Ecology of Threatened Semi-Arid Wetlands

This book discusses the complexity of the interacting abiotic and biotic environment of wetlands across different spatial and temporal scales. It reveals how management based on poor knowledge causes more damage than repair.

Playing a critical role in both influencing climate change and mitigating its impacts, the world's diverse wetlands have become one of the world's most threatened ecosystems as unsustainable land-use practices coupled with irrational use of water have already resulted in large-scale wetlands loss and degradation. To develop sound management and conservation schemes to assure wetlands sustainability in the long term requires long-term understanding of wetlands ecology. Yet until now, long-term interdisciplinary research into these systems has been limited to only a few systems from tropical or temperate climates (such as the Florida Everglades, and Czech biosphere reserve). This new book adds to the existing wetlands literature, providing a unique reference in basic and applied Mediterranean wetland ecology, based on results from long-term interdisciplinary research at the RAMSAR and UNESCO Biosphere site, of Las Tablas de Daimiel, Spain. Dating back to the early 1990s the research highlights changes in the biotic and abiotic environment in response to cumulative anthropogenic stressors, and provide guidance on applying this understand to sound management and conservation. With particular relevance to researchers dealing with semi-arid wetlands in the Mediterranean and elsewhere, as well as to resource managers, the book discusses the complexity of the interacting abiotic and biotic environment across different spatial and temporal scales and across various levels of biological hierarchy is highlighted, and reveals how management based on poor knowledge causes more damage than repair. The book will be of interest to researchers interested in freshwater ecology, hydrobotany, hydrology, geology, biogeochemistry, landscape ecology and environmental management.

