1. |
- Hambäck, Peter A., et al.
(författare)
-
Tradeoffs and synergies in wetland multifunctionality : A scaling issue
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - Amsterdam : Elsevier BV. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 862
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Wetland area in agricultural landscapes has been heavily reduced to gain land for crop production, but in recent years there is increased societal recognition of the negative consequences from wetland loss on nutrient retention, biodiversity and a range of other benefits to humans. The current trend is therefore to re-establish wetlands, often with an aim to achieve the simultaneous delivery of multiple ecosystem services, i.e., multifunctionality. Here we review the literature on key objectives used to motivate wetland re-establishment in temperate agricultural landscapes (provision of flow regulation, nutrient retention, climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation and cultural ecosystem services), and their relationships to environmental properties, in order to identify potential for tradeoffs and synergies concerning the development of multifunctional wetlands. Through this process, we find that there is a need for a change in scale from a focus on single wetlands to wetlandscapes (multiple neighboring wetlands including their catchments and surrounding landscape features) if multiple societal and environmental goals are to be achieved. Finally, we discuss the key factors to be considered when planning for re-establishment of wetlands that can support achievement of a wide range of objectives at the landscape scale.
|
|
2. |
- Strand, John A., et al.
(författare)
-
Anlagda våtmarker som flödesbuffrare : Hur skapar vi synergieffekter medbiologisk mångfald och pollinering?
- 2024
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Anlagda våtmarker har använts som naturbaserade lösningar på miljöproblem sedan 1990-talet i Sverige, framför allt i jordbrukslandskapet. Inledningsvis var huvudsyftet kostnadseffektiva åtgärder för att minska övergödningseffekter i havet men även våtmarkers positiva effekt på den biologiska mångfalden betonades tidigt. Under det senaste decenniet har anlagda våtmarker också diskuterats som lösning på andra miljönyttor, som flödesbuffring, vattenmagasinering och för att hålla kvar kol i organogena marker. För de senare ekosystemtjänsterna är forskningsläget emellertid osäkert och för vissa, såsom flödesbuffring, har det saknats faktiska mätdata. Denna brist är speciellt tydligt på de större landskapsskalor som behöver studeras för att exempelvis förstå våtmarkers och våtmarkslandskapens förmåga att förhindra översvämning lokalt och av nedströms belägna områden. I frånvaro av mätdata har förväntade positiva effekter i stället modellerats fram genom att utgå från parametrar som nederbörd och avrinningsområdens egenskaper. För att studera betydelsen av anlagda våtmarker i jordbrukslandskapet på flödesbuffring, dvs vattenmagasineringsförmågan, samt hur denna förmåga påverkar biologisk mångfald, har projektet samlat ett konsortium av experter och forskare inom framför allt ekologi och hydrologi. Inom ramen för projektet har en omfattande och strategisk provtagning genomförts under 3 år, av hydrologiska och ekologiska parametrar samt biologisk mångfald. Förutom dessa fältmätningar har även markägarnas åsikter kring värdet av sina anlagda våtmarker undersökts. Resultaten visar att anlagda våtmarker i jordbrukslandskapet har en stor potential att fungera som flödesutjämnare och buffra vatten både i den enskilda våtmarken och på landskapsnivå. Samtidigt gynnas en stor mängd organismgrupper, inklusive specialiserade våtmarksarter på nationella hotlistor. Resultaten visar också att för både flödesbuffring och biologisk mångfald finns flera avgörande parametrar vad gäller placering och design som styr hur väl en våtmark faktiskt levererar dessa ekosystemtjänster. De anlagda våtmarkerna i studien är huvudsakligen grävda dammar optimerade för näringsavskiljning och var därigenom relativt små och tog huvudsakligen emot dräneringsvatten från åkermark. Trots storleken bidrog de undersökta våtmarkerna till att dämpa högflöden med 3–17 %, vilket är i paritet med mätningar från naturliga våtmarker i tidigare studier (cirka 10 %). Det visade sig också att våtmarkerna bibehöll sina buffrande funktioner både under kortare högflödesperioder samt under ett år med hög årsnederbörd, vilket indikerar att de kan fungera med liknande effektivitet i ett framtida klimat med högre avrinning. Vid extremnederbörd framstår dock de buffrade volymerna i dessa små våtmarker som otillräckliga för att kunna fungera som (enskild) åtgärd, både idag och i framtiden. Till skillnad från naturliga våtmarker fanns inga starka samband mellan flödesbuffringen i studiens anlagda våtmarker och deras position i avrinningsområdet. Varken våtmarkens