Hurricane storm surge and amphibian communities in coastal wetlands of northwestern Florida

Isolated wetlands in the Southeastern United States are dynamic habitats subject to fluctuating environmental conditions. Wetlands located near marine environments are subject to alterations in water chemistry due to storm surge during hurricanes. The objective of our study was to evaluate the effec...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Wetlands ecology and management 2010-12, Vol.18 (6), p.651-663
Main Authors: Gunzburger, Margaret S, Hughes, William B, Barichivich, William J, Staiger, Jennifer S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
amphibians
Anura
Anuran
Aquatic habitats
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Caudate
Coasts
Communities
Community composition
Conductance
Conductivity
Conservation Biology/Ecology
Correlation
Environmental conditions
Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice
Fish
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
Hurricanes
Hydrology/Water Resources
Invertebrates
Life Sciences
Marine & Freshwater Sciences
Marine environment
Original Paper
Rain
Reptiles & amphibians
Salinity
Species richness
Storm surges
Storms
Tidal waves
Vegetation
Water chemistry
Water Quality/Water Pollution
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:Isolated wetlands in the Southeastern United States are dynamic habitats subject to fluctuating environmental conditions. Wetlands located near marine environments are subject to alterations in water chemistry due to storm surge during hurricanes. The objective of our study was to evaluate the effect of storm surge overwash on wetland amphibian communities. Thirty-two wetlands in northwestern Florida were sampled over a 45-month period to assess amphibian species richness and water chemistry. During this study, seven wetlands were overwashed by storm surge from Hurricane Dennis which made landfall 10 July 2005 in the Florida panhandle. This event allowed us to evaluate the effect of storm surge overwash on water chemistry and amphibian communities of the wetlands. Specific conductance across all wetlands was low pre-storm (
ISSN:0923-4861
1572-9834
DOI:10.1007/s11273-010-9185-z