, Australia 4 - IHE Delft, Institute for Water Education, Delft, Netherlands 5 - Center for International Environment and Resource Policy, The Fletcher School, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA 6 - Nick Davidson Environmental, Wigmore, Herefordshire, UK 7 - Woodwell Climate Research Center, Falmouth, MA, USA
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the Wetlands Concerns Committee, similar to the Climate Change and Wetlands Initiative (Finlayson et al. 2020a). Also similar to the Climate Change and Wetlands Initiative, the ROW Initiative will be coordinated by a small panel that will report to the Board of Directors twice a year and will not incur additional costs to the Society. This ROW Initiative is open to all SWS members who may share interest in collaborating to further develop and promote a framework for recognizing the ethical and legal Rights of Wetlands and the fundamental realignment of the human-wetlands relationship that it implies. Going forward, the ROW Initiative will build on the activities of the previous year and a half. Formalization of the ROW Initiative creates a vehicle for future collaborations both within and beyond SWS, such as with individuals and organizations with whom we may wish to collaborate, including members of Indigenous and local communities and Rights of Nature non-governmental organizations. A major goal of the ROW Initiative is to share the Declaration with the 171 Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention) signatory countries and invite them to work collaboratively to support greater understanding and respect for Rights of Wetlands and to uphold these rights. Due to the global focus of this ROW Initiative, it is anticipated to support the Society’s ongoing efforts to increase our global presence and impact, thus supporting Goal 3 (Global Reach) of the Society’s 2020-2025 Strategic Plan as well as supporting Goal 1 (Communication), Goal 2 (Education and Research) and Goal 4 (Membership).
SOCIETY OF WETLAND SCIENTISTS: EVOLUTION OF AN IDEA
The Society of Wetland Scientists provides a unique and essential venue for wetland scientists and others interested in wetlands to meet and collaborate, whether in person at meetings, through Chapter, Section, and Committee activities, through the writing of articles in journals, including in Wetlands and Wetland Science & Practice, or, as has become the new norm, on various digital platforms. As a result of a years’ long ongoing discussion around the global challenges of climate change (Finlayson et al. 2017, Finlayson et al. 2018, Moomaw et al. 2018, Finlayson et al. 2019, Finlayson et al. 2020b), biodiversity loss (IPBES 2019, Trisos et al. 2020) and the degradation and loss of wetlands
(Ramsar Convention on Wetlands 2018, Davidson et al. 2020), that has been occurring largely through the SWS Climate Change and Wetlands Initiative (Finlayson et al. 2020a) and the Ramsar Section (Simpson et al. 2020, Fennessy et al. 2021, Davidson et al. 2021), a group of wetland and climate scientists and attorneys identified the need for a new approach to wetland conservation, protection and restoration if we are to turn the tide against the multiple global crises that we face. At the SWS Baltimore Annual Meeting, in Ramsar Section and Public Policy & Regulation Section symposia, we proposed and discussed the idea of developing a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands in response to the growing Rights of Nature movement, and have now published a multi-authored article titled, Towards a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands (see: https:// www.publish.csiro.au/MF/MF20219) that makes the case for recognition of the inherent Rights of Wetlands and presents a list of such rights. The preamble and proposed Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands from Davies et al. (2020) are included in the Appendix to this article. Ramsar Section board members have worked with Declaration article authors to plan symposia and co-author additional articles (Simpson et al. 2020, Fennessy et al. 2021, Davidson et al. 2021) on the topic.
PRECEDENT
While the idea of recognizing the ethical and legal Rights of Wetlands and other elements of Nature, and their status as living beings, may seem novel to some, it is supported by millennia of precedent in ethical, philosophical, religious and legal thought, with legal recognition going at least as far back as Roman law, where jus naturale referenced natural law and jus animalium implied inherent natural rights for animals, independent of their value to humans (Nash 1989). Similarly, cultures around the world, particularly those of many Indigenous peoples, have recognized the living beingness of Nature for millennia (Kimmerer 2013, Studley 2018, Kaza 2019). An outgrowth of this ethical and cultural framework has been ongoing advocacy for recognition of the rights and living beingness of Nature in legislation and in courts of law (Kauffman and Martin 2018, O’Donnell and Talbot Jones 2018). In supplementary material provided with our article (see: https://www.publish.csiro.au/ mf/acc/MF20219/MF20219_AC.pdf), we provide an extensive, albeit incomplete and illustrative, timeline and world map documenting some of the examples through time and across cultures of the recognition of the rights and living beingness of Nature and the expansion of the circle of rights holders through time. We invite others 90 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
to expand upon this list. Particularly noteworthy recent examples include: • 2000 – The Earth Charter (see: https://earthcharter.org/). • 2008 – Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador recognizes and includes Rights of Nature (see: https://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Ecuador/english08.html) • 2009-2018 – United Nations Resolutions on Harmony with Nature (see: http://www.harmonywithnatureun.org/) • 2010 – Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth (Pachamama) and formation of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Mother Earth (see: https://therightsofnature.org/universal-declaration/) • 2017 – New Zealand Parliament passed the Te Awa Tupua Act (Whanganui River Claims Settlement Act) (Act) recognizing the Whanganui River as a living being with the status of legal personhood. The Act recognized the special relationship of the Maori iwi (tribes) to the river (see: https://www. legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2017/0007/latest/ whole.html) • 2017-2020 – Universal Declaration of the Rights of Rivers (see: https://www.earthlawcenter.org/ river-rights) • 2018 – Ecuadorian Kichwa Native People of Sarayaku launch Kawsak Sacha/Living Forest Declaration (see: https://kawsaksacha.org/) • 2018 –Colombian Supreme Court recognizes the entire Colombian Amazon as an “entity subject of rights” (see: https://www.iucn.org/news/worldcommission-environmental-law/201804/colombian-supreme-court-recognizes-rights-amazonriver-ecosystem)
EARLY SUPPORT FOR THE DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WETLANDS The Declaration has been endorsed by: • Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (https://celdf.org/2020/12/celdf-endorses-universal-declaration-rights-of-wetlands/) • Earth Thrive (GARN member) (https://www. earth-thrive.org/) • Fundación Lagunas Costeras in Uruguay http://lagunascosteras.org.uy/en/home-flc/ • Fundación Montecito (http://www.fundacionmontecito.org/) • Gaia Foundation https://www.gaiafoundation.org/ • GARN Europe (European Rights of Nature Hub) https://www.facebook.com/GARNEUROPE/ • Rights of Mother Earth (https://www.rightsofmotherearth.com/)
• Rights of Nature Sweden http://www.naturensrattigheter.se/in-english/ • Stichting Mission Lanka (http://stichtingmissionlanka.org/) • Wetlands International (https://www.wetlands.org/) • Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (https://wli.wwt.org.uk/2020/12/proposing-adeclaration-of-universal-rights-for-wetlands/), with several other organizations providing initial positive feedback while in the process of sharing the Declaration with boards and committees for formal endorsement. RECENT ACTIVITIES
Thus far, the SWS Rights of Wetlands Initiative has undertaken a number of activities as outlined below:
1. Publication of multiple-authored journal articles presenting the case for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands and proposing the Declaration (Davies et al. 2020), and reporting on symposia presented or planned to be presented at scientific meetings (Simpson et al. 2020, Fennessy et al. 2021, Davidson et al. 2021) 2. Establishment of a website: https://www. rightsofwetlands.org/ and a Twitter hashtag: #RightsOfWetlands. 3. Conducting ongoing outreach to Indigenous groups, with inclusion of a leader of the Kichwa Native People of Sarayaku, Ecuador in upcoming symposia at the SER2021World Conference and the INTECOL International Wetlands Conference. 4. Conducting ongoing outreach to wetlands and Rights of Nature non-governmental organizations and members of the Ramsar Convention community. 5. Presented the idea of Rights of Wetlands at SWS annual meeting special symposia, including the following. a. Baltimore SWS annual meeting 2019: 1) SWS Ramsar Section Symposium: Overview of Key Global Wetland Issues – Threats, Challenges and Solutions; and 2) SWS Public Policy & Regulation Section Symposium: The Critical Role of Wetlands in International Climate Solutions: Emerging Opportunities. The abstracts from these symposia are available in Wetland Science & Practice July Special Issue, Volume 36, Number 3 in 2019. b. SWS virtual annual meeting 2020: SWS Ramsar Section Symposium: After fifty years of ups and downs, what is needed
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for international wetland conservation to become a relevant force for the challenges of the future? (See Davidson et al. 2021) 6. Presented the idea of Rights of Wetlands in SWS webinars, including the following. a. SWS September 2019 Webinar: Scientists’ Second Warning to Humanity and a Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands. b. SWS December 2020 Webinar: SWS History – 40 Years of Globalization. 7. Translation of the Preamble and Declaration into Spanish, and ongoing efforts to seek support for translation into other languages. PROPOSED ACTIVITIES
As mentioned above, a major goal of the Initiative is to share the Declaration with Ramsar Convention signatory countries and invite their support for Rights of Wetlands and a proposed Rights of Wetlands Resolution at the upcoming 2021 or 2022 Ramsar Convention of the Parties in Wuhan, China. Additionally, a number of Rights of Wetlands activities, presentations and articles are planned, several of which were scheduled for 2020 conferences but now have been rescheduled to 2021 due to the COVID19 pandemic. Scheduled presentations include:
1. SWS virtual annual meeting June 1, 3, 8 and 10, 2021: SWS Ramsar Section Symposium: A Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands – Shifting our paradigm restores the human-wetland relationship in support of wetland restoration, conservation and wise use. (Note: The Ramsar Section symposium was originally scheduled to be presented at the joint SWS-SER-CLRA RE3 Quebec conference in June of 2020. Due to the pandemic, this joint meeting has now been split into two separate meetings. The Ramsar Section will present at both meetings). 2. Society for Ecological Restoration June 19 – 24, 2021 World Conference virtual meeting: A Universal Declaration of Rights of Wetlands – Shifting our paradigm restores the humanwetland relationship in support of wetland restoration, conservation and wise use. 3. INTECOL International Wetlands Conference, October 10 – 15, 2021, Christchurch, New Zealand (in-person and virtual): Declaration of Wetland Rights: Responding to Nature Rights Movement and Scientists’ Second Warning to Humanity.
SUMMARY
Recognition of the Rights of Wetlands may provide the basis for a step-change in our relationship with wetlands, and thus provide a potential pathway to help reverse the downward trajectory of wetland loss and degradation and the associated acceleration of climate destabilization and biodiversity degradation and loss. Although a new idea to many of us, recognition of the beingness and Rights of Nature is actually an ancient idea, one that has been embraced around the world across many diverse cultures and throughout time into the present day. Recent successes in establishing Rights of Nature, as well as lessons learned from less successful examples, can help identify important aspects of implementing or “operationalizing” Rights of Wetlands. Connecting with the Rights of Nature movement offers wetland scientists the opportunity to collaborate with Rights of Nature non-governmental organizations, Indigenous peoples and local communities, attorneys, and others who are searching for alternatives to “business as usual” in the face of multiple global crises and the resulting downward global trajectory. n
APPENDIX
Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands Acknowledging that wetlands are essential to the healthy functioning of Earth processes and provision of essential ecosystem services, including climate regulation at all scales, water supply and water purification, flood storage, drought mitigation and storm damage prevention;
Acknowledging that wetlands have significance for the spiritual or sacred inspirations and belief systems of many people worldwide, but particularly for Indigenous peoples and local communities living in close relationship to wetlands, and that wetlands provide opportunities to learn from and about Nature, which supports scientific understanding and innovation, cultural expression and artistic creativity; Further acknowledging that humans and the natural world with all of its biodiversity depend upon the healthy functioning of wetlands and the benefits that they provide, and that wetlands play a significant role in global climate regulation; Alarmed that existing wetland conservation and management approaches have failed to stem the loss and degradation of wetlands of all types around the globe; Further alarmed that global climate destabilization and biodiversity losses are accelerating and that efforts to reverse these trends are failing; Acknowledging that peoples around the world of many cultures and faiths have recognized for millennia that Nature, or elements of Nature, are sentient living beings with 92 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
inherent value and rights independent of their value to humans, and that Indigenous peoples, local communities and non-governmental organizations have been contributing to a global movement to recognize the rights of Nature; Aware that continued degradation and loss of wetlands threatens the very fabric of the planetary Web of Life upon which depend the livelihoods, wellbeing, community life and spirituality of many people, particularly Indigenous peoples and local communities who live in close relationship with wetlands; Guided by recent legal recognition of the inherent rights of Nature, including recognition of the entire Colombian Amazon as an “entity subject to rights” by the Colombian Supreme Court; recognition of the rights and legal and living personhood of the Whanganui River through the Te Awa Tupua Act (Whanganui River Claims Settlement Act) agreed upon by the Māori iwi and the New Zealand Parliament; and Ecuador’s first-in-the-world recognition of the rights of Nature in their Constitution; Convinced that recognizing the enduring rights and the legal and living personhood of all wetlands around the world will enable a paradigm shift in the human – Nature relationship towards greater understanding, reciprocity and respect leading to a more sustainable, harmonious and healthy global environment that supports the well-being of both human and non-human Nature; Further convinced that recognizing the rights and legal and living personhood of all wetlands and the paradigm shift that this represents will lead to increased capacity to manage wetlands in a manner that contributes to reversing the destabilization of the global climate and biodiversity loss; WE DECLARE that all wetlands are entities entitled to inherent and enduring rights, which derive from their existence as members of the Earth community and should possess legal standing in courts of law. These inherent rights include the following: 1. The right to exist. 2. The right to their ecologically determined location in the landscape. 3. The right to natural, connected, and sustainable hydrological regimes. 4. The right to ecologically sustainable climatic conditions. 5. The right to have naturally occurring biodiversity, free of introduced or invasive species that disrupt their ecological integrity. 6. The right to integrity of structure, function, evolutionary processes and the ability to fulfil natural ecological roles in the Earth’s processes. 7. The right to be free from pollution and degradation. 8. The right to regeneration and restoration.
