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Sumbh O, Hellegers M, Barbarossa V, Ćušterevska R, Jiménez‐Alfaro B, Kozub Ł, Napoleone F, Stančić Z, Schipper AM. Developing and Validating Species Distribution Models for Wetland Plants Across Europe. Ecol Evol 2025; 15:e71157. [PMID: 40270794 PMCID: PMC12015742 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.71157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2024] [Revised: 02/28/2025] [Accepted: 03/07/2025] [Indexed: 04/25/2025] Open
Abstract
Drainage, agricultural conversion, and climate change threaten wetlands and their unique biodiversity. Species distribution models (SDMs) can help to identify effective conservation measures. However, existing SDMs for wetland plants are often geographically limited, miss variables representing hydrological conditions, and neglect moss species, essential to many wetlands. Here, we developed and validated SDMs for 265 vascular plant and moss species characteristic of European wetlands, using environmental variables representing climate, soil, hydrology, and anthropogenic pressures. We validated the spatial predictions of the SDMs through cross-validation and against independent data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Further, we validated the niche optima of the species, as obtained from the modelled species response curves, with empirical niche optima. The spatial validation revealed good predictive power of the SDMs, especially for diagnostic mosses, for which we obtained median cross-validated values of the area under the curve (AUC) and true skill statistic (TSS) of 0.93 and 0.73, respectively, and a median true positive rate (TPR) based on GBIF records of 0.77. SDMs of diagnostic vascular plants performed well, too, with median AUC, TSS, and TPR of 0.91, 0.69, and 0.67, respectively. SDMs of non-diagnostic plants had the lowest performance, with median AUC, TSS, and TPR values of 0.84, 0.53, and 0.62, respectively. Correlations between modelled and empirical niche optima were typically in the expected direction. Climate variables, particularly the mean temperature of the coldest month, were the strongest predictors of species occurrence. At the same time, groundwater table depth was a significant predictor for diagnostic vascular plants but not for mosses. We concluded that our SDMs are suitable for predicting broad-scale patterns of wetland plant species distributions as governed by climatic conditions. Alternative or additional variables or a different modelling approach might be needed to represent better the local heterogeneity in the hydrological conditions of wetlands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ojaswi Sumbh
- PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment AgencyThe Haguethe Netherlands
| | - Marjon Hellegers
- PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment AgencyThe Haguethe Netherlands
- Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental SciencesRadboud UniversityNijmegenthe Netherlands
| | - Valerio Barbarossa
- PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment AgencyThe Haguethe Netherlands
- Institute of Environmental SciencesLeiden UniversityLeidenthe Netherlands
| | - Renata Ćušterevska
- Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Institute of BiologyUniversity of Ss. Cyril and MethodiusSkopjeRepublic of Macedonia
| | | | - Łukasz Kozub
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Faculty of Biology, Institute of Environmental BiologyUniversity of WarsawWarsawPoland
| | | | - Zvjezdana Stančić
- Faculty of Geotechnical EngineeringUniversity of ZagrebVaraždinCroatia
| | - Aafke M. Schipper
- PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment AgencyThe Haguethe Netherlands
- Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental SciencesRadboud UniversityNijmegenthe Netherlands
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Im RY, Kim T, Baek CY, Lee CS, Kim SH, Lee JH, Kim JY, Joo GJ. The influence of surrounding land cover on wetland habitat conditions: a case study of inland wetlands in South Korea. PeerJ 2020; 8:e9101. [PMID: 32477835 PMCID: PMC7241414 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2019] [Accepted: 04/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Wetland ecosystems have been globally degraded and lost due to rapid urbanization and climate change. An assessment of national scale inventory, including wetland types and conditions, is urgently required to understand the big picture of endangered wetlands, such as where they are and how they look like. We analyzed the spatial patterns of each inland wetland type (brackish wetland was included) in South Korea and the relative importance of land cover categories on wetland conditions. The wetlands were grouped into four dominant types (riverine, lake, mountain, and human-made) according to their topography. Riverine wetlands constituted the largest area (71.3%). The relative ratio of wetlands in a well-conserved condition (i.e., “A” rank) was highest in riverine wetlands (23.8%), followed by mountain wetlands (22.1%). The higher proportion of grasslands was related to a better condition ranking, but the increasing bareland area had a negative impact on wetland conditions. We also found that wetlands located near wetland protected areas tend to be in a better condition compared to remote sites. Our results further support the importance of the condition of surrounding areas for wetland conservation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ran-Young Im
