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LINKING SURFACE- AND GROUND- WATER LEVELS TO RIPARIAN GRASSLAND SPECIES ALONG THE PLATTE RIVER IN CENTRAL NEBRASKA
Citation:
Henszey, R. J., K. Pfeiffer, AND J. R. Keough. LINKING SURFACE- AND GROUND- WATER LEVELS TO RIPARIAN GRASSLAND SPECIES ALONG THE PLATTE RIVER IN CENTRAL NEBRASKA. WETLANDS. The Society of Wetland Scientists, McLean, VA, 24(3):665-687, (2004).
Impact/Purpose:
To quantify how grassland plant species are linked to water-level gradients
Description:
Ecologists use a host of techniques to quantify how plant species are linked to environmental gradients. Nearly all these techniques, however, produce results that represent gradients in general terms such as low to high elevation, xeric to mesic, and low to high concentration. While ecologists understand the implications of these imprecise scales, managers responsible for making decisions affecting one or more of these gradients need information that is more precise. For our study, we preserved the measurement scale and units of a dominant environmental gradient by using non-linear equations to fit plant-species response curves to a water-level gradient ranging from shallow groundwater to standing water. - - -Plant response curves are the first step in a two-step process to predict how plants responding to riparian-grassland water levels might also respond to river management. This second-step process requires a hydrologic groundwater model to link water levels at specific locations across the landscape through the aquifer to river stage.