REFERENCES
Bradshaw, J.A., P.R. Ehrlich, A. Beattie, G. Ceballos, E. Crist, J. Diamond, R. Dirzo, A.H. Ehrlich, J. Harte, M.E. Harte, G. Pyke, P.H. Raven, W.J. Ripple, F. Saltre, C. Turnbull, M. Wackernagel, D.T. Blumstein. 2021. Underestimating the challenges of avoiding a ghastly future. Frontiers in Conservation Science 1: 1 – 10. Cullinan, C. 2011. Wild law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice. Second Edition. Green Books: White River Junction, Vermont, USA. Davidson N.C., L. Dinesen, S. Fennessy, C.M. Finlayson, P. Grillas, A. Grobicki, R.J. McInnes and D.A. Stroud. 2020. Trends in the ecological character status of wetlands reported to the Ramsar Convention. Marine and Freshwater Research 71: 127–138. Davidson N.C., R.J. McInnes, G.T. Davies, M. Simpson. and C.M Finlayson. 2021. After fifty years of ups and downs, what is needed for international wetland conservation to become a relevant force fo the challenges of the future? Wetland Science & Practice. Davies, G.T., C.M. Finlayson, D.E. Pritchard, N.C. Davidson, R.C. Gardner, W.R. Moomaw, E. Okuno, J. Whitacre. 2020. Towards a universal declaration of the rights of wetlands. Marine and Freshwater Research. Online at https://doi.org/10.1071/MF20219. (Accessed 29 December 2020). Fennessy M.S., N. Davidson, J. Whitacre, D. Pritchard, M. Simpson, W.R. Moomaw, G. Davies and C.M. Finlayson. 2021. Further Perspectives on Shifting the Paradigm to Restore the Human-Wetland Relationship through a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands. Wetland Science & Practice. Finlayson C.M., G.T. Davies, N.C. Davidson and W.R. Moomaw. 2019. The Denver Declaration on the Management and Restoration of Wetlands. Wetland Science & Practice April 2019: 78-82. Finlayson, C.M., G.T. Davies, W.R. Moomaw, G.L. Chmura, S.M. Natali, J.E. Perry, N. Roulet, and A.E. Sutton-Grier. 2018. The second warning to humanity – providing a context for wetland management and policy. Wetlands 39, 1-5. Finlayson C.M., G.T. Davies, W.R. Moomaw, & N. Davidson 2020a. A Society of Wetland Scientists Climate Change and Wetlands Initiative. Wetland Science & Practice July 2020, pp 158-161. Finlayson C.M., G.T. Davies and W.R. Moomaw. 2020b. Baltimore Proclamation on the Role of Wetlands in Meeting Global Environmental Challenges. Wetland Science & Practice January 2020: 4-6. Finlayson C.M., W.R. Moomaw and G.T. Davies. 2017. The Second Warning to Humanity and Wetlands. Wetland Science & Practice December 2017: 118-120. IPBES. 2019. Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. IPBES Secretariat: Bonn, Germany.
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Kauffman C.M. and P.L. Martin. 2018. When rivers have rights: Case comparisons of New Zealand, Colombia, and India. http://files.harmonywithnatureun.org/uploads/upload585.pdf (Accessed 29 December 2020). Kaza, S. 2019. Green Buddhism: Practice and Compassionate Action in Uncertain Times. Shambhala: Boulder, Colorado, USA. Kimmerer, R.W. 2013. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Koons, J.E. 2012. At the tipping point: Defining an Earth jurisprudence for social and ecological justice. Loyola Law Review 58, 349-390. Moomaw, W.R., G.L. Chmura, G.T. Davies. C.M. Finlayson, B.A. Middleton, S.M. Natali, J.E. Perry, N. Roulet, and A.E. Sutton-Grier. 2018. Wetlands in a changing climate: Science, policy and management. Wetlands 38, 183-205. Nash, R.F. 1989. The Rights of Nature, a History of Environmental Ethics. The University of Wisconsin Press; Madison, Wisconsin, USA. O’Donnell E.L. and J. Talbot-Jones. 2018. Creating legal rights for rivers: lessons from Australia, New Zealand, and India. Ecology and Society 23(1):7. Pecharroman, L.C. 2018. Rights of Nature: Rivers that can stand in court. Resources 7, 13. Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. 2018. Global Wetland Outlook: State of the World’s Wetlands and Their Services to People. Ramsar Convention Secretariat; Gland, Switzerland. Ripple, W.J., C. Wolf, T.M. Newsome, P. Barnard, and W.R. Moomaw. 2020. World scientists’ warning of a climate emergency. Bioscience 7, 8-12. Ripple, W.J., C. Wolf, T.M. Newsome, M. Galetti, M. Alamgir, E. Crist, M.I. Mahmoud, and W.F. Laurance. 2017. World scientists’ warning to humanity: A second notice. Bioscience 67, 1026-1028. Simpson, M., N. Davidson, G.T. Davies, C.M. Finlayson, W.R. Moomaw, D.E. Pritchard, M.S. Fennessy, and J. Whitacre, 2020. Upcoming symposium: a Universal Declaration on the Rights of Wetlands – shifting the paradigm to restore the human-wetland relationship in support of wetland restoration, conservation and wise use. Wetland Science & Practice 37, 82-84. Studley, J. 2018. Indigenous Sacred Natural Sites and Spiritual Governance: the legal case for juristic personhood. Routledge: London, UK. Trisos, C.H., C. Merow, and A.L. Pigot. 2020. The projected timing of abrupt ecological disruption from climate change. Nature 580, 496-501. Wilson, G. and D.M. Lee. 2019. Rights of rivers enter the mainstream. The Ecological Citizen 2, 183-187.
WETLAND CONNECTIVITY
Measuring Connectivity in Floodplains Rivers: Application of FITRAS Function to the Lower Paraná Sylvina L. Casco1,2, Matías Neiff3, Alvaro Wills Toro4, Rafael Cabral Cruz5,6, José. A. Arenas-Ibarra7, Cibelle Machado Carvalho8, Leonardo Maltchik9, Alicia S. G. Poi1 and Juan J. Neiff1
ABSTRACT
I
n major rivers with extensive floodplains, the exchanges between the main channel and the floodplain are the main force that organizes the structure and maintains the stability of the landscape. The time period of flooded soil at each point on the floodplain indicates the extent of connectivity of each landscape with the river’s main channel. However, not all populations and organisms and river processes are stimulated (or limited) by these pulse characteristics in the same way. Pulse attributes are synthesized with the function FITRAS, an acronym for Frequency, Intensity, Tension (or Stress), Regularity (or Recurrence), Amplitude and Seasonality. Hydrological variability in a time series is represented by the curve visualized as a sinusoidal function, and the overflow level defines the connectivity of each site by assigning the values of the historical series as “positive” to those that exceed the reference level, and “negative” to the records that are below that overflow line. In this contribution, we provide a discussion of processes related to pulse attributes and a simple procedure for assessing ecohydrological connectivity in river floodplains using the Pulso software, as well as complementary tools for assessing the predictability of cyclical components of the hydrograph and their relationship to vegetation distribution.
INTRODUCTION
The importance of connectivity in maintaining regional stability of terrestrial ecosystems has been a concern since the late 1980s and more recently for large rivers with floodplains. In these rivers (predominantly horizontal flow 1 - Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral (CONICET-UNNE). Corrientes, Argentina. Corresponding author email contact: sylvina.casco@gmail.com 2 - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales y Agrimensura (FaCENA-UNNE). Corrientes, Argentina. 3 - Pulso software, Corrientes, Argentina. 4 - Universidad de Antioquia. Grupo GAIA. Facultad de Ingeniería. Medellín, Colombia 5 - Campus São Gabriel, Universidade Federal do Pampa (UNIPAMPA-CSG). São Gabriel, Brazil. 6 - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Ambiental, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil (PPGEAmb/UFSM) 7 - Investigador Asociado. Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas y Veterinarias. Carrera de Biología Marina. Universidad Científica del Sur, Lima, Perú 8 - Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Ciências Ambientais, Campus São Gabriel, Universidade Federal do Pampa (UNIPAMPA-CSG). São Gabriel, Brazil.
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systems) the connectivity between the river channel and the floodplain is the main force that organizes the structure and maintains the stability of the landscape (Conner et al. 1981; Conner and Day 1988; Amoros and Roux 1988; Hughes 1988; 1990; Junk et al. 1989; Neiff 1990; Ward 1997; Amoros and Roux 1988; Tockner et al. 1998; Schwarzbold 2000; Pringle 2001; Amoros and Bornette 2002; Neiff and Poi de Neiff 2003; Wiens 2002, 2009; Junk and Wantzen, 2004; Cruz et al. 2010). As early as the beginning of the field of limnology (the scientific study of lakes and fresh water), Forbes, i n his 1887 article “The lake as a microcosm” stated that the quantity and variety of animal species in river floodplain lakes depended mainly on the “frequency, extent and duration of overflows” and added that “the flexible system of organic life adapts itself, without injury, to widely and rapidly fluctuating conditions” (Forbes 1887). While connectivity in terrestrial landscapes can be interpreted as the degree of continuity or proximity of patches in the landscape (structural connectivity) or as a measure of how the kind of elements and spatial configuration affect the movement of organisms between patches (Taylor et al. 2006), in floodplain rivers it is related to the horizontal movements of water from the main channel to floodplain and vice versa. The concept of connectivity emerged from landscape ecology and was introduced into river ecology to describe the lateral connections in large rivers (Amoros and Roux 1988). However it has been tacitly recognized as a fundamental process in river dynamics since the middle of the last century (Arenas-Ibarra and Souza Filho 2010). According to Ward and Stanford (1995a,b), connectivity acts interactively in one temporal dimension (time scales) and three spatial dimensions: longitudinal (headwater-mouth), lateral (main channel/floodplain) and vertical (fluvial channel/groundwater); with the concept being defined as the transfer of energy and matter across the river landscape via the water environment (Ward et al. 2002) or the transfer of matter, energy and/or organisms within or between elements of the hydrological cycle by means of water (Pringle 2001, 2003). Attempts to assess the influence of connectivity on river dynamics have been related to: 1) distance from the
main channel (Amoros and Roux 1989; Ward and Stanford 1995b), 2) water body characteristics and type of connection (Bornette et al. 1998; Agostinho et al. 2001; ArenasIbarra et al. 2012), 3) time gradient of the connection (Amoros 2001; Okada et al. 2003), 4) relative proportion of the upstream surface connection (Ward et al. 2002), or 5) different time phases reflecting a type of connection and discharges (Tockner et al. 2000). Whol (2017) references 16 different concepts of connectivity in the scientific literature. Obviously, the various theoretical attempts lead to different conclusions, although together they highlight and demonstrate the importance of connectivity in structuring and supporting biodiversity in rivers. Biogeochemical processes (Tabacchi et al. 1998), diversity in riverine wetlands (Worbes 1985; Budke et al. 2010; Assis and Wittmann 2011; Marchetti and Aceñolaza 2012), and productivity, decomposition and distribution of trees in riverine forests (Brinson 1990; Mitsch and Gosselink 1993; Neiff 2001; Cruz 2005; Neiff et al. 2006; Poi de Neiff et al. 2006; Casco et al. 2010; Marchetti and Aceñolaza 2012; Casco and Neiff 2013; Casco et al. 2015; Balestrin et al. 2019) are influenced by ecohydrological connectivity. Consequently, they all may be affected by hydrological regulation, although difficulties have been noted in assessing them (Furness and Breen 1980; Hughes 1990). In projects such as landscape restoration in areas affected by hydroelectric dams, it is necessary to have a quantitative understanding of the distribution of vegetation in relation to the dynamics of pulses and levels of connectivity (Casco et al. 2010; Casco and Neiff, 2011; Marchetti and Aceñolaza 2012; Neiff et al. 2020). It is also essential to know the temporal and spatial conditioning associated with the alternation of periods of flooded soil - potamophase and periods of emerged soil – limnophase (Neiff 1990), because adaptations to both phases are different in each species, in each assembly, and also in each phase of the organism’s development. Most processes occurring in wetlands have a positive or negative relationship with the pulse regime (Neiff 1996; Neiff et al. 2020). This contribution, based on the concept of river connectivity, examines a simple procedure for establishing the periods when each landscape or population on the floodplain remains connected (or disconnected) to the river flow and provides an example of its application.
