Abstract
The cumulative effects of human actions on wetland ecosystems motivate current efforts at wetland restoration. They also have created in part the context within which restorations are undertaken. Using modern hydrogeological understanding of wetland-landscape linkages, I argue that restorations should begin with a cumulative impact analysis for the entire region in which the restoration is proposed. The analysis, however, should not focus merely on number of hectares of wetlands lost or degraded. It should be based on the concept of templates for wetland development. These templates are the diversity of settings created in specific landscapes by the complex interactions of hydrogeologic factors and climate. They control key hydrologic variables and hydrologically influenced chemical variables that cause specific wetland types to form and to be maintained through time. They also determine in large part the biogeochemical cycling characteristics specific to different types of wetlands. They thus account for both the biological and functional diversity of wetlands. A cumulative impact assessment for restoration purposes should identify the kinds, numbers, relative abundances, and spatial distribution of wetland templates in a region—both past and present. These past and present profiles of the wetland landscape can be used to make decisions regarding the type and location of restorations. Matching type and location to the appropriate hydrogeologic setting will maximize the probability of success for individual projects. Regional wetland diversity can be restored if individual restoration decisions about wetland type and location are made in light of the diversity of templates in past and present regional profiles.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Literature Cited
Abbruzzese, B. and S. Leibowitz. 1997. Environmental auditing: a synoptic approach for assessing cumulative impacts to wetlands. Environmental Management 21:457–475.
Almendinger, J. E. and J. H. Leete. 1998. Regional and local hydrogeology of calcareous fens in the Minnesota River Basin, USA. Wetlands 18:184–202.
Almquist-Jacobson, H. and D. R. Foster. 1995. Toward an integrated model for raised-bog development: theory and field evidence. Ecology 76:2503–2516.
Anderson, D. S. and R. B. Davis. 1997. The vegetation and its environments in Maine peatlands. Canadian Journal of Botany 75: 1785–1805.
Beanlands, G. E., W. J. Erckmann, G. H. Orians, J. O’Riordan, D. Policansky, M. H. Sadar, and B. Sadler (eds.). 1986. Cumulative environmental effects: a binational perspective. Canadian Environmental Assessment Research Council, Ottawa, Ontario, and U.S. National Research Council, Washington, DC, USA.
Beaulae, M. N. and K. H. Reckhow. 1982. An examination of land use—nutrient export relationships. Water Resources Bulletin 18: 1013–1022.
Bedford, B. L. 1996. The need to define hydrological equivalence at the landscape scale for freshwater wetland mitigation. Ecological Applications 6:57–68.
Bedford, B. L. and E. M. Preston. 1988. Developing the scientific basis for assessing cumulative effects of wetland loss and degradation on landscape functions: status, perspectives and prospects. Environmental Management 12:751–771.
Bedford, B. L., M. R. Walbridge, and A. Aldous. 1999. Patterns in nutrient availability and plant diversity of temperate North American wetlands. Ecology 80:2151–2169.
Boeye, D., L. Clement, and R. F. Verheyen. 1994. Hydrochemical variation in a ground-water discharge fen. Wetlands 14:122–133.
Boeye, D. and R. F. Verheyen. 1994. The relation between vegetation and soil chemistry gradients in a groundwater discharge fen. Journal of Vegetation Science 5:553–560.
Branfireun, B. A., A. Heyes, and N. T. Roulet. 1996. The hydrology and methylmereury dynamics of a Precambrian Shield headwater peatland. Water Resources Research 32:1785–1794.
Bridgham, S. D. and C. J. Richardson. 1993. Hydrology and nutrient gradients in North Carolina peatlands. Wetlands 13:207–218.
Brinson, M. M. 1988. Strategies for assessing the cumulative effects of wetland alteration on water quality. Environmental Management 12:655–662.
Brinson, M. M. 1993a. Changes in the functioning of wetlands along environmental gradients. Wetlands 13:65–74.
Brinson, M. M. 1993b. A hydrogeomorphic classification for wetlands. Technical Report WRP-DE-4. U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station. Vicksburg, MS, USA.
Brinson, M. M., F. R. Hauer, L. C. Lee, W. L. Nutter, R. D. Rheinhardt, R. D. Smith, and D. Whigham. 1995. A guidebook for application of hydrogeomorphic assessments to riverine wetlands. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS. USA, Wetlands Research Program Technical Report WRP-DE-11.
