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Water Chemistry of Managed Freshwater Wetlands on Marine-Derived Soils in Coastal Bay of Fundy, Canada

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Abstract

Waterfowl and migratory birds rely on wetland habitat in coastal temperate regions for breeding and feeding. Over the past few decades, freshwater impoundments have been created in the Cumberland Marsh Region of Canada to compensate for regional loss of ecosystem services and habitat. The objective of our study was to determine whether freshwater impoundments underlain by tidal marsh sediments, and located where marine influences exist, are predisposed to higher nutrient levels and more conducive to productive habitat than waterfowl habitat elsewhere in Canada and the northeastern United States. We found that impoundment subsurface waters were generally circumneutral with moderate concentrations of dissolved organic carbon ranging between 6.30 and 13.90 mg/L. Furthermore, these impoundments generally had higher concentrations of cations (Ca, K, Mg, Na), anions (Cl−, SO42−), and nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen, dissolved organic carbon) than other freshwater waterbodies studied for waterfowl in central Ontario, Maine and Nova Scotia, but lower concentrations than found in Prairie potholes. Our data indicate that a lack of hydrological connectivity and nutrient pathways may be limiting impoundments from reaching their full potential for supporting wildlife. We recognize that additional research on fostering ecosystem services from wetland restoration and creation projects is necessary on former tidal marshland.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support for this project was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Research Chairs program, Environment and Climate Change Canada’s National Wetlands Conservation Fund, Ducks Unlimited Canada and Acadia University. Thanks to Andrew Kennedy and the Canadian Wildlife Service for logistic support and providing a research permit for field work. We thank Adam Campbell and the reviewers for providing helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Acadia University, 33 Westwood Avenue, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, B4P 2R6, Canada

    Amanda L. Loder & Mark L. Mallory

  2. Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, B4P 2R6, Canada

    Ian S. Spooner

  3. Atlantic Region Office, Ducks Unlimited Canada, PO Box 430, 64 Hwy 6, Amherst, Nova Scotia, B4H 3Z5, Canada

    Nic R. McLellan

  4. Department of Geography and Environment, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, E4L 1A7, Canada

    Joshua Kurek

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  1. Amanda L. Loder
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Correspondence to Amanda L. Loder.

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Loder, A.L., Spooner, I.S., McLellan, N.R. et al. Water Chemistry of Managed Freshwater Wetlands on Marine-Derived Soils in Coastal Bay of Fundy, Canada. Wetlands 39, 521–532 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-018-1101-y

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