ECOHYDROLOGICAL PULSE
The pulse regime in rivers is the repetition of pulses over a time series (annual, decades, and centuries). Each pulse has two complementary phases (potamophase and limnophase) whose dynamics are characterized by properties that vary at each site on the floodplain (Neiff 1990; Dawidek and 95 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
Ferencz 2016). In other words, each pulse is defined as the time between the beginning of the flooding and the end of the isolated phase for each topographic site on the floodplain, from the overflow level (a threshold established by the researcher; Neiff 1996). That level is a reference value recorded from the nearest river gauge station which records height or streamflow, for example, over time. Consequently there is a series of hydrological records that can be used to assess seasonal and annual changes over time. Such data pertain only to sites influenced by river flows. When the river flow exceeds the hydraulic capacity of the channel, it overflows, covering the land on a floodplain. This scenario is taken as the connectivity level for that topographical position. The operator will repeat this measurement for “n” sites in the study area where he or she wants to evaluate the connectivity with the river course, such as where trees of “species A” (for a population analysis) are found, or where landscape “X” is different from landscape “Z” (if the aim is to explain possible causes of the landscape pattern). Also, another application is to determine the topographic level where active flux of river water to the floodplain begins through a crevasse splay (Cremon et al. 2010). The phase of the pulse in which the reference site meets the flooded soil is called the potamophase and the horizontal flows occur from and to the course of the river. When the water level drops and that reference site is isolated from the river course, the limnophase (emerged soil) begins, a period without exchanges (nutrients, sediments, seeds, eggs) with the river. From that moment on, the local water conditions of the site, in the absence of local rainfall, will vary from the condition of soil saturation (field capacity), through a progressive decline of the water table until the soil eventually reaching wilting point. In the classical wetland literature, the seasonal pattern of the water level is referred to as the hydroperiod (Mitsch and Gosselink 1993). The ecohydrological attributes of the pulses can be represented by the acronym FITRAS which stands for Frequency, Intensity, Tension (or Stress), Regularity (or Recurrence), Amplitude and Seasonality (Neiff 1990; Neiff et al. 1994; Neiff 1999). The curve representing the hydrological variability in a time series is visualized as a sinusoidal form with the overflow level being the reference elevation that defines the connectivity of each site. “Positive” values for a site are those that exceed the reference level, and “negative” ones are those below that line (Figure 1). A pulse consists of the flood and drawdown, ending when the next overflow starts. Frequency is defined as the number of pulses per time unit for each level of connectivity in the hydrographic series considered. Intensity is the level of water above the soil measured by comparison with the nearest river gauge expressed
in meters. Tension is the value of the standard deviation of the maximum and minimum means in the analyzed hydrological series. Regularity is the number of times each level of connectivity is repeated over time. Seasonality indicates at what time each phase occurs (Neiff 2001). Amplitude represents the duration, in days, of each phase of the pulse. Quantitative relationships between ecological characteristics (e.g., species richness, abundance, and diversity) at each level of floodplain connectivity can be linked to the upstream or downstream duration of each area of the landscape using Pulso software (Neiff and Neiff 2004; https://neiff.com. ar/) which allows the correlation of hydrological fluctuation with the biological characteristics of the landscape, e.g., the distribution of vegetation patterns relative to flooding (Figure 2). With this objective, Neiff and Poi de Neiff (2003) proposed the Fluvial Connectivity Quotient (FCQ): FCQ = FD/LD where FD = number of days in potamophase and LD = number of days in limnophase. Pulso version 2.0 has a frequency estimation function (Prism) that uses genetic algorithms to decompose the frequencies that make up a series to complete an incomplete series of hydrological data, as well as to anticipate a future
trend based on available historical information. We have a simple way to evaluate the ecohydrological connectivity in wetlands, using the Pulso software. Although this application was developed for floodplains of large rivers, it can be used in coastal wetlands (such as mangroves), lagoons, and lakes formed by groundwater rises or to study the organisms that live in the area of fluctuation of lakes and ponds or in the intertidal zone of the sea as long as there is recorded hydrologic data available from a nearby gauging station. The procedure has been used to study the dynamics of the plankton (Frutos et al. 2006), periphyton (Rodrigues et al. 2008), fish populations (Fernandes et al. 2009; Neiff et al. 2009), and the process of formation of the islands and the texture of the soils that compose them (Neiff et al. 2005), since it is possible to process flow values and thus analyze any process that varies over time according to a sinusoidal function (e.g., rainfall). It is also very useful for ex-post environmental evaluation of structural interventions on the river such as dams, course straightening, or marginal dikes (Neiff et al. 2020), such as to reveal effects of those structures on the hydrological connectivity (Arenas-Ibarra 2008). In addition to the properties of the pulse regime that are characterized in the FITRAS function, Cruz (2005) proposed the analysis of the predictability of different
FIGURE 1. Graphic representation of the ecohydrological Pulse for a site containing willow tree (Salix humboldtiana). Potamophase represents the flooding period, while the limnophase is the drying period. In this example, two flood pulses are shown. (Modified from Casco 2003) 96 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
C
5m
A 2m
B 3m
FIGURE 2. Paraná River floodplain showing hydrograms of study sites from various time periods: A - floodplain lake (January 1997-December 1999), B - willow gallery forest (January 1979- December 1999), and C - mixed gallery forest (January 1949-December 1999). Note that the horizontal line represents the elevation at which overflow occurs.
periodic components of the hydrograph and their relationship with the distribution of the functional characteristics of the plants (for example: growth form (solitary, rosette, caespitose); plant slope (prostrate, semierect, erect); type of leaves (membranous, herbaceous, other); waxiness in the leaves (Yes, No); glands on the leaves (Yes, No); type of stem (herbaceous, woody); stem with inter-nodes (Yes, No) along the flood profile of a river section. Cruz developed the application (FFTSint) to filter the most predictable components of the time series, allowing the degreeof predictability of each pulse to be identified. He assumes that the more predictable pulses, with more recurrence, favor the adaptation processes, while the less predictable ones provoke succession and regression processes (Cruz 2005; Cruz et al. 2015). This complementary approach can be used to compare functional diversity, in applications related to prescription of ecological flow regimes and for restoration of riparian vegetation (Cruz 2005; Silveira et al. 2006; Silveira et al. 2009; Cruz et al. 2010; Balestrin et al. 2019).
braided design (Orfeo 1995) and the floodplain of stretches over 8 km on the west bank, with more islands than the east. The landscape units (lakes, forests, marshlands) of floodplain are distributed in different levels of connectivity with the river main channel (Figure 3). Salix humboldtiana (willow) forests whose seeds are provided mainly by the river and colonize the sandbanks, constitute monotypic stands that have a wide distribution in the topographic gradient (Figure 3 B). We propose an example of Pulso application during the hydrological series 1970-2020 with extraordinary high and low water phases (El Niño/La Niña events), to determine when adults trees of willow forest located at 2 m in the topographic gradient colonized that site, how long the soil was covered or uncovered with water and how many flood events occurred since the willow forest established. The Method The method uses different scales of analysis involving four stages 1) laboratory analysis, 2) field investigations, 3) data analysis, and 4) study findings. Stage 1. Laboratory Analysis. Landscape features are defined by examining satellite images at an appropriate scale. For the Lower Paraná we are using maps of 1:10000 to 1:30000 scale derived from satellite images with spatial resolutions of 30, 20 or 15 m (e.g., Landsat TM5, ETM7, CBERS 2, 2B, 4, Resourcesat-1, Resourcesat-2 or Aster) for the floodplain of the Paraná River to establish the survey sites for field sampling. A false color composition R(4)G(3)B(2) or R(5)G(6)V(2) could be useful for recognition of landscape features (Ponzoni et al. 2012). Also,
THE METHOD AND AN EXAMPLE OF ITS APPLICATION
The proposed method will be described using Argentina’s Lower Paraná as an example. Before describing the method let us introduce the study area. Study Area The Paraná River below the confluence with Paraguay River has distinguishing features: the west bank has suspended solids from the Bermejo River, a tributary of the Paraguay River, and the east bank is influenced by the transparent water of the Upper Paraná River. The main channel has a 97 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
FIGURE 3. Study sites: A - floodplain lake, B - willow gallery forest, and C mixed gallery forest. Image below shows a willow forest of Lower Paraná.
SAR products and UAV images could be used to accurately discrimination of wet soil and vegetation (Plank et al. 2017; Van Iersel et al. 2018). For these types of projects, one could use a variety of technological tools and image processing software, whatever is available. In fact, we have also used only the images of Google Earth-Pro with good results, identifying different landscape units (forests, marshlands, and lakes) that are readily observed at study area (Figure 3). Stage 2. Field Investigations. In this stage, the topographical position of the survey sites is established and the biological information at each site is recorded. For example, we identify the species that make up the landscape unit, the strata that are present, the diameter at breast height (DBH) and the height of the trees, the separation between them, or for grasses, their biomass based on small plot sampling. In high water, when the river overflows the floodplain, sites must be accessed by boat (e.g., 3-5m in length). The topographic position of each site is established by measuring water depth in several ways. The simple way is to drop a plumb into the water and when it hits bottom, record the depth. We use a 200g metal disc (Figure 4), located at the end of a thin cord that is graduated every 10 cm. Alternatively, when possible, an echo sounder with built-in GPS should be used; this provides the most accurate depth and geographical position information. If a highly accurate diagnosis is required for each site, the thickness of the water sheet is measured through the same process. Detailed bed topography could also be obtained with an Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) river profiler, Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) images, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Laser Scanning (UAV), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) topographic models or a combination of ADCP and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) products (Straatsma 2009; Guerrero and Lamberti 2013; Rudorff et al. 2014; Cao et al. 2018; Resop et al. 2019). These measurements are then related in the laboratory to the level of the river at the nearest hydrometric station. We also establish elevations on the islands that are inundated at different frequencies, thereby establishing connectivity between the river course and the floodplain. This connectivity can take place in two ways: 1) where the islands have inland courses that remain connected to the main course even in low water and the connection is made by crevasses that allow flow from the river to the plain, and 2) where the inflow is produced by lateral overflow (laminar, or not) on the islands. In the first case, the connectivity was defined determining the date for initial connection to the river in relation to the water level of the Paraná River in the gauge located near the study site. In the second situation, the
procedures are illustrated by the example in willow forest 98 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
at Lower Paraná. An individual willow tree on Chouí island (Figure 3) that has the soil covered by a two-meter water column, in the field, was noted as -2m, which is the depth of the ground surface with respect to the current level of the water sheet at that site. This is calibrated to current reading at the nearest hydrometer (at Corrientes city) which reads 5m on January 26, 1998. So, the zero position of the hydrometer at that point is 3m. That is, whenever the river is above 3m on the hydrometric ruler in the historical data series, the ground at our sample location should have been covered by water (Figure 5). The 3m value is the reference level or “overflow level” that will be used to obtain the attributes of the ecohydrological pulse, using the Pulso software. If the objective is to relate the topographic position to the sea level, we use the zero position of the hydrometer at Corrientes city, which is known to be 44.57 m.a.s.l. (meters above sea level) and add the 3m from our current readings for a level of 47.57 m.a.s.l. for the site-example. While it is desirable to conduct the survey during the flood phase in order to save effort and time in accessing
FIGURE 4. Measurement of the topographical position of a floodplain point during high water (left picture) with a metal disc ("scandal"), placed at the end of a thin cord which is graduated every 10 cm (right picture).
floodplain sites, the procedure can also be applied when the river is at low water using other technological resources (Marchetti and Aceñolaza 2012; Stevaux et al. 2013). Topographic data could be taken from LIDAR or SAR images (Yuan et al. 2017; Lague and Feldmann 2020) and DEM (Tandem-X, ALOS World 3D30, SRTM, Aster G-DEM), corrected by some geoprocessing tools that increase its vertical resolution (Shastry and Durand 2019; Mudd 2020). AUV DEM is another good source of topographic data in small areas (Woodget et al. 2017; Annis et al. 2020). In sampling during the limno- FIGURE 5. Hydrometric fluctuation of the Paraná River at Corrientes gauge during last 50 years. The solid horizontal line represent the overflow of floodplain where willow forest growth that was phase (low water), since the sites mentioned as an example. are emergent (not flooded soil) in this period all topographic meaStage 4. Study Findings. With the pulse analysis, we surements will be positive. For example, for the willow forcan obtain information about the connectivity of our object est, which is located at 3m in the topographic gradient and of study with the course of the river. the Paraná River level in nearest hydrometer (in Corrientes The willow tree used as in our example was connected city) has a reading of 2m on October 6, 1999 the estimation to the course of the Paraná River for 6,422 days (1979would be: 1999), receiving 52 pulses and a FCQ of 7.26 (Table 1). 2m (near hydrometer)+3m (place) = 5m from the hyFigure 6 shows the seasonality with which the flooding drometer. Every time when the water marks over 5m on the and emergent soil phases occurred, as a frequency histohydrometer, the water will be covering the soil where this gram. In ordinary phases, potamophases are more frequent willow forest are growing. in spring-summer and limnophases in autumn-winter. BePulso will divide the series of historical hydrometric cause three “El Niño” events were recorded during 1979data into two groups: those above 3m will be recorded as 1999 (1982/1983, 1992 and 1998), for willow forest, there “potamophase” (flooded soil) and those below 3m as “limwas a higher frequency of potamophases (Figure 6 B). nophase” (emergent soil) for that point where willow forest The time period analyzed in the example comprises is located. a multi-year series corresponding to the approximate life Stage 3. Data analysis. In the laboratory, the daily hydrospan of the willow trees in the landscape. However, for the metric data are analyzed over a time series. In our example we study of populations with a high rate of change (plankton, take the period 1970-2020 at Corrientes gauge, because we periphyton), the length of the hydrological series analyzed know that the willow trees are 30-50 years old. It is important can be annual or seasonal. As a synthesis, the sequence of to filter the information to ensure the right notation, integrity tasks is presented in Figure 7. and reliability of the series. When only incomplete series are Geographical distance from the river may not always available, we should previously try to complete the series predict connectivity because disparities in floodplain slopes using the Prism module included in the Pulso 2.0 application. whereas hydrologic distance (topographic position) appears The next step is to calculate the frequency, amplitude (such a good predictor of connectivity. as number of flooding days and number of days of emergent In a sector of the Lower Paraná River floodplain the oxbow soil) and seasonality for each site. In our example, for the 3m lakes that were more connected during high water (Sites 1, overflow level of willow trees, the attributes of the hydrosedi2 and 3 in Figure 8) showed higher values of fish density mentological pulse for the years 1998-1999 of the hydrologiand species richness than sites less connected (Neiff et cal series considered are shown in Figure 1. al 2009), although site 1 is the most distant of the Paraná 99 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
TABLE 1. Ecohydrological connectivity of floodplain lake, willow forest and mixed gallery forest, during January 1997-December 1999; January 1979-December 1999 and January 1949-December 1999, respectively and pulse's attribute obtained with Pulso software. FCQ = FD/LD. where FD = number of days in potamophase and LD = number of days in limnophase.