Brinson, M. M. and R. D. Rheinhardt. 1996. The role of reference wetlands in functional assessment and mitigation. Ecological Applications 6:69–76.
Cole, C. A., R. P. Brooks, and D. H. Wardrop. 1997. Wetland hydrology as a function of hydrogeomorphic (HGM) subclass. Wetlands 17:456–467.
Correll, D. L., T. E. Jordan, and D. E. Weller. 1992. Nutrient flux in a landscape: effects of coastal land use and terrestrial community mosaic on nutrient transport to coastal waters. Estuaries 15:431–442.
Curtis, J. T. 1959. The Vegetation of Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI, USA.
Dahl, T. E. 1990. Wetlands Losses in the United States 1780’s to 1980’s. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC, USA.
Dahl, T. E. and G. J. Allord. 1996. History of wetlands in the conterminous United States. p. 19–26.In J.D. Fretwell, J.S. Williams, and P.J. Redman (eds.) National Water Summary on Wetland Resources. United States Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2425.
Dahl, T. E., C. E. Johnson, and W. E. Frayer. 1991. Status and trends of wetlands in the conterminous United States, mid-1970s to mid-1980s. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC, USA.
de Mars, H., M. J. Wassen, and H. Olde Venterink. 1997. Flooding and groundwater dynamics in fens in eastern Poland. Journal of Vegetation Science 8:319–328.
Devito, K. J., J. M. Waddington, and B. A. Branfireun. 1997. Flow reversals in peatlands influenced by local groundwater systems. Hydrological Processes 11:103–110.
Dillon, P. J. and W. B. Kirchner. 1975. The effects of geology and land use on the export of phosphorus from watersheds. Water Resources 9:135–148.
Doren, R. F. and D. T. Jones. 1997. Plant management in Everglades National Park. p. 275–286.In D. Simberloff, D. C. Schmitz, and T.C. Brown (eds.) Strangers in Paradise: Impact and Management of Nonindigenous Species in Florida. Island Press, Washington, DC, USA.
Ehrenfeld, J. G. 1983. The effects of changes in land-use on swamps of the New Jersey pine barrens. Biological Conservation 25:353–375.
Ehrenfeld, J. G. and J. P. Schneider. 1991.Chamaecyparis thyoides wetlands and suburbanization: effects on hydrology, water quality and plant community composition. Journal of Applied Ecology 28:467–490.
Gilvear, D. J., R. Andrews, J. H. Tellam, J. W. Lloyd, and D. N. Lerner. 1993. Quantification of the water balance and hydrogeological processes in the vicinity of a small groundwater-fed wetland, East Anglia, UK. Journal of Hydrology 144:311–334.
Glaser, P. H., D. I. Siegel, E. A. Romanowicz, and Y. P. Shen. 1997. Regional linkages between raised bogs and the climate, groundwater, and landscape of north-western Minnesota. Journal of Ecology 85:3–16.
Glooschenko, W. A., C. Tarnocai, S. Zoltai, and V. Glooschenko. 1993. Wetlands of Canada and Greenland. p. 415–514.In D. Whigham, D. Dykyjova, and S. Hejny (eds.) Wetlands of the World: Inventory Ecology and Management. Volume I. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Gorham, E. 1957. Thedevelopment of peatlands. Quarterly Review of Biology 32:145–166.
Gosselink, J. G., G. P. Shaffer, L. C. Lee, D. M. Burdick, D. L. Childers, N. C. Leibowitz, S. C. Hamilton, R. Boumans, D. Cushman, S. Fields, M. Koch, and J. M. Visser. 1990. Landscape conservation in a forested wetland watershed: can we manage cumulative impacts? BioScience 40:588–600.
Grieve, I. C., D. G. Gilvear, and R. G. Bryant. 1995. Hydrochemical and water source variations across a floodplain mire, Insh Marshes, Scotland. Hydrological Processes 9:99–110.
Halsey, L., D. Vitt, and S. Zoltai. 1997. Climatic and physiographic controls on wetland type and distribution in Manitoba, Canada. Wetlands 17:243–262.
