Publication Details
Wetland soils, hydrology and geomorphology
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Year Published
2014
Publication
In: Batzer, D.; Sharitz, R., eds. Ecology of freshwater and estuarine wetlands. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press: 23-60. Chapter 2.
Abstract
The hydrology, soils, and watershed processes of a wetland all interact with vegetation and animals over time to create the dynamic physical template upon which a wetland's ecosystem is based (Fig. 2.1). With respect to many ecosystem processes, the physical factors defining a wetland environment at any particular time are often treated as independent variables, but in fact none of these variables are independent of the others. For example, the hydropattern of a wetland (the time series of water levels) is often considered a master variable that affects the soils, biogeochemistry, and biology of a wetland, but the hydropattern is in turn affected by the physical properties of the soil underlying the wetland. Any explanation of the physical factors defining the wetland template is therefore circular, and the order of presentation somewhat arbitrary.
Citation
Jackson, C. Rhett; Thompson, James A.; Kolka, Randall K. 2014. Wetland soils, hydrology and geomorphology. In: Batzer, D.; Sharitz, R., eds. Ecology of freshwater and estuarine wetlands. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press: 23-60. Chapter 2.