In the article “Amphibian Communities in Natural and
Constructed Ridge Top Wetlands With Implications for Wetland Construction.”,
scientists Robert Denton and Stephen Richter evaluate how natural wetlands
differ from constructed wetlands and what types of amphibians are found in each
in Kentucky. Denton and Richter used dip nets to collect amphibians and all of
those that were captured were larvae, with the exception of the adult
paedomorphic eastern newts. They also looked to see if the wetland hydrology
was ephemeral or permanent. Results of the study showed that species richness
and evenness did not differ between natural and constructed wetlands but they
types of amphibians found did differ. In constructed wetlands, more predatory
amphibians were found when compared to natural wetlands. Constructed wetlands
were also not able to support the amphibians that utilize an ephemeral, and
consequently natural in their area of study, wetland. Natural wetlands in
Kentucky are shallow and ephemeral while constructed wetlands are deeper and
permanent. Allowing different species to thrive in each.
Kentucky has lost about 81% of its natural wetlands. There is
now wetland conservation and constructed wetlands to combat the amphibian loss associated
with that huge loss. The study that Denton and Richter performed allows us to
see the difference between constructed and natural wetlands. While we, as
humans, do not see a huge difference, that species that inhabit wetlands
definitely do. Through understanding how the species react to different types
of wetlands, we can put forth proper regulations so that the constructed
wetlands more closely resemble their natural counterparts.
Denton, Robert D., and Stephen C. Richter. "Amphibian Communities in Natural and Constructed Ridge Top Wetlands with Implications for Wetland Construction." The Journal of Wildlife Management 77.5 (2013): 886-96. Web.
2 comments:
Thanks for sharing this interesting article! Why were predatory species associated with constructed/permanent wetlands? What characteristics were found among the species associated with ephemeral wetlands?
This sounds like a really interesting article Audrey! It made me think about one of our literature discussion articles, “Terrestrial Buffer Zones and Wetland Conservation” (Burke and Gibbons, 1995). In the article by Burke and Gibbons, they discuss how the size of many wetlands and their buffers are decreasing due to development. It would be interesting to what the reaction would be to proposing artificial wetlands instead of increasing wetland buffer zones. As you mentioned artificial wetlands have both positive and negative impacts but still a topic worth exploring!
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