Harris, L. D. 1988. The nature of cumulative impacts on biotic diversity of wetland vertebrates. Environmental Management 12: 675–693.
Heimlich, R. and J. Melanson. 1995. Wetlands lost, wetlands gained. National Wetlands Newsletter 17(1):23–25.
Heinselman, M. L. 1970. Landscape evolution, peatland types, and the environment in the Lake Agassiz Peatlands Natural Area, Minnesota. Ecological Monographs 40:235–261.
Herdendorf, C. E. 1987. The Ecology of the Coastal Marshes of Western Lake Erie: A Community Profile. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC, USA. Biological Report 85 (7.9).
Hill, A. R. 1978. Factors affecting the export of nitrate-nitrogen from drainage basins in southern Ontario. Water Resources 12:1045–1057.
Hill, A. R. and K. J. Devito. 1997. Hydrological-chemical interactions in headwater forest wetlands. p. 213–230.In C. C. Trettin, M. F. Jurgensen, D. F. Grigal, M. R. Gale, and J. K. Jeglum (eds.) Northern Forested Wetlands: Ecology and Management. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL, USA.
Jean, M. and A. Bouchard. 1991. Temporal changes in wetland landscapes of a section of the St. Lawrence River, Canada. Environmental Management 15:241–250.
Johnson, A. M. and D. J. Leopold. 1994. Vascular plant species richness and rarity across a minerotrophic gradient in wetlands of St. Lawrence County, New York, USA. Biodiversity and Conservation 3:606–627.
Johnston, C. A. 1994. Cumulative impacts to wetlands. Wetlands 14:49–55.
Johnston, C. A., N. E. Detenbeck, and G. J. Niemi. 1990. The cumulative effect of wetlands on stream water quality and quantity: a landscape approach. Biogeochemistry 10:105–141.
Jordan, T. E., D. L. Correll, and D. E. Weller. 1997a. Effects of agriculture on discharges of nutrients from coastal plain watersheds of Chesapeake Bay. Journal of Environmental Quality 26: 836–848.
Jordan, T. E., D. L. Correll, and D. E. Weller. 1997b. Relating nutrient discharges from watersheds to land use and streamflow variability. Water Resources Research 33:2579–2590.
Kantrud, H. A., G. L. Krapu, and G. A. Swanson. 1989. Prairie basin wetlands of the Dakotas: A community profile. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, DC, USA. Biological Report 85(7.28).
Keddy, P. A. 1990. Competitive hierarchies and centrifugal organization in plant communities. p. 265–290.In J. B. Grace and D. A. Tilman (eds.) Perspectives on Plant Competition. Academic Press, New York, NY, USA.
Keddy, P. A. and A. A. Reznicek. 1985. Vegetation dynamics, buried seeds, and water level fluctuations on the shorelines of the Great Lakes. p. 33–58.In H. H. Prince and F. M. D’Itri (eds.) Coastal Wetlands. Lewis Publishers, Inc., Chelsea, MI, USA.
Kentula, M. E., R. P. Brooks, S. E. Gwin, C. C. Holland, A. D. Sherman, and J. C. Sifneos. 1992. An Approach to Improving Decision Making in Wetland Restoration and Creation. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Research Laboratory, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Komor, S. C. 1994. Geochemistry and hydrology of a calcareous fen within the Savage Fen wetlands complex, Minnesota, USA, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 58:3353–3367.
Kusler, J. A. and M. E. Kentula. 1990. Executive Summary. p. xvii-xxv.In J.A. Kusler and M.E. Kentula (eds.) Wetland Creation and Restoration: the Status of the Science. Island Press, Washington, DC, USA.
LaBaugh, J. W., T. C. Winter, V. A. Adomaitis, and G. A. Swanson. 1987. Geohydrology and chemistry of prairic wetlands. Stutsman County, North Dakota. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1431.
Lee, C. L. and J. G. Gosselink. 1988. Cumulative impacts on wetlands: linking scientific assessments and regulatory alternatives. Environmental Management 12:591–602.
Lent, R. M., P. K. Weiskel, F. P. Lyford, and D. S. Armstrong. 1997. Hydrological indices for nontidal wetlands. Wetlands 17:19–30.
Malecki, R. A., B. Blossey, S. D. Hight, D. Schroeder, L. T. Kok, and J. R. Coulson. 1993. Biological control of purple loosestrife. BioScience 43:680–686.
