A Tool for Rapid Assessment of Hydrological Connectivity Patterns in Texas Coastal Wetlands: Linkages between Tidal Creeks and Coastal Ponds
Coastal salt marshes are heterogeneous, spatially complex ecosystems. The degree of hydrological connectivity in these systems can be a significant driver in the flux of energy, organisms, and nutrients across the marsh landscape. In tidally driven systems, the frequency and magnitude of hydrologica...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Texas Water Journal
2019-06-01
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| Series: | Texas Water Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://twj-ojs-tdl.tdl.org/twj/index.php/twj/article/view/7073 |
| _version_ | 1818906906147684352 |
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| author | Todd Swannack Jeffery Wozniak William E Grant Stephen E Davis |
| author_facet | Todd Swannack Jeffery Wozniak William E Grant Stephen E Davis |
| author_sort | Todd Swannack |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Coastal salt marshes are heterogeneous, spatially complex ecosystems. The degree of hydrological connectivity in these systems can be a significant driver in the flux of energy, organisms, and nutrients across the marsh landscape. In tidally driven systems, the frequency and magnitude of hydrological connection events results in the creation of a matrix of intermittently connected coastal wetland habitats, some of which may be hydrologically isolated or partially drained at any given time. Previous approaches to understanding landscape-level hydrologic connectivity patterns have required either intensive long-term monitoring or spatially explicit modeling. In this paper, we first describe a 13-month field study in the Guadalupe Estuary of the Texas Gulf Coast that linked hydrological connectivity patterns between a saltwater pond to water levels in an adjacent tidal creek and nearby San Antonio Bay. We next describe the integration of these field data with high-resolution digital elevation models and environmental parameters to develop a spatially explicit model that is a Simulation of Landscape-level Oscillations in Salt Marsh Hydroperiod (SLOSH). We evaluated the ability of SLOSH to simulate trends in landscape-level patterns of hydrological connectivity between a tidal creek and an inland marsh pond. Magnitude and periodicity of simulated and observed water-level fluctuations in the pond were similar. Highest creek water levels, resulting in high frequency and duration of hydrological connectivity with the pond, corresponded with the highest bay water levels, which occurred during September and October. Lowest creek water levels, resulting in low frequency and duration of hydrological connectivity, corresponded with the lowest bay water levels, which occurred during December through February. By simulating the pulsing structure of salt marsh hydrology, SLOSH creates the foundation on which to assess how additional drivers (precipitation, wind, freshwater inflows, etc.) can influence coastal marsh hydrology and overall ecology.
Citation: Swannack TM, Wozniak JR, Grant WE, Davis SE III. 2019. A tool for rapid assessment of hydrological connectivity patterns in Texas coastal wetlands: linkages between tidal creeks and coastal ponds. Texas Water Journal. 10(1):46-59. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v10i1.7073. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T21:46:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3ee5c82540e54a64a99c29810f64c0af |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2160-5319 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T21:46:40Z |
| publishDate | 2019-06-01 |
| publisher | Texas Water Journal |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Texas Water Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-3ee5c82540e54a64a99c29810f64c0af2022-12-21T20:04:31ZengTexas Water JournalTexas Water Journal2160-53192019-06-01101A Tool for Rapid Assessment of Hydrological Connectivity Patterns in Texas Coastal Wetlands: Linkages between Tidal Creeks and Coastal PondsTodd Swannack0Jeffery Wozniak1William E Grant2Stephen E Davis3US Army Engineer Research and Development CenterSam Houston State UniveristyTexas A&M UniversityEverglades FoundationCoastal salt marshes are heterogeneous, spatially complex ecosystems. The degree of hydrological connectivity in these systems can be a significant driver in the flux of energy, organisms, and nutrients across the marsh landscape. In tidally driven systems, the frequency and magnitude of hydrological connection events results in the creation of a matrix of intermittently connected coastal wetland habitats, some of which may be hydrologically isolated or partially drained at any given time. Previous approaches to understanding landscape-level hydrologic connectivity patterns have required either intensive long-term monitoring or spatially explicit modeling. In this paper, we first describe a 13-month field study in the Guadalupe Estuary of the Texas Gulf Coast that linked hydrological connectivity patterns between a saltwater pond to water levels in an adjacent tidal creek and nearby San Antonio Bay. We next describe the integration of these field data with high-resolution digital elevation models and environmental parameters to develop a spatially explicit model that is a Simulation of Landscape-level Oscillations in Salt Marsh Hydroperiod (SLOSH). We evaluated the ability of SLOSH to simulate trends in landscape-level patterns of hydrological connectivity between a tidal creek and an inland marsh pond. Magnitude and periodicity of simulated and observed water-level fluctuations in the pond were similar. Highest creek water levels, resulting in high frequency and duration of hydrological connectivity with the pond, corresponded with the highest bay water levels, which occurred during September and October. Lowest creek water levels, resulting in low frequency and duration of hydrological connectivity, corresponded with the lowest bay water levels, which occurred during December through February. By simulating the pulsing structure of salt marsh hydrology, SLOSH creates the foundation on which to assess how additional drivers (precipitation, wind, freshwater inflows, etc.) can influence coastal marsh hydrology and overall ecology. Citation: Swannack TM, Wozniak JR, Grant WE, Davis SE III. 2019. A tool for rapid assessment of hydrological connectivity patterns in Texas coastal wetlands: linkages between tidal creeks and coastal ponds. Texas Water Journal. 10(1):46-59. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v10i1.7073.https://twj-ojs-tdl.tdl.org/twj/index.php/twj/article/view/7073Aransas National Wildlife Refugefreshwater inflowshydroperiodsaltwater pondswater levelwhooping crane (Grus americana) |
| spellingShingle | Todd Swannack Jeffery Wozniak William E Grant Stephen E Davis A Tool for Rapid Assessment of Hydrological Connectivity Patterns in Texas Coastal Wetlands: Linkages between Tidal Creeks and Coastal Ponds Texas Water Journal Aransas National Wildlife Refuge freshwater inflows hydroperiod saltwater ponds water level whooping crane (Grus americana) |
| title | A Tool for Rapid Assessment of Hydrological Connectivity Patterns in Texas Coastal Wetlands: Linkages between Tidal Creeks and Coastal Ponds |
| title_full | A Tool for Rapid Assessment of Hydrological Connectivity Patterns in Texas Coastal Wetlands: Linkages between Tidal Creeks and Coastal Ponds |
| title_fullStr | A Tool for Rapid Assessment of Hydrological Connectivity Patterns in Texas Coastal Wetlands: Linkages between Tidal Creeks and Coastal Ponds |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Tool for Rapid Assessment of Hydrological Connectivity Patterns in Texas Coastal Wetlands: Linkages between Tidal Creeks and Coastal Ponds |
| title_short | A Tool for Rapid Assessment of Hydrological Connectivity Patterns in Texas Coastal Wetlands: Linkages between Tidal Creeks and Coastal Ponds |
| title_sort | tool for rapid assessment of hydrological connectivity patterns in texas coastal wetlands linkages between tidal creeks and coastal ponds |
| topic | Aransas National Wildlife Refuge freshwater inflows hydroperiod saltwater ponds water level whooping crane (Grus americana) |
| url | https://twj-ojs-tdl.tdl.org/twj/index.php/twj/article/view/7073 |
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