Browsing by Subject "wetlands"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 23
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    2002 Water Quality Survey: Results and Technical Report.
    (Minnesota Center for Survey Research (MCSR), 2003) Minnesota Center for Survey Research
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    Available Wetlands for Bioenergy Purposes - Land Use and Drainage Constraints
    (Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota, and Minnesota Energy Agency, 1981) CURA
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    Characterization of streams and rivers in the Minnesota River Basin Critical Observatory: water chemistry and biological field collections, 2013-2016
    (2017-09-06) Dolph, Christine, L.; Hansen, Amy, T.; Kemmitt, Katie, L.; Janke, Ben; Rorer, Michelle; Winikoff, Sarah; Baker, Anna; Boardman, Evelyn; Finlay, Jacques, C.; dolph008@umn.edu; Dolph, Christine, L.
    This dataset was collected to inform the Water, Sustainability and Climate Minnesota River Basin Observatory, and was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1209402 Water, Sustainability and Climate (WSC) – Category 2, Collaborative: Climate and human dynamics as amplifiers of natural change: a framework for vulnerability assessment and mitigation planning. The dataset contains point locations, watershed areas and water quality information for 231 ditch, stream, river and wetland sites located in the Le Sueur River, Chippewa River, Cottonwood River, Cannon River, Wantonwan River and Blue Earth River basins of Minnesota. Study sites ranged in size from 1st order ditches and streams to an 8th order river. Each of these sites was sampled at least once between 2013-2016 (most sites were sampled multiple times) for one or more of the following parameters: 1) water chemistry (total dissolved nitrogen, nitrate-N, nitrite-N, ammonium-N, particulate nitrogen, soluble reactive phosphorus, total dissolved phosphorus, particulate phosphorus, total phosphorus, dissolved organic carbon, dissolved inorganic carbon, particulate carbon, chlorophyll a, total suspended solids, volatile suspended solids, delta-H-2 and delta-O-18 stable isotopes of site water, specific UV absorbance (SUVA) of site water, fluorescence index (FI) of site water); 2) stable isotopes (delta-C-13, delta-N-15, delta-H-2) of invertebrate consumers, particulate carbon and potential food sources; 3) denitrification rates and characteristics of benthic sediment in agricultural drainage ditches; and 4) stream discharge. This dataset also includes spatial data files containing study site locations and watershed areas delineated for each site.
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    Data for "Reducing High Flows and Sediment Loading through Increased Water Storage in an Agricultural Watershed of the Upper Midwest, USA"
    (2018-08-08) Mitchell, Nate A; Kumarasamy, Karthik; Cho, Se Jong; Belmont, Patrick; Dalzell, Brent; Gran, Karen; mitc0388@d.umn.edu; Mitchell, Nate A; University of Minnesota Duluth Geomorphology Lab
    Climate change, land clearing, and artificial drainage have increased the Minnesota River Basin’s (MRB) stream flows, enhancing erosion of channel banks and bluffs. Accelerated erosion has increased sediment loads and sedimentation rates downstream. High flows could be reduced through increased water storage (e.g., wetlands or detention basins), but quantifying the effectiveness of such a strategy remains a challenge. We used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to simulate changes in river discharge from various water retention site (WRS) implementation scenarios in the Le Sueur watershed, a tributary basin to the MRB. We also show how high flow attenuation can address turbidity issues by quantifying the impact on near-channel sediment loading in the watershed’s incised reaches. WRS placement in the watershed, hydraulic conductivity (K), and design depth were varied across 135 simulations. The dominant control on site performance is K, with greater flow reductions allowed by higher seepage rates and less frequent overflowing. Deeper design depths enhance flow reductions from sites with low K values. Differences between WRS placement scenarios are slight, suggesting that site placement is not a first-order control on overall performance in this watershed. Flow reductions exhibit power-law scaling with exceedance probability, enabling us to create generalized relationships between WRS extent and flow reductions that accurately reproduce our SWAT results and allow for more rapid evaluation of future scenarios. Overall, we show that increasing water storage within the Le Sueur watershed can be an effective management option for high flow and sediment load reduction.