- Department of Integrated Biological Sciences, Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea
| | - Taekyu Kim
- Global Environment Research Division, National Institute of Environmental Research, Incheon, South Korea.,Emission Inventroy Management Team, National Center for the Dust Information, Ministry of Environment, Cheongju, South Korea
| | - Chung-Yeol Baek
- National Wetlands Center, National Institute of Environmental Research, Changnyeong, South Korea.,Academic Research Team, Gyeongsangnamdo Ramsar Environmental Foundation, Changnyeong, South Korea
| | - Chang-Su Lee
- National Wetlands Center, National Institute of Environmental Research, Changnyeong, South Korea.,Wetland Research Team, National Institute of Ecology, Changnyeong, South Korea
| | - Song-Hyun Kim
- National Wetlands Center, National Institute of Environmental Research, Changnyeong, South Korea.,Nature and Ecology Policy Division, Nature Conservation Bureau, Ministry of Environment, Sejong, South Korea
| | - Jung-Hwan Lee
- National Wetlands Center, National Institute of Environmental Research, Changnyeong, South Korea.,Division of Environmental Planning, Su Engineering Co. Ltd., Yangsan, South Korea
| | - Ji Yoon Kim
- Center for Climate Change Adaptation, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Gea-Jae Joo
- Department of Integrated Biological Sciences, Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea
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Lewis KE, Rota CT, Anderson JT. A comparison of wetland characteristics between Agricultural Conservation Easement Program and public lands wetlands in West Virginia, USA. Ecol Evol 2020; 10:3017-3031. [PMID: 32211173 PMCID: PMC7083671 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2019] [Revised: 01/29/2020] [Accepted: 01/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
In West Virginia, USA, there are 24 conservation easement program wetlands enrolled in the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). These wetlands are located on private agricultural land and are passively managed. Due to their location within fragmented agricultural areas, wetlands enrolled in ACEP in West Virginia have the potential to add wetland ecosystem services in areas that are lacking these features. We evaluated ACEP wetlands compared to reference wetlands on public land in West Virginia by using surrounding land cover, vegetative cover, and wetland features and stressors such as the presence or absence of erosion, upland inclusion, algal mats, and evidence of impacts from the surrounding landscape as surrogate measurements of wetland function on 13 ACEP wetlands and 10 reference wetlands. ACEP wetlands had higher percentages of tree coverage and a higher proportion of agricultural land in the areas immediately surrounding the wetland. Reference wetlands had higher percent coverage of emergent vegetation and had a higher proportion of forest in the immediate landscape. Our findings suggest that ACEP wetlands provide valuable early successional and forested wetland cover in a state that is largely forested. Because of this, it is important to maintain and even expand ACEP in West Virginia to continue providing a valuable source of early successional wetland habitat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharine E Lewis
- Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Design West Virginia University Morgantown WV USA
| | - Christopher T Rota
- Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Design West Virginia University Morgantown WV USA
| | - James T Anderson
- Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Design West Virginia University Morgantown WV USA
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King K, Cheruvelil KS, Pollard A. Drivers and spatial structure of abiotic and biotic properties of lakes, wetlands, and streams at the national scale. