Can Multi-Element Fingerprinting of Soils Inform Assessments of Chemical Connectivity Between Depressional Wetlands?

The question of wetland connectivity is particularly relevant regarding depressional wetlands because these often seem to be “isolated” from other wetlands on a landscape. We used multi-element fingerprinting to assess similarity in element composition of depressional-wetland soils as a measure of w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Wetlands (Wilmington, N.C.) N.C.), 2019-10, Vol.39 (5), p.1015-1027
Main Authors: Zhu, Xiaoyan, Yuan, Yuxiang, Mushet, David M., Otte, Marinus L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biogeochemistry
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Coastal Sciences
Connectivity
Discharge
Ecology
Electrical conductivity
Electrical resistivity
Environmental Management
Fingerprinting
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
General Wetland Science
Groundwater
Groundwater discharge
Groundwater flow
Hydrogeology
Landscape Ecology
Lead
Life Sciences
Organic matter
Organic soils
Pattern analysis
Potholes
Recharge
Selenium
Similarity
Soil chemistry
Soil pH
Soil surfaces
Soils
Surface water
Wetlands
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The question of wetland connectivity is particularly relevant regarding depressional wetlands because these often seem to be “isolated” from other wetlands on a landscape. We used multi-element fingerprinting to assess similarity in element composition of depressional-wetland soils as a measure of wetland connectivity. We determined the concentrations of 63 elements in the surface soil (top 10 cm) for ten sequences, each consisting of at least one recharge, one flow-through and one discharge depressional wetland in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota. Across all wetlands, soil pH, organic matter content, and electrical conductivity were the most important variables explaining variation in element concentrations. Electrical conductivity and pH significantly increased along a recharge to flow-through to discharge gradient, as did concentrations of As, B, Ca, Co, Hf, Li, Mg, Na, S, Sb, and Sr. Concentrations of Ag, Cd, Cu, P, Pb, Rb, and Se showed the reverse pattern. Similarity-tree analysis revealed that recharge and discharge wetlands clustered in different groups, but that flow-through wetlands were distributed across the spectrum. Our study supports the idea that wetlands in the PPR are chemically connected through surface-water and groundwater flows, and erosional processes, but also behave as independent units within a larger hydrologic landscape.
ISSN:0277-5212
1943-6246
DOI:10.1007/s13157-019-01154-x