höjd över havet eller nerströms/uppströms placering i avrinningsområdet påverkade buffringsförmågan. Det fanns dock andra faktorer som påverkade våtmarkernas buffring, som att buffringen ökade med storleken på våtmarkens tillrinningsområden. Den effekten var delvis oväntad eftersom våtmarker med stora tillrinningsområde borde fyllas snabbare, vara fulla under längre tid och därmed buffra mindre effektivt. Resultaten tyder dock på att den tekniska utformningen på våtmarkerna ger dem god buffringskapacitet trots hög hydrologisk belastning. Resultaten visar också att det finns marginal för att förbättra buffringen genom tekniska anläggningsmekanismer, särskilt i fråga om tömningsmöjligheterna och reglerbarheten i utloppskonstruktionerna. Våra data visar att endast 47 % av den teoretiska volymförändringspotentialen utnyttjades i våtmarkerna, vilket kan medge ökad buffringspotential genom aktiv tömning/sänkning inför stora nederbördssituationer. De kraftiga vattennivåvariationerna i många av våtmarkerna, i kombination med förekomst av både flacka partier och brantare släntlutning, var positivt för artrikedomen hos flera organismgrupper. Generellt gynnades mångfalden hos flera grupper av större strandvåtmarker och flacka stränder, men det fanns undantag. Till exempel gynnades nätbyggande spindlar av brantare stränder. Ett oväntat resultat var också den begränsade eller till och med negativa effekten av betande djur, vilket går stick i stäv med rekommendationer i manualer för våtmarksanläggning och skötsel. Sannolikt gynnas leddjuren av att vegetationen hålls kort men samtidigt kan de rent fysiska effekterna av trampet missgynna artgrupper som har sin larvutveckling i blöt jord. För att förstå dessa samband behövs mer forskning som går in på mekanismer samt hur effekten påverkas av djurslag, djurtäthet och jordart. För insekter som utvecklas i vatten, som trollsländor, sågs inga samband med hydrologiska parametrar, men det var uppenbart att små, anlagda våtmarker är veritabla artöar för trollsländor. Totalt noterades 68 % av alla Sveriges arter på en yta (800 km2) som motsvarar 0,0015 % av Sveriges yta. Artsammansättning skilde sig mellan våtmarker och för att nå höga artantal på landskapsnivå kan det därför vara en fördel med många olika våtmarker i en region. För pollinatörer, särskilt bin, fanns korrelation mellan förekomst och storleken på våtmarkernas minsta vattenareal (dvs, när de är som mest uttorkade). Markägarenkäten visade att markägarna överlag ser mest nyttor, snarare än problem, med anlagda våtmarker. Mest notabelt var den höga nöjdheten med våtmarker (91 %) samt att en mycket stor andel markägare (83 %) använder sin våtmark för personlig rekreation, där skridskoåkning var populärast. Slutsatsen från studierna är att anlagda våtmarker som konstruerats för näringsavskiljning och i viss mån biologisk mångfald kan fungera bra som flödesbuffrare. Dessutom finns stor potential för ökad buffringskapacitet genom att både utformning (inte minst in- och utloppslösningar och aktiv nivåstyrning i våtmarkerna), läge och skötsel har en stor påverkan på den totala effekten. Dessutom verkar det finnas möjliga synergieffekter mellan vattennivåvariationer och artrikedomen av leddjur, men för att nå en hög biologisk mångfald i anlagda våtmarker bör stränderna vara heterogena eller att olika våtmarker har olika struktur.
|
|
3. |
- Åhlén, David, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
-
Arthropod communities in constructed wetlands: Hydroperiod and wetland morphology affect riparian groups differently.
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Wetland hydrological dynamics often dictate the composition of biological communities found in or near wetlands, either directly or through changes in vegetation composition. However, much remains unknown, particularly regarding how riparian arthropods respond to such dynamics. In this study, we used high-resolution hydrological data, along with grazing management and shoreline vegetation height from 41 constructed wetlands in south-western Sweden to explore flood zone areas, flood frequencies, vegetation and grazing as drivers of the resident arthropod communities. We found group-specific responses to inundation frequencies, where wetlands with higher frequencies had lower abundances of some coleopterans, and tipulids and wetlands with longer low-water table periods contained less trichopterans and heteropterans. However, flood zone area only affected some lycosids that were more abundant in wetlands with intermediately sized flood zones. Shoreline vegetation height also drove group-specific responses, by affecting aranean-, coleopteran- and dipteran abundances, but in different directions. Given the variable responses to wetland hydrological and structural drivers, it seems that wetland arthropod communities would benefit from a high habitat variability.
|
|
4. |
- Jaramillo, Fernando, et al.
