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Factors Controlling Surface Water Flow in a Low-gradient Subtropical Wetland

Wetlands volume 30, pages 275–286 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

Surface water flow patterns in wetlands play a role in shaping substrates, biogeochemical cycling, and ecosystem characteristics. This paper focuses on the factors controlling flow across a large, shallow gradient subtropical wetland (Shark River Slough in Everglades National Park, USA), which displays vegetative patterning indicative of overland flow. Between July 2003 and December 2007, flow speeds at five sites were very low (<3 cm s−1), and exhibited seasonal fluctuations that were correlated with seasonal changes in water depth but also showed distinctive deviations. Stepwise linear regression showed that upstream gate discharges, local stage gradients, and stage together explained 50 to 90% of the variance in flow speed at four of the five sites and only 10% at one site located close to a levee-canal combination. Two non-linear, semi-empirical expressions relating flow speeds to the local hydraulic gradient, water depths, and vegetative resistance accounted for 70% of the variance in our measured speed. The data suggest local-scale factors such as channel morphology, vegetation density, and groundwater exchanges must be considered along with landscape position and basin-scale geomorphology when examining the interactions between flow and community characteristics in low-gradient wetlands such as the Everglades.

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded by Critical Ecosystem Studies Initiative, Everglades National Park under cooperative agreements J5280020111-H500000B494 and J5297050059-H500000B494. Partial support was also provided by the National Science Foundation through its support of the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research Program (FCE LTER: Grants DEB-9910514 & DBI-0620409). We thank Mike Ross and the Wetland Ecosystems Ecology Lab at FIU for airboat and helicopter transport. We also thank 2 anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China, 310058

    Guoqing He

  2. Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Miami, 1251 Memorial Drive, McArthur Engineering Bldg., Room 252, Coral Gables, FL, 33146-0630, USA

    Guoqing He, Michael Laas, Yang Deng & Helena M. Solo-Gabriele

  3. South Florida Natural Resources Center, Everglades National Park, 950 N. Krome Ave, Homestead, FL, 33030, USA

    Victor Engel

  4. Department of Geography and Geology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USA

    Lynn Leonard & Alex Croft

  5. Global Institute of Sustainability & School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-5402, USA

    Daniel Childers

  6. Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico

    Yang Deng

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  1. Guoqing He
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  8. Helena M. Solo-Gabriele
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Correspondence to Helena M. Solo-Gabriele.

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He, G., Engel, V., Leonard, L. et al. Factors Controlling Surface Water Flow in a Low-gradient Subtropical Wetland. Wetlands 30, 275–286 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-010-0022-1

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Keywords

  • Florida Everglades
  • Flow resistance
  • Restoration
  • Water speed
  • Water velocity