River (Figure 8). Sites 2 and 3 are near the Paraná River but separated by alluvial levees occupied by gallery forest and has indirect connection. Other work carried out on the floodplain of large river such as the Missisippi (Miranda 2005), the Volga (van de Wolfshaar et al. 2011) and the Bug River (Dawideck and Ferencz 2016) have highlighted the importance of considering the slope.
RESULTS FOR THE PARANA RIVER FLOODPLAIN
FIGURE 6. Histogram of frequencies of seasonality of potamophase (black bars) and limnophase (grey bars) for each landscape unit: A - floodplain lake, B - willow forest, and C - mixed gallery forest.
100 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
We compared the ecological attributes of willow forest (B) with other landscape units, floodplain lake (A) and a mixed gallery forest (C), that occur in different topographic positions on the floodplain: 2 m and 5 m, respectively (Figure 2). Hydrographs were prepared using the Pulso software for period January 1997-December 1999 to analyze the floodplain lake; between January 1979 and December 1999, for willow forest, and between January 1949 and December 1999 for the mixed gallery forest (Figure 2). The floodplain lake was connected with the main channel during 1086 days, with a lower pulse frequency (6), highest FCQ (120.66) and more frequency of potamophases than the other landscape units (Table 1, Figure 6 A). The forests receiving between 52 (willow) and 126 pulses (mixed gallery) and the number of days with emerged soils was more in mixed gallery forest (Table 1). The frequencies of limnophases were the highest during the whole period (1949-1999) in the mixed gallery forest (Figure 6 C), while potamophases were more frequent in summer (Figure 6 C). In the Lower Paraná, topographic position is an indicator along the complex gradient of floodplain, of the flood/drought periods and the resilience of trees to extreme hydrological phases. Because of disparities in the slopes of the study floodplain, topographic position of each site rather than distances from the river indicated the connectivity of each sites.
FINAL REMARKS
The approach presented here extends the scope that is traditionally used to characterize river ecohydrological dynamics, which focuses on the main river course and its low, medium, high and extreme flows in a time series (Richter et al. 2003). With the methodology presented, it is possible to obtain the ecohydrological dynamics of different sectors of the alluvial plain and verify the dynamics of their connectivity over time, associating them with biotic variables such as species richness, distribution and abundance of populations, life forms, biomass and other characteristics of the biotic arrangement of both the aquatic media and the floodplain landscape. Theoretically, the procedure is useful to establish the age of each sedimentary FIGURE 7. Summary of proposed procedure for measuring connectivity in river plains. HW - High stratum or the age of the trees in each water (potamophase), LW - Low water (limnophase), and DBH –Diameter at breast height. location of the floodplain.
FIGURE 8. Floodplain of the Paraná River downstream of the confluence with Paraguay River. The sites were connected to the river above different hydrometric levels measured in the in the gauge located near the study sites Scored from 1 to 7 indicated the decreasing order in connectivity according the number of days in which sites were connected to the river channel. 1 = 3.8 m, 2 = 4.2 m, 3 = 4.8 m, 4 = 5.2 m, 5 = 5.4 m, and 6 and 7 = 5.6 m. (Adapted from Neiff et al. 2009) 101 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
The assessment of the connectivity of the floodplain elements with the river flow is the basis for comparing spatial differences and temporal variability. However, its analysis should be taken as an approximation to the knowledge of the influence of horizontal flows from/to the river course in a wide environment of variability. According to Burel and Baudry (2002), landscapes, as self-organizing systems, have a time delay in their adaptive response, such that there is always an asynchrony between the moment of perturbation and the moment of the adaptive response. This asynchrony results in the imbalance that maintains the potential energy of self-organization. The identification of the pulse patterns and their relationship with the landscape structure must be analyzed taking into account the possibility of this delay and also the possibility of non-stationarity in the hydrograph. Carvalho (2020), through wavelet analysis and the KPSS non-stationarity test, found no stationary segments for more than three years and that 99% of the time the stationary segments are less than two weeks, for a historical series of 71 years (Station 87440000 - Passo das Canoas, Gravataí River Watershed, RS, Brazil). The incorporation of non-stationary and selforganized dynamics in the analysis of ecohydrological pulses are challenges that arise for the future development of large rivers of South America and other rivers (Dawidek and Ferencz 2016). n
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Silveira, G.L.; R.C. Cruz, J.C. Cruz, A.L.L Silveira and A.S. Rosário. 2006. Prescrição do regime de vazões ecológicas para a alça de vazão reduzida da UHE São João. Relatório Final. FEPAM/SEMA-RS. (Relatório de pesquisa). Stevaux, J.C., F.A. Corradini and S. Aquino. 2013. Connectivity processes and riparian vegetation of the Upper Paraná River Brazil. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 46: 113-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jsames.2011.12.007. Straatsma, M. 2009. 3D float tracking: in situ floodplain roughness estimation. Hydrological Processes: An International Journal 23: 201–212. Tabacchi, E, D. Correll, R. Hauer, G. Pinay, A. Planty-Tabacchi and R. Wissmar. 1998. Development, maintenance and role of riparian vegetation in the river landscape. Freshwater Biology 40: 497-516. Taylor, P.D., L. Fahrig and K.A. With. 2006. Landscape connectivity: A return to the basics. In: K.R. Crooks and M. Sanjayan (eds.). Connectivity Conservation, Conservation Biology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. pp. 29-43. Tockner K., F. Schiemer and J.V. Ward. 1998. Conservation by restoration: the management concept for a river-floodplain system on the Danube River in Austria. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 8: 71–86. Van Iersel, W., M. Straatsma, H. Middelkoop and E. Addink. 2018. Multitemporal classification of river floodplain vegetation using time series of UAV images. Remote Sensing 10: 1144. https://doi.org/10.3390/ rs10071144. Ward J.V. 1997. An expansive perspective of riverine landscapes: pattern and process. GAIA: Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society 6: 52-60. Ward, J.V. and J. A. Stanford. 1995a. The serial discontinuity concept: extending the model to floodplain rivers. Regulated Rivers: Research & Management 10: 159-168. Ward, J.V. and J.A. Stanford. 1995b. Ecological connectivity in alluvial river ecosystems and its disruption by flow regulation. Regulated Rivers: Research & Management 11: 105–119. Ward, J.V., K. Tockner B. Arscott and C. Claret. 2002. Riverine landscape diversity. Freshwater Biology 47: 517-539. Wiens, J.A. 2002. Riverine landscapes: taking landscape ecology into the water. Freshwater Biology 47: 501–515. Wiens, J.A. 2009. Landscape ecology as a foundation for sustainable conservation. Landscape Ecology 24:1053–1065. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10980-008-9284-x. Wolfshaaran, V.K.E., H. Middelkoop, E. Addink, H.V. Winter and L.A.J. Nagelkerke. 2011. Linking flow regime, floodplain lake connectivity and fish catch in a large river-floodplain system, the Volga-Akhtuba Floodplain (Russian Federation). Ecosystems 14: 920-934. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10021-011-9457-3. Wohl, E. 2017. Connectivity in rivers. Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment 41: 345-362. doi:10.1177/0309133317714972 Woodget, A.S., R. Austrums, I.P. Maddock and E. Habit. 2017. Drones and digital photogrammetry: from classifications to continuums for monitoring river habitat and hydromorphology. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water 4: e1222. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1222. Worbes, M. 1985. Structural and other adaptations to long term flooding by trees in Central Amazonia. Amazoniana 9: 459-484. Yuan, T., H. Lee and H.C. Jung. 2017. Congo floodplain hydraulics using PALSAR InSAR and Envisat altimetry data. In: V. Lakshmi (ed.). Remote Sensing of Hydrological Extremes. Springer, Switzerland, pp. 65–81.
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Poi de Neiff, A., J.J. Neiff and S.L. Casco. 2006. Leaf litter decomposition in three wetlands of the Paraná River floodplain. Wetlands 26: 558-566. Ponzoni, F.J., Y. Shimabukuro and T. Kuplich. 2012. Sensoriamento remoto da vegetação. Atualizada e ampliada. Oficina de Textos, São Paulo. Pringle, C. 2001. Hydrologic connectivity and the management of biological reserves: a global perspective. Ecological Applications 11: 981-998. Pringle, C. 2003. What is hydrologic connectivity and why is it ecologically important? Hydrological Process 17: 2685–2689. Resop, J.P., L. Lehmann and W.C. Hession. 2019. Drone laser scanning for modeling riverscape topography and vegetation: comparison with traditional aerial Lidar. Drones 3: 35. https://doi.org/10.3390/ drones3020035. Richter, B.D., R. Mathews, D.L. Harrison and R. Wigington. 2003. Ecologically sustainable water management: managing river flows for ecological integrity. Ecological Applications 13: 206–224. Rodrigues, L., J. Zanon, L. Carapurnala and S. Biolo. 2008. Perifiton In: A Planície Alagável do Rio Paraná: estrutura e Processo Ambiental. Available http:// www.peld.uem.br/Relat2008/pdf/Capitulo04.pdf. Access date: 30 June 2020.
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Ward, J.V., K. Tockner B. Arscott and C. Claret. 2002. Riverine landscape diversity. Freshwater Biology 47: 517-539. Wiens, J.A. 2002. Riverine landscapes: taking landscape ecology into the water. Freshwater Biology 47: 501–515. Wiens, J.A. 2009. Landscape ecology as a foundation for sustainable conservation. Landscape Ecology 24:1053–1065. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10980-008-9284-x. Wolfshaaran, V.K.E., H. Middelkoop, E. Addink, H.V. Winter and L.A.J. Nagelkerke. 2011. Linking flow regime, floodplain lake connectivity and fish catch in a large river-floodplain system, the Volga-Akhtuba Floodplain (Russian Federation). Ecosystems 14: 920-934. https://doi.
org/10.1007/s10021-011-9457-3.
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FIRE AND THE PANTANAL
Lessons to be Learned from the Wildfire Catastrophe of 2020 in the Pantanal Wetland Geraldo Alves Damasceno-Junior1, Fabio de Oliveira Roque2, Letícia Couto Garcia3, Danilo Bandini Ribeiro4, Walfrido Moraes Tomas5, Edna Scremin-Dias6, Felipe Augusto Dias7, Renata Libonati8, Julia Abrantes Rodrigues8, Fillipe Lemos Maia Santos8, Alexandre de Matos Martins Pereira9, Evaldo Benedito de Souza1, Letícia Koutchin Reis3, Maxwell da Rosa Oliveira3, Allan Henrique de Almeida Souza1, Daniel Armando Manrique-Pineda1, Bruno Henrique dos Santos Ferreira3, Ieda Maria Bortolotto6, and Arnildo Pott1
ABSTRACT
S
outh America’s Pantanal is recognized as one of the largest wetlands in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its ecological significance (high biodiversity). The region experiences both seasonal wet/dry periods and pluriannual cycles of wet and dry years. Vegetation changes throughout the year as well as over the long-term with fires and floods being the major factors affecting vegetation patterns. In 2020 the Pantanal experienced an extraordinary high numbers of wildfires. An overview of the region’s fire history is presented along with information on the 2020 wildfires, society’s response, lessons learned, and suggestions on where to go from here.
responses, and building an integrative fire management strategy are among the biggest challenges for the coming years. In this essay, we present a synthetic characterization of the Pantanal, focusing on the flood-fire dynamics. We summarize the information about the wildfires of 2020, and we present some societal responses that emerged during 2020. Finally, we call attention to the
INTRODUCTION
Recently, the Pantanal wetland was redlined on national and international media due to unprecedented wildfires in over 29% of the region with huge consequences for biodiversity, protected areas, and human lives (Einhorn 2020; Libonati et al. 2020). Understanding the causes of such a disaster, learning from the scientific and societal 1 – Laboratório de Ecologia Vegetal, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária s/n, 79070-900, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil. Brazil. 2 – Laboratório de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária s/n, 79070-900, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil. 3 – Laboratório de Ecologia da Intervenção, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária s/n, 79070-900, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil. 4 – Projeto Noleedi, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária s/n, 79070-900, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil. 5 – Embrapa Pantanal, Rua 21 de Setembro, 1880, 793320-900, Corumbá, MS, Brazil. 6 – Laboratório de Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária s/n, 79070-900, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil. 7 – SOS Pantanal, Rua Alberto Neder, 328 – Centro, 79002-160, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil. 8 – Laboratory for Environmental Satellite Applications (LASA), Centro de Ciências Matemáticas e Natureza, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Cidade Universitária, 21941916 – Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil cx. Post 32819. 9 – Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (IBAMA) – PREVIFOGO. Rua Euclides da Cunha, 975, 79020-230, Centro, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil.
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FIGURE 1. Brazilian Pantanal wetland inserted in the Upper Paraguay basin with 11 sub-regions according to Silva and Abdon (1998).
need for integrated fire management considering the environmental particularities and possible social and ecological impacts of fire in this ecoregion. We believe that the learning lessons from the wildfires in the Pantanal can also be useful for preventing catastrophes in other wetlands around the world.