(författare)
-
Effects of Hydroclimatic Change and Rehabilitation Activities on Salinity and Mangroves in the Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta, Colombia
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Wetlands (Wilmington, N.C.). - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0277-5212 .- 1943-6246. ; 38:4, s. 755-767
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta (CGSM), Colombia is possibly the wetland that has experienced the largest mangrove mortality on record due to modification of hydrologic connectivity and consequent hypersaline conditions. We used hydroclimatic, salinity and mangrove basal area data collected in five stations from 1993 to 2015 to study the relation between ongoing mangrove recovery, changes in salinity in the wetland and hydroclimatic changes in precipitation, potential evapotranspiration and freshwater inputs. We found that until 2015, the mangrove ecosystems in CGSM are in general terms in a path of recovery due to the combined effect of favorable hydroclimatic conditions and management operations to increase freshwater inputs into the wetland. We observed in three stations that the annual growth of mangrove basal area increased as pore water salinity decreased. Regarding surface water salinity, El Nino/Southern Oscillation explained most of the inter-annual variability in the wet season by regulating freshwater and in the dry season by regulating potential evaporation from the wetland. However, persistent channel reopening appeared to be the cause for the largest salinity decreases, whereas lack of persistent dredging slowed recovery in other areas. The monitoring of the mangrove-salinity-hydroclimate system must continue in order to increase its understanding and to avoid more recurring episodes of mangrove mortality.
|
|
5. |
- Jaramillo, Fernando, et al.
(författare)
-
Priorities and Interactions of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with Focus on Wetlands
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Water. - : MDPI. - 2073-4441. ; 11:3
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Wetlands are often vital physical and social components of a country’s natural capital, as well as providers of ecosystem services to local and national communities. We performed a network analysis to prioritize Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets for sustainable development in iconic wetlands and wetlandscapes around the world. The analysis was based on the information and perceptions on 45 wetlandscapes worldwide by 49 wetland researchers of the Global Wetland Ecohydrological Network (GWEN). We identified three 2030 Agenda targets of high priority across the wetlandscapes needed to achieve sustainable development: Target 6.3—“Improve water quality”; 2.4—“Sustainable food production”; and 12.2—“Sustainable management of resources”. Moreover, we found specific feedback mechanisms and synergies between SDG targets in the context of wetlands. The most consistent reinforcing interactions were the influence of Target 12.2 on 8.4—“Efficient resource consumption”; and that of Target 6.3 on 12.2. The wetlandscapes could be differentiated in four bundles of distinctive priority SDG-targets: “Basic human needs”, “Sustainable tourism”, “Environmental impact in urban wetlands”, and “Improving and conserving environment”. In general, we find that the SDG groups, targets, and interactions stress that maintaining good water quality and a “wise use” of wetlandscapes are vital to attaining sustainable development within these sensitive ecosystems.
|
|
6. |
- Jiménez, Alejandro, et al.
(författare)
-
Global Assessment of Accountability in Water and Sanitation Services Using GLAAS Data
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Water Alternatives. - 1965-0175. ; 11:2, s. 238-259
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) is one of UN-Water's regular reports. Its focuses include aspects of investment and the enabling environment for the delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene services. Accountability refers to the mechanisms through which duty bearers, elected officials and service providers report to rights holders and other stakeholders within the service delivery framework. Accountability contributes to good sector performance and the overall sustainability of services. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of accountability in the drinking-water and sanitation sector globally, based on the available data from the GLAAS survey of 2014. To achieve this, accountability was defined from a human rights perspective, and particularised for water and sanitation. Next the quantitative and open-ended questions from the GLAAS survey that related to this definition were analysed for all 94 responding countries. Comparisons were drawn between water and sanitation services in urban and rural settings, and regional trends were identified. The results show higher levels of accountability for water than sanitation services, and limited information on wastewater. Potential means to strengthen accountability in water and sanitation globally are seen to include improving access to information on the services provided, enacting participation policies and increasing the capacity of regulatory institutions. Particular attention should be paid to rural services. The GLAAS survey could be modified for a better understanding of the accountability mechanisms for WASH service provision.
|
|
7. |
- Salgado, Jorge, et al.