Moore, P. D. and D. J. Bellamy. 1974. Peatlands. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY, USA.
Morris, J. T. 1991. Effects of nitrogen loading on wetland ecosystems with particular reference to atmospheric deposition. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 22:257–279.
National Research Council. 1992. Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems: Science, Technology, and Public Policy. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, USA.
National Research Council. 1995. Wetlands: Characteristics and Boundaries. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, USA.
National Wetlands Working Group. 1988. Wetlands of Canada. Ecological Land Classification Series, No. 24. Sustainable Development Branch, Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and Polyscience Publications Inc., Montreat, Quebec, Canada.
Neely, R. K. and J. L. Baker. 1989. Nitrogen and phosphorus dynamics and the fate of agricultural runoff. p. 92–131.In A. G. van der Valk (ed.). Northern Prairie Wetlands. Iowa State University Press, Ames, IA, USA.
Novitzki, R. P. 1989. Wetland Hydrology. p. 47–64.In S. K. Majumdar, R. P. Brooks, F. J. Brenner and R. W. Tiner, Jr. (eds.) Wetlands Ecology and Conservation: Emphasis in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Academy of Science, Easton, PA, USA.
Omernik, J. M. 1987. Ecoregions of the conterminous United States. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 77:118–125.
Phillips, P. J. and R. J. Shedlock. 1993. Hydrology and chemistry of groundwater and seasonal ponds in the Atlantic Coastal Plain in Delaware, USA. Journal of Hydrology 141:157–178.
Pinder, D. A. and M. E. Witherick. 1990. Port industrialization, urbanization, and wetland loss. p. 234–266.In M. Williams (ed.) Wetlands: A Threatened Landscape. Basil Blackwell, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA.
Poiani, K. A., B. L. Bedford, and M. D. Merrill. 1996. A GIS-based index for relating landscape characteristics to potential nitrogen leaching to wetlands. Landscape Ecology 11:237–255.
Pollock, M. M., R. J. Naiman, and T. A. Hanley. 1998. Plant species richness in riparian wetlands—a test of biodiversity theory. Ecology 79:94–105.
Preston, E. M. and B. L. Bedford. 1988. Evaluating cumulative effects on wetland functions: a conceptual overview and generic framework. Environmental Management 12:565–583.
Prince, H. 1997. Wetlands of the American Midwest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, USA.
Race, M. S. and M. S. Fonseca. 1996. Fixing compensatory mitigation: what will it take? Ecological Applications 6:94–101.
Reschke, C. 1990. Ecological Communities of New York State. New York Natural Heritage Program. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Latham, NY, USA.
Reschke, C., B. Bedford, N. G. Slack, and F. R. Wesley. 1990. Fens of New York State. Abstract, 75th Annual Ecological Society of America Meeting, Snowbird, UT. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 71:299.
Rey Benayas, J. M., F. G. Bernáldez, C. Levassor, and B. Peco. 1990. Vegetation of ground water discharge sites in the Douro basin, central Spain. Journal of Vegetation Science 1:461–466.
Rey Benayas, J. M. and S. M. Scheiner. 1993. Diversity patterns of wet meadows along geochemical gradients in central Spain. Journal of Vegetation Science 4:103–108.
Richardson, J. L., J. L. Arndt, and J. Freeland. 1994. Wetland soils of the prairie potholes. Advances in Agronomy 52:121–172.
Roulet, N. T. 1990. Hydrology of a headwater basin wetland: ground water discharge and wetland maintenance. Hydrological Processes 4:387–400.
Rubec, C. D. A., P. Lynch-Stewart, G. M. Wickware, and I. Kessel-Taylor. 1988. Wetland utilization in Canada. p. 380–412.In National Wetlands Working Group. Wetlands of Canada. Ecological Land Classification Series. No. 24. Sustainable Development Branch, Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and Polyscience Publications Inc., Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Shedlock, R. J., D. A. Wilcox, T. A. Thompson, and D. A. Cohen. 1993. Interactions between groundwater and wetlands, southern shore of Lake Michigan, USA. Journal of Hydrology 141:127–155.
Showers, K. B. 1996. Soil erosion in the kingdom of Lesotho and development of historical environmental impact assessment. Ecological Applications 6:653–664.