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2019; 29:e01957. [PMID: 31240779 PMCID: PMC7337605 DOI: 10.1002/eap.1957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2018] [Revised: 05/21/2019] [Accepted: 06/11/2019] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Broad-scale studies have improved our ability to make predictions about how freshwater biotic and abiotic properties will respond to changes in climate and land use intensification. Further, fine-scaled studies of lakes, wetlands, or streams have documented the important role of hydrologic connections for understanding many freshwater biotic and abiotic processes. However, lakes, wetlands, and streams are typically studied in isolation of one another at both fine and broad scales. Therefore, it is not known whether these three freshwater types (lakes, wetlands, and streams) respond similarly to ecosystem and watershed drivers nor how they may respond to future global stresses. In this study, we asked, do lake, wetland, and stream biotic and abiotic properties respond to similar ecosystem and watershed drivers and have similar spatial structure at the national scale? We answered this question with three U.S. conterminous data sets of freshwater ecosystems. We used random forest (RF) analysis to quantify the multi-scaled drivers related to variation in nutrients and biota in lakes, wetlands, and streams simultaneously; we used semivariogram analysis to quantify the spatial structure of biotic and abiotic properties and to infer possible mechanisms controlling the ecosystem properties of these freshwater types. We found that abiotic properties responded to similar drivers, had large ranges of spatial autocorrelation, and exhibited multi-scale spatial structure, regardless of freshwater type. However, the dominant drivers of variation in biotic properties depended on freshwater type and had smaller ranges of spatial autocorrelation. Our study is the first to document that drivers and spatial structure differ more between biotic and abiotic variables than across freshwater types, suggesting that some properties of freshwater ecosystems may respond similarly to future global changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katelyn King
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824 USA
| | - Kendra Spence Cheruvelil
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824 USA
- Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824 USA
| | - Amina Pollard
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water, Washington, D.C. 20004 USA
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Fan X, Jia Z, Dai X, Sun N, Han F, Lu J. Ecological quality dynamics around marine reserves in the Bohai Sea coastal zone and their relationship with landscape artificialization. Glob Ecol Conserv 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
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Kentula ME, Paulsen SG. The 2011 National Wetland Condition Assessment: overview and an invitation. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT 2019; 191:325. [PMID: 31222397 PMCID: PMC6586703 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-019-7316-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2018] [Accepted: 04/05/2018] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
The first National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA) was conducted in 2011 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and its federal and state partners, using a survey design that allowed inference of results to national and regional scales. Vegetation, algae, soil, water chemistry, and hydrologic data were collected at each of 1138 locations across the conterminous United States (US). Ecological condition was assessed in relation to a disturbance gradient anchored by least disturbed (reference) and most disturbed sites identified using chemical, physical, and biological disturbance indices based on site-level data. A vegetation multimetric index (VMMI) was developed as an indicator of condition, and included four metrics: a floristic quality assessment index, relative importance of native plants, number of disturbance-tolerant plant species, and relative cover of native monocots. Potential stressors to wetland condition were identified and incorporated into two indicators of vegetation alteration, four indicators of hydrologic alteration, a soil heavy metal index, and a nonnative plant indicator and were used to quantify national and regional stressor extent, and the associated relative and attributable risk. Approximately 48 ± 6% of the national wetland area was found to be in good condition and 32 ± 6% in poor condition as defined by the VMMI. Across the conterminous US, approximately 20% of wetland area had high or very high stressor levels related to nonnative plants. Vegetation removal, hardening, and ditching stressors had the greatest extent of wetland area with high stressor levels, affecting 23-27% of the wetland area in the NWCA sampled population. The results from the 2016 NWCA will build on those from the 2011 assessment and initiate the ability to report on trends in addition to status. The data and tools produced by the NWCA can be used by others to further our knowledge of wetlands in the conterminous US.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary E Kentula
- Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory, Western Ecology Division, US Environmental Protection Agency, 200 SW 35th Street, Corvallis, OR, 97333, USA.
| | - Steven G Paulsen
- Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory, Western Ecology Division, US Environmental Protection Agency, 200 SW 35th Street, Corvallis, OR, 97333, USA
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