(författare)
-
Causes and consequences of recent degradation of the Magdalena River basin, Colombia
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Limnology and Oceanography Letters. - : Wiley. - 2378-2242. ; 7:6, s. 451-465
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Magdalena River in Colombia is one of the world's largest (discharge = 7100 m3 s−1) tropical rivers, hosting > 170 aquatic vertebrate species. However, concise synthesis of the current ecological and environmental status is lacking. By documenting the anthropogenic stressors impacting the river on time scales ranging from centuries to decades, we found that the river system is subject to the compounding impacts of climate change, river impoundment, invasive alien species (IAS), catchment deforestation, and water pollution. We show that the Magdalena is a woefully understudied ecosystem relative to its critical importance to Colombia's economy, culture, and biodiversity compared with other similarly sized tropical rivers. We emphasize the need for research on (1) IAS population and ecological dynamics, (2) river damming and its links with IAS and climate change, and (3) land-use changes as well as identifying sources of water pollution and strategies for mitigation.
|
|
8. |
- Åhlén, Imenne, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
-
Connecting Wetland Flooding Patterns to Insect Abundance Using High-Resolution Inundation Frequency Data
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Wetlands (Wilmington, N.C.). - 0277-5212 .- 1943-6246. ; 43:6
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Flood dynamics are important drivers of wetland biodiversity. With current climate and land-use changes affecting overall water cycling, many wetland ecosystems are at risk of degradation, affecting biodiversity support negatively. This emphasizes a need for understanding possible correlations between specific hydrological conditions and biodiversity support in wetlands, at least in terms of species composition. In this study, we used high resolution hydrological monitoring of water levels and insect sampling in a depressional wetland to investigate possible correlations between inundation patterns and insect abundance. Our results show that there is a high spatial and temporal heterogeneity in wetland inundation patterns and that this heterogeneity explains variation in insect abundance. This creates episodes of downstream wet and upstream dry conditions. In addition, the spatial variability was high between grid cells of 2 meter’s resolution. There were also indications that distance to stream affected insect community structure. The findings from this work show that that the local hydrological conditions can create heterogeneity in habitat conditions, which in turn lead to refuge habitats for species vulnerable to changes in inundation condition. This study also highlights the importance of acknowledging quantitative hydrological methods when assessing the relation to insect communities.
|
|
9. |
- Åhlén, Imenne, 1991-
(författare)
-
Ecosystem services of wetlands and wetlandscapes under hydro-climatic change : Impacts of water flow and inundation patterns
- 2023
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Wetlands provide ecosystem services valuable for human society and are therefore often considered as nature based solution to different environmental problems. However, with centuries of wetland degradation due to anthropogenic pressures, such as agricultural expansion and forest industry, as well as pressures from climate change, there are large challenges for sustainable wetland management. Thus, for wetland protection and restoration practices to be successful, a deepened understanding on the actual mechanisms controlling wetland functions is required. Understanding how wetlands are connected, with and influenced, by their surrounding environment is also needed. Although most pressures experienced by wetlands operate on scales beyond the individual wetland scale, relatively few studies have thus far addressed large-scale functions and ecosystem service provision from hydrologically interconnected wetlands at the scale of wetlandscapes (i.e., the wetlands’ aggregated hydrological catchments in the landscape). The aim of this thesis is to investigate ecosystem service delivery from wetlands and wetlandscapes under hydro-climatic changes, considering 25 different wetlandscapes located in four different climate zones of the world. The thesis also systematically quantifies ecohydrological characteristics important for ecosystem service delivery and biodiversity support of wetlands and wetlandscapes in the Norrström Drainage basin located near Stockholm, Sweden. Conducted hydro-climatic analyses showed that impacts of climate change on wetlandscapes cannot be fully understood from average changes in climatic variables of the climate zones within which the wetlandscapes are located. This may be due to the fact that wetlands are not randomly and evenly distributed within climate zones, but may be located in areas subject to stronger climatic changes than regional means. In addition, anthropogenic pressures were on average shown to have higher impacts on runoff in wetlandscapes in comparison to climate change. The pressures however showed relatively large variability between different wetlandscapes, which needs to be considered in mitigation strategies against wetland degradation and deterioration. Similarly, regarding wetlandscape ecohydrological characteristics, results indicated that there are variability between wetlandscapes of different sizes, where larger wetlandscapes showed features that can support ecosystem services to larger degree than small wetlandscapes. Large spatial variability in wetland ecohydrological characteristics was also seen within a wetlandscape. For instance, water storage dynamics and buffering capacity varied depending on the position of the wetland in the landscape. These differences in hydrological conditions were shown to result in different inundation dynamics between wetlands, which for instance also showed to impact insect community composition.Overall, this thesis shows that assessments of wetland ecosystem services need to be addressed using a wetlandscape approach, combined with actual on site hydrological measurements. The approach used in this thesis could help decrease uncertainties related to the impacts of hydro-climatic changes and anthropogenic pressures on wetlands and wetlandscapes, supporting location-specific wetland management strategies related to creation, restoration and sustainable use of wetlands and their ecosystems.
|
|
10. |
- Åhlen, Imenne, et al.