THE PANTANAL
The Pantanal is one of the biggest tropical continuous wetlands of the world with over 160,000 km2 located in the heart of South America. Most of its area is located in Brazil (about 140,000 km2) in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul (66.64%) and Mato Grosso (35.36%) with 15,000 km2 in Bolivia and 5,000 km2 in Paraguay (Silva and Abdon 1998; Junk and Nunes da Cunha 2012) (Figure 1). Its origin is related to the subsidence and uplifting of part of the Parana River basin that began between 60 and 35 million years ago and created the Paraguay River basin (Ab’Sáber 1988; Assine et al. 2016a) The Pantanal is part of the Upper Paraguay River basin (Figure 1). The main rivers of this Basin are Paraguay, and its tributaries Jauru, Cabaçal, Sepotuba, Cuiabá, Taquari, Negro, and Miranda (Silva and Abdon 1998). While the Pantanal usually only includes the floodplain, some authors also include the residual hills of Urucum-
FIGURE 2. Caracará hill in the Pantanal National Park, the Paraguay River and the Amolar mountain range (in the back), near the border of Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. (Photo by Geraldo Alves Damasceno Junior)
Amolar as part of the system since they are very close to the floodplain and sometimes surrounded by the floodplain (Figure 2).
FIGURE 3. Maximum (blue line) and minimum (red line) levels (m) of the Paraguay River recorded in the Ladário hydrometric gauge from 1900 to 2020 (Source Brazilian Navy). The green line is the level at which the Paraguay River overflows.
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The climate in Pantanal is the Awa type in Koeppen’s classification, markedly seasonal, with a rainy season from October to March and the dry season from April to September. Annual rainfall in the Pantanal has an east-west reduction from about 1200 mm to about 1000 mm (Soriano 1997) and is higher in the upper watershed than in the floodplain. The flooding regime of the Pantanal is mainly monomodal. There are three types of flooding. The first two are caused by the overflowing of the rivers (Hamilton et al. 1996). In the first, we have the peak of flooding soon after the peak of rain such as in the Miranda and Cuiabá Rivers. The second is the flooding in Paraguay River floodplain that has a peculiar characteristic due to its very flat slope with about 2 cm/km southwards (Assine et al. 2016b). Rainfall in the Paraguay River headwaters takes about three months to reach the middle of the Pantanal which is at the time in the dry season. Therefore, in the middle stretch, the Paraguay River flood occurs during the dry season and experiences its lowest levels during the rainy season; thus, unsynchronized from the rainfall. The third type of flooding occurs mainly in the Taquari fan subregions where without rivers, the combination of rainwater and water table rise during the rainy season produces the flooding. Besides this annual monomodal flood pulse, there is a pluriannual flooding regime. According to the data recorded by the Ladário hydrometric gauge, there are many sets of years with low levels of inundation (dry years) and sets of wet years when the levels of inundation are high (Figure 3). The flooding pulse is considered the main driver of the Pantanal landscape (Junk et al. 2006; Pott et al. 2011), where the distribution of vegetation types obeys a
FIGURE 4. Vochysia divergens (an evergreen trees with yellow flowers) shown in the Cuiabá River floodplain where it spreads during a sequence of wet years. (Photo by Fabio Edir S. Costa).
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topographical logic with deep-flooded areas occupied by aquatic vegetation and grasslands, with savanna vegetation in the middle, and cerrado or forest in higher areas. In this gradient, many types of macrohabitats are split by type of vegetation, soils, depth, and flooding duration (Nunes da Cunha and Junk 2015). Considering these main drivers, we can say that vegetation of Pantanal can change over the year, with germination of aquatic plants from the seed bank during the flooded season and the germination of terrestrial species during the dry season (Bao et al. 2018; Souza et al. 2019). It can also change across the years with the pluriannual cycles of dry and wet years when certain types of vegetation can move in the landscape toward where the cycle is favorable. For example, in dry years there are species such as Cereus bicolor (Cactaceae) that can colonize flooded grasslands and Vochysia divergens (Vochysiaceae) that can advance and encroach the flooded grasslands in wet years (Figure 4). In this intricate network of flooded and dry areas of the Pantanal, live human populations, which first occupied their territories hundreds of years ago. These populations of the indigenous and traditional communities have developed activities such as fishing, horticulture and cattle ranching, while they depend on the native vegetation for subsistence activities, like handicrafts, food, and medicine (Bortolotto and Amorozo 2012). In the large cattle ranches in the Brazilian Pantanal, there are rural workers and the owners.
FIRE IN THE PANTANAL
The primary causes of fire in the Pantanal are weather phenomena such as lightning strikes and fires caused by human actions either by accident or intentionally to clean pastures on ranches (Libonati et al. 2020; Damasceno-Junior et al. in press). At the end of the dry season, when the clouds arrive in the region but without rain, lightning is more frequent. The fire regime in Pantanal is strongly linked to the annual and pluriannual flood pulse. Fires occur mainly during the dry season – typically in August, September, and October (Figure 5) in areas where the flooding is synchronized with rain. The biomass produced during the flooding period becomes available as fuel to be burned during the dry season. Some areas burn every second year while others burn almost every year (Figure 6). In the case of the Paraguay River floodplain, wildfires can happen in two situations: 1) in years with low river level, in which the flood time is short or absent, exposing the biomass unavailable in years with regular flooding, and 2) when there are over 10 or 15 day-dry spells during the rainy season. Since during the rainy season the middle reach of the Paraguay River is always in lower levels (as noted above), this also exposes the accumulated biomass and necromass to occasional fires (Damasceno-Junior et al. in press). The
FIGURE 5. Heatmap showing monthly values of active fire counts from 2003 to 2020. Color intensity represents number of fires during the month as shown in the bar scale. (Data source: INPE 2020)
FIGURE 6. Annual recurrence of burned area from 2003 to 2019 in the Pantanal biome. Legend denotes the number of years with burned area recurrence. (Data source: MCD64A1 C6 burned area product derived from the MODIS sensors aboard the Terra and Aqua satellites, developed by the National Atmospheric Space Agency – NASA)
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aggravating factor in 2020 was the burning of the dry histosol (that accumulated over wet decades) produced below-surface fire that was very difficult to control. Fire plays a determinant role in shaping the Pantanal landscape. Combined with inundation, it can eliminate woody species tolerant to flooding that can colonize the grasslands during the wet years. On the other hand, flooding can also eliminate woody species promoted by fire in dry years (ManriquePineda et al. 2021). As a result, this action helps to maintain grasslands used as pasture by cattle ranchers. The indigenous peoples have stories describing big fires that could have destroyed the Earth, and floods that would have terminated humanity in the past (Mindlin 2002). For the Terena ethnicity, a people originated from the Chaco Region, the fire has its origin in an ember put in the grassland by a hare (Oberg 1949). Fire is part of mythical and seasonal events of the Pantanal and together with inundation acts powerfully on vegetation dynamics as noted above. Both fire and inundation have been receiving the attention of indigenous populations for centuries and more recently by landowners, rural workers, researchers, and other local human populations. Surprisingly, the use of fire as a management tool in the Pantanal has received little attention from researchers, despite Morelli et al. (2009) proposing that conservation units and indigenous territories in the Pantanal are significantly affected by fires of anthropic origin, particularly in the years of pronounced drought. Nevertheless, this is changing because the catastrophic fire events have been more frequent in late years, especially in 2020, with environmental, economic, social, and human health consequences (Observatório do Pantanal 2020). People worldwide use controlled burning to dispose of residuals around their houses (Levis 2018), for hunting, for communication purposes (not recorded inside the Pantanal), in rituals, and to avoid uncontrollable fires (Mistry et
al. 2016). The seasonally flooded grasslands in Pantanal have been used as pastures for cattle over two and a half centuries, which is the main economic activity in the region (Tomas et al. 2019). The traditional use of fire is to clean native grasslands of undesirable bushes and to promote resprouting of tough grasses before the rainy season (Silva et al. 1998; Soriano 2020). Under such management, both fire and cattle act together to reduce the biomass (fuel) in these grasslands. That combination can represent more fire frequency but less severity in each event. There are reports about catastrophic fires in conservation units, where cattle and fire were banned (Pott and Pott 2009). These aspects added to the high intensity of fires in 2020 and raised the discussion about the role played by cattle as “firefighter” helping to prevent wildfires in the Pantanal. There is no consensus about the limits of the use of cattle to prevent fires in different Pantanal environments among researchers. These aspects must be better investigated, including experimental studies that control fire frequency, intensity, and magnitude in association with different cattle management practices and densities. Fires have also been associated with the phenomenon of change in water quality in the Pantanal known as “dequada” when oxygen depletes to levels that kill fish (Calheiros et al. 2000). The limits of the role played by fire and organic matter decomposition at flooding in this phenomenon are not yet well established.
FIGURE 7. Average percentage of the Pantanal area burned in each year from 2003 to 2020 according to satellite-derived burned area products from NASA (MCD64 C6; Giglio et al 2018), ESA (FIRE-CCI; Lizundia-Loyola et al. 2020), INPE/LASA (AQM1KM; Libonati et al. 2015) and LASA-UFRJ (ALARMES – Pinto et al. 2020). Mean value for the period is depicted in the gray line.
THE BIG WILDFIRE OF 2020: AN OVERVIEW
We had a sequence of two years (2019 and 2020) with high levels of fire (Figures 7 and 8). The fires of 2020 can be considered the biggest cataclysmic fire event recorded in the Pantanal since the beginning of recordkeeping. The recorded number of fire spots was much higher than previous years, and the annual average reached almost twice as many fire spots as the last year with the highest average number of fire spots - 2005 (Figure 7). They were caused mainly by a combination of factors. The first is occurrence of the 111 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
FIGURE 8. Comparison between the burned area (magenta) in 2019 (left panel) and 2020 (right panel), highlighting the conservation units (blue polygons) and indigenous territories (green) within the Pantanal biome (black polygon). The subpanel indicates the geographical location of the biome within Brazil, South America. (Data source: Laboratory for Environmental Satellite Applications of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. https://lasa.ufrj.br/ news/burned-area-pantanal-2020/)
7th biggest drought in 120 years, and the worst in the last 47 years (Figure 3). Consequently, there was no flooding in many areas of the Pantanal, which exposed a tremendous amount of biomass as fuel, mainly the histosols (organic soils), that are wet and not available to fire in “normal” years. Despite the use of fire being forbidden in the Pantanal during the dry season, some people typically used to burn vegetation, and for many reasons continued this practice, seemingly unaware of the risk. There was no alarm system to prevent the spread of initial foci and, as a result, we had these generalized fire events in the Pantanal. The air humidity was around 10%, the temperature above 35o C, and the wind over 40 km/h accelerated the fire spread. Usual firebreaks would not stop the fire because it spread underneath via the histosol, that can only be extinguished by heavy rain. The glowing debris even jumped over the 200 m wide Paraguay River. Further aggravating was the difficult accessibility to the burning spots and fire lines, through the entangled vegetation, carrying little useful equipment in the face of the magnitude of the flames and the area. It was impossible to put bulldozers or people to build firebreaks ahead to fight fire with fire. It is relevant to consider that the climate condition in 2020 was comparable to the 14 years of drier years between 1960 and 1975 (see Figure 3). It is likely that fire raged over the wetland during those years, and the impacts were also substantial. So, the Pantanal we know today is at least partially a result of that period, and this led to a necessary conclusion: the 2020 disaster did not destroy the Pantanal, and is not the end of the well-known richness and productivity of its ecosystems. The problem we need to address properly is that catastrophic disasters such as the 2020 Wildfire should not be allowed to happen again, in order to permit the ecosystems to recover themselves in the
FIGURE 9. Firefighters struggling through the marsh to reach a burning area in the Pantanal. (Photo by Alexandre Matos Pereira) 112 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
following years. Deep degradation is expected if repeated fire events occur in the same areas for many years as this may lead to a loss of ecosystem resilience and reduced biodiversity. Thus, preventing wildfire is an essential strategy to contribute to the conservation of the Pantanal.