Wide ecological perspective with strong interdisciplinary and multi-scale approach Written by experts in the component fields Presents the findings of long-term ecological research Provides guidance on measures for integrative wetland rehabilitation Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Inhalt
Part I Introductory Chapter1 The Wetland, Its Catchment Settings and Socioeconomic Relevance: An OverviewS. Sánchez-Carrillo, D.G. Angeler, S. Cirujano, and M. Álvarez-Cobelas1.1 Introduction 1.2 The Wetland: Las Tablas de Daimiel National Park 1.3 The Upper Guadiana Basin and the UNESCO's La Mancha Húmeda Biosphere Reserve 1.4 Groundwater Overexploitation and the Wetland Complex 1.5 Socioeconomic Aspects in the Upper Guadiana Basin 1.6 A Chronological Summary of TDNP Impacts and Its Degradation References Part II Abiotic Environment and Historical Reconstructions2 Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction of Las Tablas de Daimiel and Its Evolution During the Quaternary Period B. Ruiz-Zapata, M.J. Gil-García, and I. de Bustamante2.1 Introduction 2.2 Material and Methods 2.3 Overview of Vegetation Composition in La Mancha Region During Quaternary Period: Palaeo-Sequences Description 2.3.1 Landscape Evolution from 325,000 to 21,000 Years BP: LT, TD, TASG-1 and FUENT-1 Profiles2.3.2 Landscape Evolution from 11,000 to 4,000 Years BP: MO and CC-17 Sequences 2.3.3 Landscape Evolution from 4,000 Years BP to the Present: CC-17 and Gigüela 4.2 Paleo-records 2.4 Summary of Climatic and Wetland Environmental Evolution During the Quaternary Period 2.4.1 Middle Pleistocene 2.4.2 Upper Pleistocene 2.4.3 Holocene References 3 Climate and Hydrologic Trends: Climate Change Versus Hydrologic Overexploitation as Determinants of theFluctuating Wetland HydrologyS. Sánchez-Carrillo and M. Álvarez-Cobelas3.1 Introduction 3.2 Material and Methods 3.3 Long-Term Climate Trends 3.4 An Historical Analysis of Wetland Hydroperiod and Inundation Patterns: The Importance of Groundwater 3.5 Long-Term Changes in the Wetland Water Budget: Hydrologic Degradation 3.6 Causes of Wetland Hydrologic Degradation: Climate Change Versus Hydrologic Overexploitation 3.7 Evapotranspiration Controls of Wetland Hydrology: A Conceptual Model 3.8 A Wetland Hydrological Model for Hydroperiod Restoration 3.9 Future Scenarios of TDNP Hydrology References 4 The Effects of Anthropogenic Stressors on Wetland Loss and Habitat Quality Deterioration in the Upper Guadiana River Basin: A Long-Term Assessment (19702000) R. Sánchez-Andrés, M.O. Viedma, and S. Sánchez-Carrillo4.1 Introduction 4.2 Material and Methods 4.3 Wetland Cover and Extent of Hydrodynamic Types in the Early 1970s 4.4 Land UseLand Cover Changes and Socioeconomic Indicators During 19782000 4.5 Wetland Losses from 1970 to 20004.6 Wetland Habitat Quality Evolution During the Period 19782000 4.7 Patterns on Wetland Loss and Habitat Quality Deterioration: the Infl uence of the Main AnthropogenicStressors at Local and Regional ScalesReferences 5 A Story of the Wetland Water Quality Deterioration: Salinization, Pollution, Eutrophication and Siltation M. Álvarez-Cobelas, S. Sánchez-Carrillo, S.Cirujano, and D.G. Angeler5.1 Introduction 5.2 Materials and Methods 5.3 Salinization and Major Ionic Composition 5.4 Water Pollution 5.5 Nutrient Dynamics and Eutrophication 5.6 Spatial Heterogeneity of Nutrient Controls 5.7 Wetland Sedimentation and Siltation References Part III Ecological Communities6 Plankton Ecology and Diversity C. Rojo and M.A. Rodrigo6.1 Introduction 6.2 Materials and Methods 6.2.1 Field Sampling and Counting Techniques 6.2.2 Indexes and Statistical Methods 6.3 Diversity of Heterotrophic and Autotrophic Picopl 6.4 Bacteria and Autotrophic Picoplankton Dynamics 6.5 Species Composition and Diversity of Phytoplankton 6.6 Phytoplankton Abundance Dynamics 6.7 Species Composition and Diversity of Zooplankton 6.8 Zooplankton Abundance Dynamics 6.9 Bacterioplankton and APP Relationship with Abiotic and Biotic Factors 6.10 Environmental Factors Related to Phytoplankton 6.11 Environmental Factors Related to Zooplankton and the Food Web References 7 Macrophyte Ecology and Its Long-term Dynamics S. Cirujano, M. Álvarez-Cobelas, and R. Sánchez-Andrés7.1 Introduction 7.2 Materials and Methods 7.2.1 Surveys and Reconstructions 7.2.2 Estimation of Growth and Decay 7.2.3 Biomass and Primary Production Estimations 7.2.4 Spatial Distribution of Helophytes7.3 Aquatic Flora 7.4 Helophyte Cover and Growth 7.5 Plant Biomass, Production and Decomposition 7.6 Spatial Heterogeneity of Helophytes References 8 Fish and Avian Communities: A Testimony of Wetland Degradation M. Álvarez-Cobelas8.1 Introduction 8.2 Fish Communities 8.2.1 Material and Methods 8.2.2 Results and Discussion 8.3 Avian Communities 8.3.1 Material and Methods 8.3.2 Results and Discussion References Part IV Applied Issues9 Biomanipulation: A Useful Tool for Wetland Rehabilitation D.G. Angeler9.1 Introduction 9.2 Biomanipulation: Theory and Rationale 9.3 Biomanipulation in Wetlands: Applying a Lake Restoration Tool 9.4 Biomanipulation in Wetlands: Extending the Paradigm 9.5 Biomanipulation: A Model for Las Tablas de Daimiel 9.6 Conclusions and Perspectives References 10 Analysis of Applied Environmental Management Strategies for Wetland Conservation During the Last 30 Years: A Local HistoryS. Cirujano, M. Álvarez-Cobelas, and C. Ruíz de la Hermosa10.1 Introduction 10.2 Wetland Conservation in Spain Until 1970 10.3 Wetland Restoration, Conservation and Management Since 1970: Common Problems Across Spain 10.4 Las Tablas de Daimiel: A Case Study References Part V Cultural andSocietal Aspects11 The Man and Las Tablas de Daimiel M. Alvarez-Cobelas, S. Cirujano, and A. Meco11.1 Early Settlement 11.2 From Roman Colonization to Lower Middle Age 11.3 Modern Age 11.4 The Twentieth Century 11.5 Ecosystem Health and the Future of Man in TDNP de Daimiel References Part VI Concluding Chapter12 Synthesis: The Past, Present a…