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    Effects of Agricultural Drainage on Aquatic Ecosystems: A Review
    (2009) Blann, Kristen, L.; Anderson, James, L.; Sands, Gary, R.; Vondracek, Bruce
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    Effects of atrazine and climate change on amphibian larval development and growth
    (2014-04) Olker, Jennifer
    The distribution and population persistence of many North American amphibians depends on environmental factors at multiple spatial scales. Anthropogenic and naturally occurring stressors, including contaminants, predators, and pond-drying, have been shown to affect amphibian growth, development, and health. The herbicide atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isoproyl-amino-s-triazine) is a widely used pesticide in the U.S., and in some amphibians has been shown to reduce size and health at metamorphosis and alter gonadal function, presumably through endocrine disruption. Environmental changes predicted by climate models could exacerbate these impacts, as well as directly affect amphibian development and population persistence through accelerated pond-drying and habitat loss or modification. Objectives of this project were to: 1) Quantify developmental responses to the combined effects of atrazine exposure and accelerated pond-drying rates; and 2) Quantify potential effects of these and other environmental stressors on amphibian occurrence and health. Growth, development, and physiological state (skeletal/eye malformations and gonadal development) were assessed in northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) and wood frog (Rana sylvatica) in experimental exposures and field surveys in the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region across a range of environmentally relevant atrazine concentrations (0.1, 20, and 200 μg/L) and in combination with climate change and other environmental factors suspected to affect amphibian larval development. Atrazine exposure during larval development decreased survival and had sub-lethal impacts on growth and development, which could negatively impact populations by reducing annual recruitment and survival of juveniles. Presence, abundance, and severity of testicular oocytes (TOs) did not appear to be related to atrazine exposure in experimental or field specimens; however, TO prevalence differed greatly between species (>40% in R. pipiens and <5% in R. sylvatica). These results suggest that TOs are not likely due solely to endocrine disruption by atrazine and more research is needed to understand reproductive or population-level impacts of TOs. Amphibian metrics (presence, breeding, skeletal malformations, and TOs) responded differently to environmental variables from wetland, local, and landscape scales, and amphibian breeding (presence or success) was identified as a better indicator of environmental condition than species presence, calling, or TOs.
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    Effects of Drainage Projects on Surface Runoff from Small Depressional Watersheds in the North Central Region
    (Water Resources Research Center, University of Minnesota, 1979-01) Moore, Ian D.; Larson, Curtis L.
    Surface runoff from small watersheds characterized by numerous depressions was studied statistically and by use of a special purpose watershed model. The statistical analyses illustrated the possible magnitude of the storage effect exhibited by lakes, marshes and other depressions. Because of data limitations statistical techniques could not be used to examine the effects on flood runoff of draining these same areas. The model, described in the Bulletin, represents the process of snowmelt, infiltration, soil moisture storage, evapotranspiration, subsurface and surface runoff for four different land drainage conditions, with or without channel development. Application of the model to two small watersheds in Jackson County, Minnesota indicated that drainage development increases annual runoff, storm runoff and peak discharge. The physical characteristics of the main water course in the watershed was the major factor influencing peak discharge at the watershed outlet. Examination of annual flood flows on the Minnesota River at Mankato suggests that downstream effects of drainage development on large watersheds are much less than indicated by this study on small watersheds. Downstream effects and flooding within a watershed are discussed in general terms in the Bulletin.
