CSP staff and colleagues have published a new paper in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Wetlands harbor a disproportionately high amount of biodiversity, yet are disappearing at three times the rate of forest ecosystems.
Long-term data on wetland dynamics are scarce due to the many challenges of monitoring wetlands across large landscapes. Using a combination of satellite imagery and bayesian modeling techniques, we developed methods to reconstruct >20 years of daily estimates of the aerial extent of wetlands, and apply these methods to 149 vernal pools in the Central Valley of California. These methods open up the exploration of key ecological questions and theories, previously untestable due to a lack of spatiotemporal data on wetland hydroperiods. Examples include understanding the intersection between habitat suitability and spatiotemporal variation in hydroperiods, testing mechanistic relationships between meta-population dynamics and wetland hydroperiods across the landscape, and applications to wetland management (e.g., comparing wetland dynamics in landscapes with different levels of protection). This new paper highlights the importance of interdisciplinary work (e.g., remote sensing, ecological modeling, stakeholder engagement) to address pressing ecological and management issues.
