Hydrologic Characterization of 56 Geographically Isolated Wetlands in West-Central Florida Using a Probabilistic Method
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-2013
Keywords
Analytical techniques, Frequency analysis, Hydrologic characterization, Wetlands
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-012-9275-1
Abstract
Wetlands are important hydrological elements of watersheds that influence water storage, surface water runoff, groundwater recharge/discharge processes, and evapotranspiration. Understanding the cumulative effect wetlands have on a watershed requires a good understanding of representative water-level fluctuations and storage characteristics associated with multiple wetlands across a region. We introduce a probabilistic approach based on frequency analysis of water levels in numerous geographically isolated wetlands across the mantled karst terrain of west-central Florida, in the Tampa Bay region. This approach estimates the probabilities, or percentage of time, that water levels in a wetland or upland groundwater wells are at or below a specific elevation. We applied this hydrologic characterization to 56 wetlands in west-central Florida, and documented that standing water was present in the wetlands 61 % of the time and that these wetlands were groundwater recharge zones at least 50 % of the time over the 7 year study. Additionally, we demonstrated that various wetland types, classified according to vegetation community composition and structure, exhibit similar means, extremes and ranges in water-level behavior. We believe that this is the first paper to robustly quantify inundation frequency and recharge status in seasonally flooded wetlands at a regional scale. The analytical tool introduced in this manuscript could be used to detect, through changes in water-level frequency distribution, wetland hydrological response to different climatological or anthropogenic stressors. This tool is timely as changes in frequency distribution shape may provide early warnings of ecosystem regime change.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Wetland Ecology and Management, v. 21, issue 1, p. 1-14
Scholar Commons Citation
Nilsson, Kenneth Allan; Rains, Mark Cable; Lewis, David B.; and Trout, Kenneth E., "Hydrologic Characterization of 56 Geographically Isolated Wetlands in West-Central Florida Using a Probabilistic Method" (2013). Geology Faculty Publications. 52.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/gly_facpub/52
Full Text URL
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-012-9275-1
Comments