GAPS OF KNOWLEDGE AND CHALLENGES
During the huge fires experienced in the Pantanal during 2020, we could identify many areas of concern ranging from scientific knowledge gaps to challenges in terms of fire prevention, control, and emergency response. The first challenge we identified was the scant information available on fire dynamics in tropical wetlands. Previous knowledge came from studies in savanna and forest areas. The interaction between flood and fire is scarcely known in tropical areas, particularly in the Pantanal. In terms of fire management, there are few studies about the effect of fire on biodiversity, ecological services, human health, infrastructure, and so on. Secondly, in terms of monitoring and alert systems, there was poor integration of information between the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul (the Pantanal is shared between these two Brazilian states). The water that inundates the most fire-prone areas in Mato Grosso do Sul comes from Mato Grosso. A safety alarm system must warn when rainfall is below “normal” in the headwaters of Mato Grosso. It is also relevant to build a system integrating Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia that share similar environments. Even between the two Brazilian states - Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul - integration and communication is still not a common practice. The first political initiative to establish the Pantanal as a management unit for Mato Grosso do Sul (MS) and Mato Grosso (MT), happened just recently on October 15, 2016, during an event held by Instituto SOS Pantanal, called Sustainability and Tourism in Pantanal. Then, the governments of both states, with the consent of the Ministry of the Environment, signed a document with unified commitments and actions towards the wetlands, known as “Caiman Letter’’. However, even with this initiative, we identified a lack of adequate warnings, communication, and use of preventive information by the local communities and institutions. Thus, the integration of these two Brazilian states in terms of fire management in Pantanal is still a challenge. Within the framework of joint public policies, the Integrated Fire Prevention and Fighting Management Plan made by those two states are similar, and the result of joint debates. However, to achieve an effective and efficient predictive and alert model, much work still needs to be done. Nonetheless, with the magnitude of fire events in the years 2019 and
2020, the fire brigades of MT and MS and the brigades of IBAMA (PreviFogo) acted together, combating the fires in the Pantanal. That can be a beginning of joint action and a basis for the construction of a joint plan to prevent and combat wildfires. In terms of combat and emergency actions, we could see a massive mobilization of organizations such as IBAMA, ICMBio, Police, Army, Firefighters, private fire brigades, and volunteers (Figure 9). More than 300 people were involved in fighting fires throughout 2020. The fire-fighting began in March and April, atypical months for operations to combat wildfires in the Pantanal. Even though the federal environmental agency IBAMA did not have teams hired for the usual non-critical period, it mobilized resources and made fighting possible together with the firefighters, as well employing helicopters to contain the advance of flames. For the second semester, mainly between July and October, the most mandatory months for the occurrence of forest fires, government agencies such as IBAMA and ICMBio, hired fire brigades to fight fires (Figure 10). Approximately US$ 250,000.00 is invested, including salaries, equipment, and tools that allow 90 brigade members to work throughout the second semester, carrying out work not only on combat but also on fire prevention and management. Despite all the efforts and investments made to train, hire, and manage these teams, fighting wildfires in the Pantanal requires structure or organization/communication. Currently, even with the involvement of all these agencies, there is no provision of adequate inputs for displacement, communication and maintenance teams in the field. Considering all these characteristics, the operational costs of combat are extremely high. The costs incurred by IBAMA during 90 days of combat were practically the same amount spent to maintain the 90 brigades for 6 months. The cost of a helicopter alone can represent about 80% of the total operating cost. Hence, instead of focusing mostly on combat, adequate allocation of financial and other resources to wildfire prevention and management would be preferable, while at the same time, enhancing socioeconomic and ecological benefits (Garcia et al. in press). People living in the rural area of the Pantanal, subject to floods, droughts and fire, are still on the margins of decision-making. They could contribute with their traditional knowledge about the role of fire in the management of pastures, native fields, and riparian forests, for example. It is therefore necessary to establish a communication channel with the people who live in the place, to understand their point of view and their knowledge. One way to do this is through participatory research, involving and engaging local people in the search for sustainable solutions. 113 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
FIGURE 10. Agents of the National Center for the Prevention and Fighting of Forest Fires (PrevFogo) fighting against fire in different regions of Brazilian Pantanal in the second half of 2020. (Photos by Alexandre Matos Pereira).
GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL MOBILIZATION, RECIPROCITY, AND SOLIDARITY
Collective actions promoted by civil society actors in Brazil were fundamental to improve the actions against fires. The fires in the Pantanal caused a national commotion. Several people looked for NGOs active in the region to contribute financial resources and volunteers to fight the fires, to contribute to the rescue of fauna and to help the populations impacted by the fire. NGOs received thousands of messages of solidarity. Some campaigns were launched to collect financial resources that allowed several civil society organizations to help in an emergency to fight the fire, to rescue the fauna and to distribute food to impacted communities. Initiatives such as Impulsa Pantanal (Mupan / Wetlands International), Movimento Pantanal Chama (SOS Pantanal / Luan Santana), Brigade Alto Pantanal (IHP), and ECOA (Ecologia e Ação) among others created brigade programs in the most impacted areas. The campaign’s result was significant due to the support from celebrities such as Gisele Bündchen, Luan Santana, and other artists from Brazil. There were also donations from enterprises and individual persons to these NGOs. The amount collected allowed them to make an emergency contribution and establish a fire prevention plan through the creation of Rural Volunteer Brigades - Brigades Pantaneiras and a recovery program. For the fauna there were initiatives such as SOS animals of Pantanal MS and “É o Bicho” in MT that received more than 30 ton of fruits and vegetables and distributed in selected points inside the Pantanal to feed the fauna during the critical periods of fire and drought. There was also a program called GRETAP under the coordination of
the Catholic University (UCDB) that took care of animals found alive but injured by fire or smoke. National and international media covered the wildfires in an unprecedented way, in almost real-time. Searching in Google by using “Fire in the Pantanal” only in 2020 we found 3,940 news articles in Portuguese and 484 in English. Moreover, more than 3,400 videos on this theme were published on social networks and journalistic websites. Artists also had a fundamental role in getting financial support. Just as one example, the Live #OPantanalChama received over 957,519 visualizations raising funds for fauna care, fire brigades, and restoration of the Pantanal. Despite the many positive examples of governmental and civil mobilization, there remains an evident lack of strategic planning and coordination/integration among actors.
SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
The rapid sharing of information across the scientific community has allowed researchers to characterize and monitor wildfires in almost real-time. Research groups such as LASA and INPE provided maps and information to the media. Federal Universities of Mato Grosso do Sul, and Mato Grosso organized lives to share scientific information about fires to the public. As a response to the catastrophe, two ecological projects were articulated: the PELD-CNPq and MCTI projects. The PELD project was built from a call by the Brazilian government (CNPq - National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) to establish long-duration projects in ecology (PELD in Portuguese). In this project, a group of researchers from Mato Grosso do Sul in partnership with other states such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and also researchers from Paraguay established a group called Wetland Fire Study Nucleus (NEFAU in Portuguese - WFSN in English). The main objective of this project is to evaluate the role played by the interaction of fire and flood in ecological processes of the Pantanal. It is a medium-duration project for 4 years. The project also will investigate the effect of prescribed fire in the most fire-prone areas located mainly in the Paraguay River floodplain. The Science, Technology, and Innovation Ministry (MCTI) initiated another project involving researchers from many states of Brazil to conduct emergency research actions. This initiative was focused on the development of systems of alert, experiments of prescribed fire, and studies about wildfires at a landscape scale.
PERSPECTIVES FOR THE NEXT YEARS
The biggest lesson from the Wildfire of 2020 was that we were not prepared for it. Building an effective forecasting capacity and persuasively communicating information on high-consequence risks to everybody potentially affected is 114 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
a critical step for the next few years (Libonati et al. 2020). This warning system, followed by an efficient protocol of proactive measures, is essential to avoid negative impacts on biodiversity, the local community, and the socio-economy. Hence, it is necessary to build a culture of resilience and sustainability, whereby proper fire management prevents fire from becoming a degradation element, but one that is a particular element of the ecosystem that can be considered as part of a restoration strategy (Garcia et al. in press). Furthermore, the integration of traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and residents, and the technical and scientific findings arising from short and long-term monitoring will lead to improved decisions in the processes involving conservation and use of natural resources associated with fire in the Pantanal. To avoid and mitigate both natural and unnatural calamities in the future, we also need to develop strategic and operational planning processes in a participative way - an integrated program of fire management for the Pantanal. Integrated fire management may include several fire prevention and fighting actions, such as the use of prescribed burns, which aims to contain/eliminate the accumulation of dry biomass. For these actions, environmental managers need to consider the phenological calendar of useful and/or fire-sensitive plants, the reproductive period of animals and the location of human dwellings. In addition to these issues, linked to man and other components of biota, fire management will need to consider the physical factors of the environment, such as climate and the flood pulse characteristic of the Pantanal. In summary, the need for and improvements in long-term and participatory research, co-production of knowledge about fire management, mobilization, citizen engagement, cooperation between institutions, solidarity and dialogues are key issues and lessons that we identified during the catastrophic fires in the Pantanal during 2020. Moreover, a better understanding of the interaction between fires, floods and people is a critical topic that should be addressed in the future studies to inform fire management strategies not only in the Pantanal but worldwide. n
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Calheiros, D.F., A.F. Seidl, and C.J.A. Ferreira. 2000. Participatory research methods in environmental science: Local and scientific knowledge of a limnological phenomenon in the Pantanal wetland of Brazil. J Appl Ecol 37: 684–696. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.13652664.2000.00524.x Damasceno-Junior, G.A., A.M.M. Pereira, J. Oldeland, P. Parolin, and A. Pott In press. Fire, Flood and Pantanal vegetation. In: Damasceno-Junior G.A., and A. Pott (eds.). Flora and Vegetation of Pantanal wetland. Springer International Publishing, Berlin, Germany. Einhorn, C., M.M. Arréllaga, B. Migliozzi, and S. Reinhard. 2020. The World’s Largest Tropical Wetland Has Become an Inferno. The New York Times. Oct. 13, 2020. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/13/climate/pantanal-brazil-fires.html Garcia, L.C., J.K. Szabo, F.O. Roque, A.M.M. Pereira, C. Nunes da Cunha, G.A. Damasceno-Junior, R.G. Morato, W.M. Tomas, R. Libonati, and D.B. Ribeiro. In Press. Record-breaking wildfires threaten the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland. Journal of Environmental Management. Giglio, L, L. Boschetti, D.P. Roy, M.L. Humber, and C.O. Justice. 2018. The Collection 6 MODIS burned area mapping algorithm and product. Remote Sens. Environ. 217: 72–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. rse.2018.08.005. Hamilton, S.K., S.J. Sippel, and J.M. Melack 1996. Inundation patterns in the Pantanal Wetland of South America determined from passive microwave remote sensing. Arch für Hydrobiol 137: 1–23. INPE. 2020. Banco de Dados de queimadas. http://queimadas.dgi.inpe. br/queimadas/bdqueimadas/ accessed in December 2020. Junk, W., and C. Nunes da Cunha 2012. Pasture clearing from invasive woody plants in the Pantanal: a tool for sustainable management or environmental destruction? Wetl Ecol Manag 20: 111–122. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11273-011-9246-y Junk, W.J., C. Nunes da Cunha, K.M. Wantzen, P. Petermann, C. Strüssmann, M.I. Marques, and J. Adis. 2006. Biodiversity and its conservation in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Aquat Sci 68: 278–309. https:// doi.org/10.1007/s00027-006-0851-4 Libonati, R., C.C. da Camara, A.W. Setzer, F. Morelli, and A.E. Melchiori. 2015. An algorithm for burned area detection in the Brazilian Cerrado using 4 Μm MODIS imagery. Remote Sensing 7 (11): 15782–15803. doi:10.3390/rs71115782. Libonati, R, C.C. da Camara, L.F. Peres, L.A.F. Carvalho, and L.C. Garcia. 2020. Rescue Brazil’s burning Pantanal wetlands. Nature 588: 217–220. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03464-1 Lizundia-Loiola, J., G. Otón, R. Ramo, and E. Chuvieco 2020. A spatiotemporal active-fire clustering approach for global burned area mapping at 250 M from MODIS data. Remote Sensing of Environment 236: 111493. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2019.111493.
