Collection

Special Issue: Wetlands in Drylands: Diverse Perspectives for Dynamic Landscapes

Submission status
Closed
We solicit papers that consolidate, extend or challenge current global understanding of Wetlands in drylands (WiDs) hydro-geomorphology, biogeomorphology, biogeochemistry, ecology, and social-ecology; or illustrate the linkages between bio-physical, social, and cultural processes and practices, and their implications for ecosystem service provision; or promote sustainable system-scale management and restoration of WiDs ecosystems, social-ecological / cultural systems, and the services they provide to households and communities in dryland environments. WiDs have distinctive hydro-geomorphological, biogeochemical, and ecological features that require carefully tailored research and management approaches. Relative to wetlands in humid regions, WiDs are: i) less likely to be sustained by meteoric inputs alone, and must overcome high annual meteoric water deficits (mean annual precipitation less than mean annual evaporation), through well-defined links to channel inflow or groundwater discharge; ii) subject to more frequent and prolonged periods of desiccation, which can lead to evaporation-driven chemical sedimentation, and which may combine with fire and aeolian deflation to reduce organic matter accumulation; and iii) frequently characterised by downstream channel narrowing, channel breakdown and floodout development (Tooth & McCarthy, 2007; Ellery et al., 2009). Interactions between hydro-geomorphological, biogeomorphic and biogeochemical processes in WiDs are a cornerstone of regulatory ecosystem service provision, and the surface or near-surface expression of water, and associated provision of foods, medicinal plants and building materials, assumes a special importance in dry and climatically variable environments (Tooth et al., 2015). Thus, there is a need for holistic, integrated pure and applied analyses of WiDs systems and their ecosystem services, especially in the current context of an increase in stressors from climate change, and human activities such as agriculture, mining, and water/sediment regime modification (TWIDRN, 2014).

Editors

  • Suzanne Grenfell Suzanne Grenfell , 

    Suzanne Grenfell

    Suzanne Grenfell is at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa. Email: sgrenfell@sun.ac.za

  • Michael Grenfell Michael Grenfell , 

    Michael Grenfell

    University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa

  • Emily O’Gorman Emily O’Gorman , 

    Emily O’Gorman

    Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

  • Tim Ralph Tim Ralph , 

    Tim Ralph

    Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

  • Adriana Mehl Adriana Mehl , 

    Adriana Mehl

    Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, Argentina

  • Fred Ellery Fred Ellery  &

    Fred Ellery

    Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa

  • Stephen Tooth Stephen Tooth

    Stephen Tooth

    Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK

Articles (15 in this collection)