Siegel, D. I. 1983. Ground water and the evolution of patterned mires, Glacial Lake Agassiz Peatlands, northern Minnesota. Journal of Ecology 71:913–921.
Siegel, D. I. 1988. Evaluating cumulative effects of disturbance on the hydrologic function of bogs, fens, and mires. Environmental Management 12:621–626.
Siegel, D. I. and P. H. Glaser. 1987. Ground water flow in a bog-fen complex, Lost River Peatland, northern Minnesota. Journal of Ecology 75:743–754.
Slack, N. G. 1994. Can one tell the mire type from the bryophytes alone? Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory 75:149–159.
Stromberg, J. C., J. Fry, and D. T. Pattern. 1997. Marsh development after large floods in an alluvial, arid-land river. Wetlands 17:292–300.
Stromberg, J. C., R. Tiller, and B. Richter. 1996. Effects of ground-water decline on riparian vegetation of semiarid regions: the San Pedro River, Arizona, USA. Ecological Applications 6:113–131.
Tans, W. 1976. The presettlement vegetation of Columbia County, Wisconsin in the 1830s. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Department of Natural Resources, Madison, WI, USA. Technical Bulletin 90.
Thompson, C. A., E. A. Bettis III, and R. G. Baker. 1992. Geology of Iowa fens. Journal Iowa Academy of Science 99:53–59.
Tiner, R. W. Jr. 1984. Wetlands of the United States: current status and recent trends. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC, USA.
Van der Valk, A. G. 1981. Succession in wetlands: a Gleasonian approach. Ecology 62:688–696.
Verhoeven, J. T. A., W. Koerselman, and A. F. M. Meuleman. 1996. Nitrogen or phosphorous-limited growth in herbaccous, wet vegetation: relations with atmospheric inputs and management regimes. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 11:494–497.
Vitt, D. H. 1994. An overview of factors that influence the development of Canadian peatlands. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 169:7–20.
Vitt, D. H. and W.-L. Chee. 1989. Relationships of the vascular plant and bryophyte components of fen vegetation to surface water chemistry and peat chemistry of fens in Alberta, Canada. Vegetatio 92:87–106.
Vitt, D. H., Y. Li, and R. J. Belland. 1995. Patterns of bryophyte diversity in peatlands of continental western Canada. The Bryologist 98:218–227.
Whigham, D. F., C. Chitterling, and B. Palmer. 1988. Impacts of freshwater wetlands on water quality: a landscape perspective. Environmental Management 12:663–671.
Whillans, T. H. 1982. Changes in marsh area along the Canadian shore of Lake Ontario. Journal of Great Lakes Research 8:570–577.
Wilcox, D. A., R. J. Shedlock, and W. H. Hendrickson. 1986. Hydrology, water chemistry and ecological relations in the raised mound of Cowles Bog. Journal of Ecology 74:1103–1117.
Winter, T. C. 1988. Conceptual framework for assessment of cumulative impacts on the hydrology of non-tidal wetlands. Environmental Management 12:605–620.
Winter, T. C. 1992. A physiographic and climatic framework for hydrologic studies of wetlands. p. 127–148.In R. D. Robarts and M. L. Bothwell (eds.) Aquatic Ecosystems in Semi-Arid Regions: Implications for Resource Management. N.H.R.I. Symposium Series 7, Environment Canada, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Winter, T.C. and M.-K. Woo. 1990. Hydrology of lakes and wetlands. p. 159–187.In M.G. Wolman and H.C. Riggs (eds.) The Geology of North America, Vol. 0–1, Surface Water Hydrology. Geological Society of America, Boulder, CO, USA.
Zedler, J. B. 1996. Coastal mitigation in southern California: the need for a regional restoration strategy. Ecological Applications 6:84–93.
Zoltai, S. C. 1988. Wetland environments and classification. p. 1–26.In National Wetlands Working Group. Wetlands of Canada. Ecological Land Classification Series, No. 24. Sustainable Development Branch, Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and Polyscience Publications Inc., Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2000)020[0737:E]2.0.CO;2.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bedford, B.L. Cumulative effects on wetland landscapes: Links to wetland restoration in the United States and southern Canada. Wetlands 19, 775–788 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03161784
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03161784