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Mistry, J., B.A. Bilbao, and A. Berardi 2016. Community owned solutions for fire management in tropical ecosystems: case studies from indigenous communities of South America. Philos Trans R Soc B Biol Sci 371. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0174 Morelli F., A. Setzer, and S.C. Jesus. 2009. Focos de queimadas nas unidades de conservação e terras indígenas do Pantanal, 2000-2008. Geografia 34: 681-695. Nunes da Cunha, C., and W.J. Junk. 2015. A classificação dos macrohabitats do Pantanal Mato-grossense. In: Nunes da Cunha, C., M.T.P. Fernandez, and W.J. Junk (eds.). Classificação e Delineamento das Áreas Úmidas Brasileiras e de seus Macrohabitats. EdUFMT, Cuiabá. pp 77–122 Oberg, K. 1949. Terena and the Caduveo of Southern Mato Grosso, Brazil. United States Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. Observatorio do Pantanal. 2020. Incêndios voltam a consumir a região do Pantanal. Observatório do Pantanal, Available in: https://observatoriopantanal.org/2020/04/20/incendios-voltam-a-assolar-a-regiao-do-pantanal/#https://observatoriopantanal.org/pt-br/#!/about_section. Access in: May, 2020. Pinto, M.M., R. Libonati, R.M. Trigo, I.F. Trigo, and C.C. da Camara. 2020. A deep learning approach for mapping and dating burned areas using temporal sequences of satellite images. ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens. 160: 260–274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2019.12.014. Pott, A., A. Oliveira, G.A. Damasceno-Junior, and J.V. Silva. 2011. Plant diversity of the Pantanal wetland. Brazilian J Biol 71: 265–273. https:// doi.org/10.1590/S1519-69842011000200005 Pott, V.J., and A. Pott. 2009. Vegetação do Pantanal: fitogeografia e dinâmica Arnildo. In: Anais 2o Simpósio de Geotecnologias no Pantanal. Embrapa Informática Agropecuária/INPE, Corumbá. Pp. 1065–1076. Silva, M.D., R. Mauro, A. Pott, A. Boock, V.J. Pott, and M. Ribeiro 1998. Una sabana tropical inundable: el Pantanal arcilloso, propuesta de modelos de estados y transiciones. Ecotropicos 10: 87-98. Silva, J.S.V., and, M. de M. Abdon. 1998. Delimitação do Pantanal brasileiro e suas sub.regiões. Pesqui Agropecuária Bras 33: 1703–1711. Soriano, B.M.A. 1997. Caracterização climática de Corumbá. Boletim de Pesquisa, 11, Embrapa-CPAP, Corumbá. 25 p. Soriano, B.M.A., E.L.C. Cardoso, W.M. Tomas, S. Santos, S.M. Crispim, and L. Pellegrin. 2020. Uso do fogo para o manejo da vegetação no Pantanal. Documentos, 164, Embrapa Pantanal, Corumbá. 17 p. Souza, E.B. de, G.A. Damasceno-Junior, and A. Pott. 2019. Soil seed bank in Pantanal riparian forest: persistence, abundance, functional diversity and composition. Oecologia Aust 23: 891–903. Tomas, W.M., F.O. Roque, R.G. Morato, P.E. Medici, R.M. Chiaravalloti, F.R. Tortato, J.M.F. Penha, et al. 2019. Sustainability agenda for the Pantanal Wetland: perspectives on a collaborative interface for science, policy, and decision-making. Trop. Conserv. Sci. 12. https://doi. org/10.1177/1940082919872634
WETLANDS IN THE NEWS
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isted below are some links to some random news articles that may be of interest. Links from past issues can be accessed on the SWS website: https://www.sws.org/wetlands-in-the-news/. The Association of State Wetland Managers' website: https://www.aswm.org/ contains a section entitled “Wetland News Digest.” This section includes links to newspaper articles that should be of interest: https://www.aswm.org/publications/wetland-news-digest. Members are encouraged to send links to articles about wetlands in their local area. Please send the links to WSP Editor at ralphtiner83@ gmail.com and reference “Wetlands in the News” in the subject box. Thanks for your cooperation. n
Sea level rise is killing trees along the Atlantic coast, creating 'ghost forests' that are visible from space https://theconversation.com/amp/sea-level-rise-is-killing-treesalong-the-atlantic-coast-creating-ghost-forests-that-are-visible-from-space-147971#aoh=16177272381538&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s “Natural capital” accounting method might give nature an economic voice https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/03/natural-capital-accountingmethod-might-give-nature-an-economic-voice/ With stories and puppets, environmentalist battles to save Indonesia's mangroves https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-environment-mangroveidUSKBN2BS02N Western rivers face pinch as another dry year takes shape https://phys.org/news/2021-04-western-rivers-year.html Mangroves from space: 30 years of satellite images are helping us understand how climate change threatens these valuable forests https://www.space.com/mangroves-satellite-images-climate-change Eugene approves developer's request to remove wetland protection from Jessen Ponds https://www.registerguard.com/story/news/2021/03/30/eugeneapproves-developers-request-remove-wetland-protection-jessenponds/7020787002/ Old Tamiami Trail roadbed removal project to be completed by January https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021/03/30/gov-ron-desantis-tohighlight-progress-on-everglades-restoration-project/ Red Sea Rainforests: Coral Reef Ecosystems Thrive off the Coast of Saudi Arabia https://scitechdaily.com/red-sea-rainforests-coral-reef-ecosystemsthrive-off-the-coast-of-saudi-arabia/ How kelp forests off California are responding to an urchin takeover https://www.sciencenews.org/article/how-kelp-forests-california-urchintakeover-sea-otter/amp#aoh=16171064210301&csi=0&referrer=https% 3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s After more than 2 decades of searching, scientists finger cause of mass eagle deaths https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/after-more-2-decadessearching-scientists-finger-cause-mass-eagle-deaths Some dried-up wetlands from Tampa Bay ‘Water Wars’ have recovered, officials say https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2021/03/24/some-driedup-wetlands-from-tampa-bay-water-wars-have-recovered-officials-say/ Arctic was once lush and green, and could be again, new research shows https://phys.org/news/2021-03-arctic-lush-green.html Sharks ‘critical’ to restoring damaged ecosystems, finds study https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/22/sharks-criticalrestoring-climate-damaged-ecosystems-study Neglected species: ‘Living fossil’ sturgeon on the brink of extinction https://phys.org/news/2021-03-neglected-species-fossil-sturgeon-brink.html 116 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
Sea-level rise in 20th century was fastest in 2,000 years along much of East Coast https://phys.org/news/2021-03-sea-level-20th-century-fastest-years.html Common Era sea-level budgets along the U.S. Atlantic coast https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22079-2 How to Save Saltwater Wetlands From Rising Seas https://medium.com/island-press/how-to-save-saltwater-wetlands-fromrising-seas-a0e865a44b1d West Coast’s Verlorenvlei: What’s lost when a wetland dries up? https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-03-13-west-coasts-verlorenvlei-whats-lost-when-a-wetland-dries-up/ The Marsh On The Cutts Island Trail In Maine Offers A Beautiful Water View https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/maine/cutts-island-trail-me/ Audubon looks to Great Lakes for wetland restoration: ‘If we can bring back Calumet, we can bring back any place’ https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/environment/ct-great-lakeswetland-restoration-calumet-audubon-20210322-ogw4pgyb4bflpkwlomsiwappcm-story.html 4 rivers and wetlands we love, and can’t afford to lose https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/4-rivers-and-wetlands-we-loveand-can-t-afford-to-lose Why a Train Runs Directly Through This Salty Pink Lake in Siberia https://www.thedrive.com/news/39789/why-a-train-runs-directlythrough-this-pink-lake-in-siberia To build wetlands, Louisiana’s largest sediment diversion would shock seafood communities https://www.nola.com/news/environment/article_56bd6ace-8757-11eb8347-c3a7e4a3f0c1.html Baysavers: Let’s keep valuable freshwater in Apalachicola Bay https://www.apalachtimes.com/story/opinion/columns/2020/08/01/ baysavers-letrsquos-keep-valuable-freshwater-in-apalachicolabay/42132043/ Giving voice to a river https://www.apalachtimes.com/story/opinion/2021/02/25/giving-voiceriver/4564764001/?itm_source=AMP&itm_medium=UpNext French Broad River land to be restored wetlands, muskie habitat https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2021/03/22/frenchbroad-river-land-restored-wetlands-muskie-habitat/4734490001/ How Mrs. Edge Saved the Birds https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-mrs-edge-savedbirds-180977167/ Canadian prairies and parklands ‘legendary’ for wetlands and waterfowl, says U.S. researcher https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5956617 Recreating the perfect tide to protect coastal wetlands from rising sea levels https://phys.org/news/2021-03-recreating-tide-coastal-wetlands-sea.html
Tropical Forest and Wetland Losses and the Role of Protected Areas in Northwestern Belize, Revealed from Landsat and Machine Learning https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/3/379
A major Southwest Florida wetland is drying up as people move in https://www.winknews.com/2021/03/01/a-major-southwest-florida-wetland-is-drying-up-as-people-move-in/
Disappearing Forests and Wetlands in Belize Unmasked by NASA Satellite https://scitechdaily.com/disappearing-forests-and-wetlands-in-belizeunmasked-by-nasa-satellite/
Mending Coastal Marshes https://www.hakaimagazine.com/article-short/mending-coastal-marshes/
Michigan communities turn to wetlands to prevent damage during floods https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/michigancommunities-turn-wetlands-prevent-damage-during-floods Environmental Groups Urge Feds to Reject Gas Drilling Project in North Bay Wetland https://www.kqed.org/news/11863789/reject-gas-drilling-project-innorth-bay-wetland-environmental-groups-urge-feds ‘Once In A Lifetime Event’: South Florida Man Spots 5 Elusive Florida Panthers In Single Day, 4 At The Same Time https://miami.cbslocal.com/2021/03/15/florida-man-spots-5-elusiveflorida-panthers-single-day/ A Lesser-known Squirrel https://crewtrust.org/a-lesser-known-squirrel/ Wellington wetlands may be used for housing https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/local/wellington/2021/03/10/wellington-wetlands-may-used-housing/4632678001/ Scientist at work: Tracking the epic journeys of migratory birds in northwest Mexico https://theconversation.com/scientist-at-work-tracking-the-epic-journeysof-migratory-birds-in-northwest-mexico-154156 Coastal chief: Louisiana needs big diversion projects to restore wetlands https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/article_96a7310e7dbd-11eb-abd4-23533e3dc1c1.html The Tide Is High–and Getting Higher https://www.wired.com/story/the-tide-is-high-and-getting-higher/ Marine Animals on the Move https://www.nps.gov/articles/marine-animals-on-the-move.htm A Brief History of Bird Rookery Swamp https://crewtrust.org/a-brief-history-of-bird-rookery-swamp/ SLO County wetland area gets U.S. Fish and Wildlife grant https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/environment/article249705728.html An Urgent Call for a New Relationship with Nature https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-urgent-call-for-a-newrelationship-with-nature/ Preserving China’s Coastal Wetlands https://www.paulsoninstitute.org/our-stories/preserving-chinas-coastalwetlands/
Elusive wetland bird added to Florida’s endangered species list https://weartv.com/news/local/elusive-wetland-bird-added-to-floridasendangered-species-list Don’t Drain *That* Swamp https://www.acc.eco/blog/stories-in-american-swamps Feds give N.J. $1M to protect South Jersey wetlands https://www.nj.com/news/2021/02/feds-give-nj-1m-to-protect-southjersey-wetlands.html?outputType=amp#aoh=16143062129412&csi= 0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20 %251%24s Extinction: Freshwater fish in ‘catastrophic’ decline https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56160756 A Major Ocean Current May Be Hurtling Towards Collapse https://earther.gizmodo.com/a-major-ocean-current-may-be-hurtlingtowards-collapse-1846337333 How much carbon can Louisiana’s wetlands hold? https://www.nola.com/news/environment/article_de8b98ac-721e-11eb978e-5fa383005af2.html Longford’s Wetlands Ireland https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/f2476366552540ac9164a4aa95b02bbf Humans have severely affected fish biodiversity in half of all rivers https://www.newscientist.com/article/2268348-humans-have-severelyaffected-fish-biodiversity-in-half-of-all-rivers/ Oil drilling upstream of Okavango Delta moves closer to reality https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/oil-gas-test-drillingbegins-namibia-okavango-region Message From a Lonely Alaska Island https://www.akbizmag.com/industry/science/message-from-a-lonelyalaska-island/ Hidden World Just Below the Surface: Scientists Discover Ocean “Surface Slicks” Are Nurseries for Diverse Fishes https://scitechdaily.com/hidden-world-just-below-the-surface-scientistsdiscover-ocean-surface-slicks-are-nurseries-for-diverse-fishes/amp/ How to Save Saltwater Wetlands From Rising Seas https://therevelator.org/wetlands-rising-seas-solutions/ 2.5 acres of wetland protected in Juneau https://www.kinyradio.com/news/news-of-the-north/2-5-acres-of-wetland-protected-in-juneau/
Who will save the swamps? https://www.deccanherald.com/science-and-environment/who-will-savethe-swamps-771046.html
Six critters to love and why they need Indiana’s ‘isolated’ wetlands https://www.southbendtribune.com/life/travel/outdoor/six-critters-tolove-and-why-they-need-indianas-isolated-wetlands/article_44b24f7e6ad4-11eb-a2a6-af06660a4e39.html
A Tour of America’s Greatest Swamps https://www.kuhl.com/borninthemountains/tour-of-americas-greatestswamps/
Indiana wetlands bill: Here’s what you need to know. https://www.indystar.com/story/news/environment/2021/02/08/indianawetlands-bill-law-program/4310796001/
Water managers uncork everglades restoration https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/weather/2021/03/01/water-managers-uncork-everglades-restoration/4541101001/
Salt marsh fairy circles go from rings to bullseyes to adapt to stress https://www.newscientist.com/article/2266985-salt-marsh-fairy-circlesgo-from-rings-to-bullseyes-to-adapt-to-stress/
Dammed, drugged, poisoned: River species struggle to survive https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Dammed-drugged-poisoned-Riverspecies-struggle-15972506.php
How Human-Made Noise Threatens Our Oceans https://www.aaas.org/news/how-human-made-noise-threatens-ouroceans
117 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
Indiana bill would completely de-regulate isolated wetlands. https://wsbt.com/news/local/indiana-bill-strips-all-protection-fromisolated-wetlands Endangered snail kites sensitive to Florida water levels https://wildlife.org/endangered-snail-kites-sensitive-to-floridawater-levels/?utm_source=getresponse&utm_medium=email&utm_ campaign=ewildlifer_newsletter_professional_members&utm_content= This+Week%27s+eWildlifer+%26+TWS+Talks The world’s wetlands are slipping away. This vibrant wildlife sanctuary underscores the stakes. https://api.nationalgeographic.com/distribution/public/amp/environment/2021/02/world-wetlands-are-slipping-away-agusan-marsh-underscores-stakes Map of all water bodies in Israel launched to mark World Wetlands Day https://www.timesofisrael.com/map-of-all-water-bodies-in-israellaunched-to-mark-world-wetlands-day/ Urban wetlands breathe life into Sri Lanka’s capital city https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/urban-wetlandsbreathe-life-sri-lankas-capital-city Developer to pay over $1M following claims of damaging protected streams and wetlands, polluting river in Williamsburg https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/hampshire-county/developerto-pay-over-1m-following-claims-of-damaging-protected-streams-andwetlands-polluting-river-in-williamsburg/
118 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
Nonprofit to spend $8 million turning farmland back to wetlands near Great Dismal Swamp https://www.pilotonline.com/news/environment/vp-nw-dismal-swampacquisition-20210201-3cbjl2itx5hd5hx776hvi7qkwy-story.html World Wetlands Day highlights critical habitat http://www.therepublic.com/2021/01/30/world-wetlands-day-highlightscritical-habitat/ 11-year-old starts petition to stop bill to repeal Indiana wetlands laws https://fox59.com/news/politics/11-year-old-starts-petition-to-stop-billto-repeal-indiana-wetlands-laws/ Ancient South American Civilizations Bloomed in the Desert Thanks to Seabird Poop https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ancient-south-american-civilizations-bloomed-desert-thanks-seabird-poop-180976817/ Extinction: ‘Time is running out’ to save sharks and rays https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55830732 Echo from the past makes rice paddies a good home for wetland plants https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-10/tmu-eft101420.php Scientists Launch ‘Four Steps for Earth’ to Protect Biodiversity https://www.ecowatch.com/protecting-biodiversity-scientists-2650130684.html
WETLAND BOOKSHELF
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here are no new books to add to this listing. Please help us add new books. If your agency, organization, or institution has a website where wetland information can be accessed, please send the information to the Editor of Wetland Science & Practice at ralphtiner83@gmail. com. Your cooperation is appreciated. n
BOOKS
• History of Wetland Science: A Perspective from Wetland Leaders https://www.amazon.com/History-Wetland-Science-Perspectives-Leaders/dp/B08DC6GXDM • An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America (5th Edition) https://he.kendallhunt.com/product/introduction-aquatic-insects-north-america • Wading Right In: Discovering the Nature of Wetlands https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/ bo28183520.html • Sedges of Maine https://umaine.edu/umpress/books-in-print/ • Sedges and Rushes of Minnesota https://www.upress.umn. edu/book-division/books/sedges-and-rushes-of-minnesota • Wetland & Stream Rapid Assessments: Development, Validation, and Application https://www.elsevier.com/ books/wetland-and-stream-rapid-assessments/dorney/978-0-12-805091-0 • Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/eager/ • Wetland Indicators – A Guide to Wetland Formation, Identification, Delineation, Classification, and Mapping https://www.crcpress.com/Wetland-Indicators-A-Guide-toWetland-Identification-Delineation-Classification/Tiner/p/ book/9781439853696 • Wetland Soils: Genesis, Hydrology, Landscapes, and Classification https://www.crcpress.com/Wetland-Soils-Genesis-Hydrology-Landscapes-and-Classification/VepraskasRichardson-Vepraskas-Craft/9781566704847 • Creating and Restoring Wetlands: From Theory to Practice http://store.elsevier.com/Creating-and-Restoring-Wetlands/ Christopher-Craft/isbn-9780124072329/ • Salt Marsh Secrets. Who uncovered them and how? http://trnerr.org/SaltMarshSecrets/ • Remote Sensing of Wetlands: Applications and Advances. https://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781482237351 • Wetlands (5th Edition). http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/ WileyTitle/productCd-1118676823.html
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• Black Swan Lake – Life of a Wetland http://press.uchicago. edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/B/bo15564698.html • Coastal Wetlands of the World: Geology, Ecology, Distribution and Applications http://www.cambridge.org/ us/academic/subjects/earth-and-environmental-science/ environmental-science/coastal-wetlands-world-geologyecology-distribution-and-applications • Florida’s Wetlands https://www.amazon.com/FloridasWetlands-Natural-Ecosystems-Species/dp/1561646873/ ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1518650552&sr=84&keywords=wetland+books • Mid-Atlantic Freshwater Wetlands: Science, Management, Policy, and Practice http://www.springer.com/environment/ aquatic+sciences/book/978-1-4614-5595-0 • The Atchafalaya River Basin: History and Ecology of an American Wetland http://www.tamupress.com/product/ Atchafalaya-River-Basin,7733.aspx • Tidal Wetlands Primer: An Introduction to their Ecology, Natural History, Status and Conservation https://www. umass.edu/umpress/title/tidal-wetlands-primer • Wetland Landscape Characterization: Practical Tools, Methods, and Approaches for Landscape Ecology http:// www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466503762 • Wetland Techniques (3 volumes) http://www.springer.com/ life+sciences/ecology/book/978-94-007-6859-8 • Wildflowers and Other Plants of Iowa Wetlands https://www.uipress.uiowa.edu/books/2015-spring/wildflowers-and-other-plants-iowa-wetlands.htm • Wetland Restoration: A Handbook for New Zealand Freshwater Systems https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/publications/books/wetlands-handbook • Wetland Ecosystems https://www.wiley.com/en-us/ Wetland+Ecosystems-p-9780470286302 • Constructed Wetlands and Sustainable Development https://www.routledge.com/Constructed-Wetlands-and-Sustainable-Development/Austin-Yu/p/book/9781138908994
ONLINE SOURCES OF WETLAND INFORMATION
The following is a listing of some government agencies and environmental organizations that provide online information on wetlands and where their publications on wetlands may be accessed.
