AQUATIC AND MARSHY VEGETATION IN THE CENTER OF THE LOWER PLAIN OF SOMES RIVER: GENERAL CHARACTERISATION

Aiming to a larger study of vegetation of the lower Some Plain (Romania), this short paper summarises the outcome of the floristic inventories performed in aquatic and marshy vegetation, which was dominant in the area until about three centuries ago when the extended wetland drainage has started. By using the phytosociological method, 20 plant associations assigned to four vegetation classes were distinguished. Without presenting phytosociological tables at this first stage, the syntaxonomical framework, distribution and species composition of the revealed plant communities are briefly discussed by reference to the process of wetland drying and successional change as well as to newly formed anthropogenic lakes. The conservative value of some plant community types is emphasized by mentioning the presence of several endangered species that are included in the European-level Habitats Directive and various regional or national red lists/books.

Wetlands

This chapter focuses on Ottoman policies to manage the exploitation of wetlands in the Tigris-Euphrates alluvial plain. In the early modern period, ever-more powerful empires engaged in ambitious wetland drainage projects in the name of improvement. This chapter offers a counterexample of an empire that used its bureaucratic and financial capabilities to benefit from the exploitation of wetland resources. The Ottoman administration paid particular attention to the cultivation of rice and the husbandry of water buffalo. Both productive activities became major sources of revenue for the state, and their sustenance depended on the ecological integrity of the Tigris-Euphrates marshes.

Storm-runoff processes in a mainly waterlogged low mountain range catchment in the national park Hunsrück-Hochwald, SW-Germany

<p>This study investigates potential effects of wetland restoration on storm flow dynamics in a mainly waterlogged low mountain range catchment located in SW-Germany. Here, wetland drainage networks are being sealed, aiming to achieve rising soil water tables and reestablished peat vegetation. With the help of hydrograph separation, multiple linear regression (MLR) and covariance analysis (ANCOVA), runoff-governing storm properties and sealing influences were analyzed. Results show, that not only natural storm parameters (precipitation sum, rainfall intensity, antecedent precipitation and temperature) exert influence on storm-runoff, but sealings also led to significantly altered processes: On the one hand, storm-runoff coefficients increased in sealed catchments, resulting most likely from more saturated soils, providing a smaller infiltration capacity. This is a desired effect of rewetting but coincidently a downside regarding storm flood prevention. On the other hand, lag times, meaning the timespan between rainfall occurrence and the hydrograph starting to rise, were noticeably prolonged. This effect can be potentially beneficial when it comes to storm flood prevention. Overall, statistical models including sealings showed more satisfactory results describing stormflow variance compared to models without sealings. Therefore, sealings do exert – statistically proven – an effect on storm runoff. The heterogeneity of the results, representing a dense gauge network spread over an investigation area of roughly 7.5 km² shows, that a high-resolution sampling, both spatially and temporally, is vital. That is since runoff processes in waterlogged low mountain range catchments are still poorly understood.</p>

Vertical distribution of prokaryotes communities and predicted metabolic pathways in New Zealand wetlands, and potential for environmental DNA indicators of wetland condition

Globally, wetlands are in decline due to anthropogenic modification and climate change. Knowledge about the spatial distribution of biodiversity and biological processes within wetlands provides essential baseline data for predicting and mitigating the effects of present and future environmental change on these critical ecosystems. To explore the potential for environmental DNA (eDNA) to provide such insights, we used 16S rRNA metabarcoding to characterise prokaryote communities and predict the distribution of prokaryote metabolic pathways in peats and sediments up to 4m below the surface across seven New Zealand wetlands. Our results reveal distinct vertical structuring of prokaryote communities and metabolic pathways in these wetlands. We also find evidence for differences in the relative abundance of certain metabolic pathways that may correspond to the degree of anthropogenic modification the wetlands have experienced. These patterns, specifically those for pathways related to aerobic respiration and the carbon cycle, can be explained predominantly by the expected effects of wetland drainage. Our study demonstrates that eDNA has the potential to be an important new tool for the assessment and monitoring of wetland health.

Assessment of environmental water requirement for rivers of the Miankaleh wetland drainage basin

The Miankaleh wetland, one of the richest ecosystems in the north of Iran, has experienced an unprecedented environmental degradation caused by overexploitation of the water resources and climatic changes in recent years. This research aims to estimate the environmental water requirement (EWR) for the rivers that drain into the wetland. For this purpose, comprehensive data were collected through physiographic, climatic, hydrologic, ecologic, and field studies of the wetland and its drainage basin. To estimate the EWR, we applied several methods including the Tenant, the Eco-deficit, the flow duration curve, the Wetted-Perimeter method, and the physical habitat simulation model (PHABSIM) and the results were evaluated based on the natural discharge of the rivers before retrogression of the Miankaleh wetland. Further, the results showed that the consideration should be given to the Wetted-Perimeter and the PHABSIM Model for estimation of the EWR for the rivers of the Miankaleh wetland given the seasonality of the rivers and hydroclimatic condition of the study area. The mean annual EWR of the rivers was estimated between 0.12 and 2.03 m3/s, which is close to the values of the bank full flows. The current discharge of the rivers are less than the estimated EWR, showing the discharge rates do not meet the water requirement for aquatic species of the Miankaleh wetland

Synergistic Interaction of Climate and Land-Use Drivers Alter the Function of North American, Prairie-Pothole Wetlands

Prairie-pothole wetlands provide the critical habitat necessary for supporting North American migratory waterfowl populations. However, climate and land-use change threaten the sustainability of these wetland ecosystems. Very few experiments and analyses have been designed to investigate the relative impacts of climate and land-use change drivers, as well as the antagonistic or synergistic interactions among these drivers on ecosystem processes. Prairie-pothole wetland water budgets are highly dependent on atmospheric inputs and especially surface runoff, which makes them especially susceptible to changes in climate and land use. Here, we present the history of prairie-pothole climate and land-use change research and address the following research questions: 1) What are the relative effects of climate and land-use change on the sustainability of prairie-pothole wetlands? and 2) Do the effects of climate and land-use change interact differently under different climatic conditions? To address these research questions, we modeled 25 wetland basins (1949–2018) and measured the response of the lowest wetland in the watershed to wetland drainage and climate variability. We found that during an extremely wet period (1993–2000) wetland drainage decreased the time at which the lowest wetland reached its spill point by four years, resulting in 10 times the amount of water spilling out of the watershed towards local stream networks. By quantifying the relative effects of both climate and land-use drivers on wetland ecosystems our findings can help managers cope with uncertainties about flooding risks and provide insight into how to manage wetlands to restore functionality.

GOVERNING THROUGH TIMESCAPE: ISRAELI SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE POLICY AND THE PALESTINIAN-ARAB CITIZENS

Social scientists commonly know that time is a social construct and a tool for governing by those holding power. Yet,howexactly is time used for governing? This article examines how timescape (embodiment of approaches to time) works in practice as a tool of power by considering multiple networks of time that manifest in al-Batuf/Beit Netofa Valley planning policy. This valley's agriculture, mostly owned by Palestinian-Arab citizens of Israel, is considered by ecologists and officials a unique traditional agriculture landscape and wetland habitat that has become scarce in Israel due to its development and wetland drainage. Assembling separate modes of anthropological inquiry that attend to time as a technique, I show that knowledge, ethics, and time management are not separate spheres of governance but rather interwoven as one timescape tool of governing. Thus, the case of al-Batuf/Beit Netofa elucidates the ways in which time is used for governing in the context of an agricultural-environmental development policy and plan.