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    Efficient Algorithms for Geographic Watershed Analysis
    (2012-07-03) Barnes, Richard; Lehman, Clarence; Mulla, David; Galzki, Jacob; Wan, Haibo; Nelson, Joel
    This project is to analyze where wetlands and other vegetated buffers can be placed on the landscape to intercept drain waters and help purify them before they reach the natural watershed. The computational problem comes because new LIDAR images have expanded the resolution of geographic digital elevation models (DEMs) up to a thousandfold or more. This in turn has taxed the ability of existing algorithms to process the expanded datasets. Here we explain the project and present new efficient algorithms for parallel and scalar processing that reduce run-times from days on ordinary computers to minutes or second using the new algorithms in a parallel supercomputing environment.
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    Environment and the River: Maps of the Mississippi.
    (Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota, 1991) Craig, William J.; Anderson, William S.
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    Growing Energy Crops on Minnesota's Wetlands: The Land Use Perspective.
    (Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota, 1984) Anderson, Jeffrey P.; Craig, William J.
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    History of Drainage Law in Minnesota with Special Emphais on the Legal Status of Wet Lands
    (Water Resources Research Center, University of Minnesota, 1980-11) King, K. Elton
    This work contains a capsulized view of the laws and attitudes that have shaped Minnesota's drainage history and formed the basis for the State's present drainage law. Special importance has been placed on the evolution of the law as it pertains to wet lands. Additionally, a set of appendices has been included in order to provide a more detailed view of certain laws and significant legal precedents. The intent of this publication is not to present a definitive statement on present or past law, but rather to provide an introduction to Minnesota's drainage law from which further investigations may begin.
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    Identifying and Interpreting Contemporary Wild Rice Habitat in Ceded Chippewa Lands of Northern Minnesota.
    (Center for Community & Regional Research, College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota, Duluth., 1995) Henderson, Martha L
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    Land Use Constraints on Wetland Biomass Development: A Case Study in Aitkin County Minnesota.
    (Midwest Universities Energy Consortium, Chicago., 1981) Craig, William J.
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    Optical and photochemical data of temperate wetland samples collected in Minnesota, USA from 2014-August to 2015-October
    (2018-06-01) Arnold, William A; McCabe, Andrew J; arnol032@umn.edu; Arnold, William A
    Wetland surface water samples were collected from 39 sites throughout Minnesota, USA between 2014-August and 2015-October. Optical and photochemical parameters of the samples were measured under controlled laboratory conditions. The data were collected to identify environmental variables that constrain the yield of triplet excited states of dissolved natural organic matter. Apparent quantum yields of these triplet states were measured using the chemical probe, 2,4,6-trimethylphenol, under a broadband xenon-arc lamp with a 290-nm wavelength filter.
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    Presettlement Wetlands of Minnesota
    (Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota; and Minnesota Energy Agency., 1981) CURA
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    Restored Vegetation Outcomes in Wetland Mitigation Banks Across Minnesota
    (2019-05) Yantes, Austin
    Wetlands are one of the world’s most important ecosystems, yet they continue to be degraded by urban and rural development. The Minnesota Wetland Banking Program exists as a convenient pathway to replace wetlands that have been destroyed. While the program has been offered since 1994, there has been no assessment of the long-term outcomes of wetland banking projects. Vegetation monitoring occurs for 5 years post-restoration, but even then these sites are ecologically young and conclusions made about the achievement of vegetation restoration goals may be premature. This study aimed to evaluate vegetation outcomes in wetlands restored 8-11 years ago, and to compare these outcomes across four seeding zone types. The results indicate that the emergent zone had the lowest native species richness and highest invasive species cover. In all seeding zones, the number of seeded species present was often quite low even when native richness is high. This study also identified which seeded species and guilds persisted over time and which were consistently absent. This type of data can inform future seed mix adjustments, thereby improving the success and cost-effectiveness of wetland vegetation restoration efforts. Across all study sites, invasive narrow-leaved cattails and reed canary grass were pervasive and seem to be increasing in cover over time. Certain species such as rice cutgrass and tussockforming sedges may compete effectively with invasives. This study highlights the necessity of long-term management to combat the ongoing expansion of invasive species and to promote the persistence of desired native species.