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experiment Station, Environmental Laboratory https://www.erdc. usace.army.mil/Locations/EL.aspx • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Wetland Plants Database http://wetland-plants.usace.army.mil/nwpl_ static/v34/home/home.html • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency https://www.epa. gov/wetlands • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Inventory https://fws.gov/wetlands/
• U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center https://www.usgs.gov/centers/wetland-and-aquaticresearch-center-warc • U.S. Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center https://www.usgs.gov/centers/npwrc • U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center https://www.usgs.gov/centers/pwrc • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Coastal Management https://coast.noaa.gov/ • U.S.D.A. Natural Resources Conservation Service, Hydric Soils https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/ soils/use/hydric/ • Association of State Wetland Managers https://www. aswm.org/
Journal Land Seeking Contributions for Special Issue Commemorating 25th Anniversary of World Wetlands Day Submitted by Dr. Richard Smardon, Guest Editor, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse, NY
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he journal Land is planning a special issue to celebrate 25 years of “World Wetlands Day.” There is no other ecosystem that has its very own Ramsar Convention or such a challenge impacting ecosystem sustainability. Papers are encouraged that provide an overview of wetland status and function within different regions of the world. Of special interest are papers that address wetland ecosystem and human health and well-being as well as key international wetland management challenges and actors. A “Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands” has even been proposed; therefore, we need innovative solutions for wetland management and maintenance for this Special Issue. Topics of interest for this Special Issue include the following: World Wetlands Day, coastal and inland wetlands status, wetland functions and values, Ramsar Convention, wetland ecology, stress, restoration and change over time. Deadlines for submission of manuscripts is December 31, 2021. Please contact Dr. Smardon at rsmardon@esf.edu for further information; please mention Land – Special Issue in the subject block. n
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WETLANDS JOURNAL
What’s New in the SWS Journal - WETLANDS?
T
he following articles appear in Volume 41, Issue 2 of WETLANDS, Journal of the Society of Wetland Scientists.
Water Level and Groundwater Dynamics across a Sandur-Wetland Landscape in Response to Seasonal and Episodic Events, South-East Iceland Management Recommendations Based on Physical Forces Driving Land-Covers and Habitat Preferences of Polychaete and Bird Assemblages for a Mangrove-Vegetated Estuary Estimation of Soil Carbon Stocks of Urban Freshwater Wetlands in the Colombo Ramsar Wetland City and their Potential Role in Climate Change Mitigation Gökçeada Salt Lake: a Case Study of Seasonal Dynamics of Wetland Ecological Communities in the Context of Anthropogenic Pressure and Nature Conservation Advances in Application of a Process-Based Crop Model to Wetland Plants and Ecosystems Climate Influence Vs. Local Drivers in Surface Water-Groundwater Interactions in Eight Ponds of Doñana National Park (Southern Spain) Assessing the Long-Term Ecological Sustainability of Dambo Cultivation in Southern Africa: Ten-Year Case Studies from Zambia and Malawi Distribution and Assessment of Cr, Pb, Ni and Cd in Topsoil of the Modern Yellow River Delta, China Comprehensive Management of Rural Water Pollution in Polder Wetland: a Case Study of the Chenhai Wei Polder Wetland in the Taihu Basin of China
The following articles appear in Volume 41, Issue 3 of WETLANDS, Journal of the Society of Wetland Scientists. Carbon and Water Exchanges in a Mountain Meadow Ecosystem, Sierra Nevada, California Investigation of Climate Change Adaptation Impacts on Optimization of Water Allocation Using a Coupled SWAT-bi Level Programming Model Predictive Mapping of Solute‐rich Wetlands in the Canadian Prairie Pothole Region Through High‐resolution Digital Elevation Model Analyses Potentially suitable habitat, connectivity and priority conservation areas for White-breasted waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) and Bronze-winged jacana (Metopidius indicus) Mapping Vernal Pools Using LiDAR Data and Multitemporal Satellite Imagery Analysis of the Ramsar Convention’s Effectiveness on the Turkish Legislation and Judicial Decisions
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WSP SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
About Wetland Science & Practice (WSP)
W
etland Science and Practice (WSP) is the SWS quarterly publication aimed at providing information on select SWS activities (technical committee summaries, chapter workshop overview/ abstracts, and SWS-funded student activities), articles on ongoing or recently completed wetland research, restoration, or management projects, freelance articles on the general ecology and natural history of wetlands, and highlights of current events. WSP also includes links to U.S. federal agencies involved in wetland research, mapping, and conservation. The publication also serves as an outlet for commentaries, perspectives and opinions on important developments in wetland science, theory, management and policy. Both invited and unsolicited manuscripts are reviewed by the WSP editor for suitability for publication. When deemed necessary or upon request, some articles are subject to scientific peer review. Student papers are welcomed. Please see publication guidelines herein. Electronic access to Wetland Science and Practice is included in your SWS membership. All issues published, except the current issue, are available via the internet to the general public. The current issue is only available to SWS members. However it will be available to the public four months after its publication when the next issue is released (e.g., the July 2020 issue will be an open access issue in October 2020). WSP is an excellent choice to convey the results of your projects or interest in wetlands to others. Also note that as of January 2021, WSP will publish advertisements, see following page for details.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
If you read something you like in WSP, or that you think someone else would find interesting, be sure to share. Share links to your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts. Make sure that all your SWS colleagues are checking out our recent issues, and help spread the word about SWS to non-members! Questions? Contact editor Ralph Tiner, PWS Emeritus (ralphtiner83@gmail.com). n
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WSP Manuscript – General Guidelines LENGTH: Approximately 5,000 words; can be longer if necessary. STYLE: See existing articles from 2014 to more recent years available online at: https://members.sws.org/wetland-science-and-practice
TEXT: Word document, 12 font, Times New Roman, single-spaced; keep tables and figures separate, although captions can be included in text. For reference citations in text use this format: (Smith 2016; Jones and Whithead 2014; Peterson et al. 2010). FIGURES: Please include color images and photos of subject wetland(s) as WSP is a full-color e-publication. Image size should be less than 1MB – 500KB may work best for this e-publication.
REFERENCE CITATION EXAMPLES:
• Claus, S., S. Imgraben, K. Brennan, A. Carthey, B. Daly, R. Blakey, E. Turak, and N. Saintilan. 2011. Assessing the extent and condition of wetlands in NSW: Supporting report A – Conceptual framework, Monitoring, evaluation and reporting program, Technical report series, Office of Environment and Heritage, Sydney, Australia. OEH 2011/0727. • Clements, F.E. 1916. Plant Succession: An Analysis of the Development of Vegetation. Carnegie Institution of Washington. Washington D.C. Publication 242. • Clewell, A.F., C. Raymond, C.L. Coultas, W.M. Dennis, and J.P. Kelly. 2009. Spatially narrow wet prairies. Castanea 74: 146-159. • Colburn, E.A. 2004. Vernal Pools: Natural History and Conservation. McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, Blacksburg, VA. • Cole, C.A. and R.P. Brooks. 2000. Patterns of wetland hydrology in the Ridge and Valley Province, Pennsylvania, USA. Wetlands 20: 438-447. • Cook, E.R., R. Seager, M.A. Cane, and D.W. Stahle. 2007. North American drought: reconstructions, causes, and consequences. Earth-Science Reviews 81: 93-134. • Cooper, D.J. and D.M. Merritt. 2012. Assessing the water needs of riparian and wetland vegetation in the western United States. U.S.D.A., Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Ft. Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-282.
SOCIETY WETLAND �
SCIENTISTS
2021 Advertising Prospectus* Monthly E-Newsletter The SWS monthly e-newsletter is sent to approximately 3,000 members around the world, and enjoys an open rate between 40-50%, which is well above industry average. Place your organization in front of leading environmental scientists monthly with an ad that links to your website.
Website
With SWS.org launching a major website re-design in December, the new, far more user-friendly, engaging, and SEO-optimized format is expected to increase the site’s visibility and exposure. Highlight your company on the SWS.org homepage with a display ad that links to your website.
Wetland Science & Practice (WSP) WSP is the SWS quarterly publication aimed at providing information on select SWS activities (technical committee summaries, chapter and section workshop overview/abstracts, and SWS-funded student activities); brief summary articles on current or recently completed wetland research, restoration, or management projects; information on the general ecology and natural history of wetlands; and highlights of current events. It is distributed digitally, with over 1,000 impressions and more than 250 reads in the first six months after release.
• Price (per ad): 1x 3x 6x 12x $100 $90 ($270 total) $80 ($480 total) $70 ($840 total) • Ad Format: .jpeg or .png • Size Specifications: 336 pixels wide x 280 pixels tall; 72 dpi • Ad Due Date: Artwork and link URL due on the first of the month in which the ad is to run • Distribution Date: On or around the 15th of each month
• • • • •
Pricing: $300 quarterly; $1,000 yearly Ad Format: .jpeg or .png Size Specifications: 336 pixels wide x 280 pixels tall; 72 dpi Ad Due Date: Artwork and link URL due one week prior to beginning run date Ad Begin Date: Ad uploaded the first day of the first month of the quarter Ad Due Date: Ad Begins:
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• Pricing and Size Specifications: Full page (7.5” wide x 10” tall): Half page (7.5” wide x 4.625” tall): Quarter page (3.625” wide x 4.625” tall):
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• Ad Format: Press quality .pdf, with images rendered at 300 or higher dpi • Ad Due Date: Artwork is due on the 15th of the month prior to the month of publication • Distribution Date: WSP is published on or around the middle of the month of publication January issue April issue July issue October issue Ad Due Date: December 15 Issue Published: January 3
March 15 April 1
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* Note: Initial year rates - special pricing in effect.
Interested in targeted exposure to SWS members? Contact membership@sws.org www.sws.org
Please note: All ads are subject to review and approval by SWS. 123 Wetland Science & Practice April 2021
Wetland Science & Practice January 2021 77
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