(författare)
-
Hydro-climatic changes of wetlandscapes across the world
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 11:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Assessments of ecosystem service and function losses of wetlandscapes (i.e., wetlands and their hydrological catchments) suffer from knowledge gaps regarding impacts of ongoing hydro-climatic change. This study investigates hydro-climatic changes during 1976–2015 in 25 wetlandscapes distributed across the world’s tropical, arid, temperate and cold climate zones. Results show that the wetlandscapes were subject to precipitation (P) and temperature (T) changes consistent with mean changes over the world’s land area. However, arid and cold wetlandscapes experienced higher T increases than their respective climate zone. Also, average P decreased in arid and cold wetlandscapes, contrarily to P of arid and cold climate zones, suggesting that these wetlandscapes are located in regions of elevated climate pressures. For most wetlandscapes with available runoff (R) data, the decreases were larger in R than in P, which was attributed to aggravation of climate change impacts by enhanced evapotranspiration losses, e.g. caused by land-use changes.
|
|
11. |
- Åhlén, Imenne, et al.
(författare)
-
Wetland position in the landscape : Impact on water storage and flood buffering
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Ecohydrology. - : Wiley. - 1936-0584 .- 1936-0592. ; 15:7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- On-going climatic changes and land-use changes may impact water storage dynamics within wetlandscapes (defined as the entire hydrological catchments of interconnected wetland systems). These dynamics are closely linked to many wetland ecosystem services including flood buffering, nutrient retention and biodiversity support. Here, we investigate if and how current water storage dynamics can differ between wetlands within the same wetlandscape. Based on continuous monitoring of water levels in multiple wetlands throughout a growing season (spring, summer, autumn) in Vattholma, Sweden, we show that there are two distinct storage behaviours depending on the position of the wetland within the landscape. Headwater wetland regions were active in temporary storage of surplus water from regular summer rains while water levels of downstream wetlands dropped to seasonal low values without responding to individual summer precipitation events. Thereby, the downstream wetlands maintained capacity to buffer extreme floods. We also found that headwater wetlands were associated with complex and patchy inundation, which causes habitat conditions to vary over short time scales both within and among these wetlands, in contrast to the prolonged low-water state of the downstream wetlands. These differences between headwater-downstream wetlands imply that the functionality of an entire wetlandscape cannot be assessed by simple extrapolation of data from monitoring stations that typically are located downstream of headwater regions. Increased understanding of these differences can support wetland management practices that target location-specific nature-based solutions and ecosystem services.
|
|
12. |
- Åhlén, Imenne, et al.
(författare)
-
Wetlandscape size thresholds for ecosystem service delivery : Evidence from the Norrström drainage basin, Sweden
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 704
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Wetlands are interconnected with the larger surrounding landscape through the hydrological cycling of water and waterborne substances. Therefore, the borders of individual wetlands may not be appropriate landscape system boundaries for understanding large-scale functions and ecosystem services of wetlandscapes (wetland network - landscape systems), and how these can be impacted by climate and land-use changes. Recognizing that such large-scale behaviours may not be easily predicted by simple extrapolation of individual wetland behaviours, we here investigate properties of 15 Swedish wetlandscapes in the extensive (22 650 km(2)) Norrstrom drainage basin (NDB) comprising as many as 1699 wetlands. Results based on wetland survey data in combination with GIS-based ecohydrological analyses showed that wetlands located in wetlandscapes above a certain size (in the NDB: similar to 250 km(2)) consistently formed networks with characteristics required to support key ecosystem services such as nutrient/pollutant retention and biodiversity support. This was in contrast to smaller wetlandscapes (<250 km(2)), which had smaller and less diverse wetlands with insufficient throughflow to significantly impact large-scale flows of water and nutrients/pollutants. The existence of such wetlandscape-size thresholds is consistent with scale-dependent flow accumulation patterns in catchments, suggesting likely transferability of this result also to other regions.
|
|