Wetland hydrology

Abstract

Hydrology profoundly affects wetland habitats and recruitment for both plants and animals, as well as in adjacent aquatic and terrestrial environments. Water storage in wetlands promotes flood attenuation and sediment retention; while wetland soil saturation and dissolved oxygen concentrations promote unique biogeochemical reactions that foster nutrient and contaminant removal. Wetland water inputs and outputs are a function of hydrologic exchanges with atmo- spheric, surface, subsurface, and tidal systems. These exchanges are described using water budgets, hydropatterns, and residence times, which characterize the unique behavior of individual wetlands. Future challenges to wetland hydrologic functioning include natural and human alteration of wetlands and the surrounding landscape.