Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange

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  Beavers: Boreal Ecosystem Engineers

  Carol A. Johnston

  Bridging the fields of ecosystem science and landscape ecology, this book integrates Dr. Carol Johnston's research on beaver ecosystem alteration at Voyageurs National Park. The findings about the vegetation, soils, and chemistry of beaver impoundments synthesized in the text provide a cohesive reference useful to wetland scientists, ecosystems and landscape ecologysts, wildlife managers, and students. The beaver, Castor canadensis, is an ecosystem engineer unequaled in its capacity to alter landscapes through browsing and dam building, whose population recovery has re-established environmental conditions that probably existed for millenia prior to its near extirpation by trapping in the 1800s and 1900s. Beavers continue to regain much of their natural range throughout North America, changing stream and forest ecosystems in ways that may be lauded or vilified. Interest in beavers by ecologists remains keen as new evidence emerges about the ecological, hydrological, and biogeochemical effects of beaver browsing and construction. There is a critical need for ecologists and land managers to understand the potential magnitude, persistence, and ecosystem services of beaver landscape transformation. The 88-year record of beaver landscape occupation and alteration documented by Dr. Carol Johnston and colleagues from aerial photography and field work provides a unique resource toward understanding the ecosystem effects and sustainability of beaver activity.
  
  1.Legacy of beaver-human interaction -- 2. Ecosystem engineers : beaver ponds -- 3. Altering the water cycle -- 4. Beaver loggers : beaver herbivory alters forest structure -- 5. Soils of beavermeadows -- 6. Vegetation of beaver impoundments -- 7. The biogeochemistry of boreal beaverponds -- 8. Beaver ponds and the carbon cycle -- 9. Fish assemblages in a beaver-influenced successional landscape -- 10. Beavers as engineers of wildlife habitat.

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  Remote Sensing of Wetlands: Applications and Advances

  Ralph W. Tiner, Megan W. Lang, Victor V. Klemas, and Carol A. Johnston

  Carol A. Johnston is a contributing author " Mapping Invasive Wetland Plants", pp.491-510.

  Utilizing top scientists in the wetland classification and mapping field, Remote Sensing of Wetlands: Applications and Advances covers the rapidly changing landscape of wetlands and describes the latest advances in remote sensing that have taken place over the past 30 years for use in mapping wetlands. Factoring in the impact of climate change, as well as a growing demand on wetlands for agriculture, aquaculture, forestry, and development, this text considers the challenges that wetlands pose for remote sensing and provides a thorough introduction on the use of remotely sensed data for wetland detection. Taking advantage of the experiences of more than 50 contributing authors, the book describes a variety of techniques for mapping and classifying wetlands in a multitude of environments ranging from tropical to arctic wetlands including coral reefs and submerged aquatic vegetation. The authors discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using different remote sensing techniques for wetland detection under varied conditions and circumstances. They also analyze commonly available data, reveal cost-effective methods, and offer useful insights into future trends.

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  Wetland Habitats of North America: Ecology and Conservation Concerns

  Donald P. Batzer, Andrew H. Baldwin, and Carol A. Johnston

  Wetlands are prominent landscapes throughout North America. The general characteristics of wetlands are controversial, thus there has not been a systematic assessment of different types of wetlands in different parts of North America, or a compendium of the threats to their conservation. Wetland Habitats of North America adopts a geographic and habitat approach, in which experts familiar with wetlands from across North America provide analyses and syntheses of their particular region of study. Addressing a broad audience of students, scientists, engineers, environmental managers, and policy makers, this book reviews recent, scientifically rigorous literature directly relevant to understanding, managing, protecting, and restoring wetland ecosystems of North America.

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  Eastern South Dakota Wetlands

  Rex R. Johnson, Kenneth F. Higgins, Michael L. Kjellsen, and Charles R. Elliot

  Diverse and extensive wetland resources have always been familiar parts of the landscape to farmers, hunters, and residents of eastern South Dakota. The journals and oral histories of adventurers, trappers, and natives and immigrants reveal how wetlands shaped the wildlife and the people who lived on and modified the land to meet their own needs. The history of South Dakota wetlands parallels the history and interactions of people and wetlands elsewhere in North America and the world. This interaction can best be characterized as constant conflict. Driven primarily by economics, farmers the world over expended tremendous energy to "reclaim" and "rehabilitate" wet soils and wetlands. Their efforts alerted wildlife biologists, who sounded clear alarms in the 1950s about the loss of wetlands and about what that loss implied for the future of waterfowl and hunting. Eventually, farmers became aware that drainage districts, their costs, and their failures were adversely affecting farm families as often as they helped them. This report deals with the present. It outlines the true abundance and characteristics of eastern South Dakota wetlands, whether still pristine, modified, or constructed by man. It provides a clear statement of the kinds and numbers of wetlands and why they are important. It is a foundation for reasoned dialog about the future of wetlands. The past decade has seen unprecedented public debate about wetlands, with issues of property rights and anti-government sentiment woven in. Underlying this heated public dialog is the knowledge that wetlands have tremendous values, ranging from financial returns to flood control and wildlife habitat. These values become real and measurable in South Dakota. If wetlands are eliminated and the land no longer can absorb excess snowmelt or precipitation) the water overruns the land here and then goes downstream to flood someone else. Constant drainage can kill the golden goose of economic returns from hunting and other recreation. Landowners and biologists are now trying to undo harmful wetland modifications of the past. The future of many of these wetlands is still to be played out in eastern South Dakota and elsewhere. That future still holds the key to the majestic flights of waterfowl through future wet and dry cycles. Almost a million water bodies of all kinds are present in eastern South Dakota; this report is a powerful reminder of their dominant role in the lives of people and wildlife. [Forward by Rollin D. Sparrowe, Wildlife Management Institute]

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  Wetland Resources of Eastern South Dakota

  Rex R. Johnson and Kenneth F. Higgins

  The mere mention of the word "wetland" in coffee shops and other gathering places on the prairies today brings out emotions and opinions that run the gamut from saving them all to draining them all. To some people, what we do with wetlands has been, and still is, a personal choice, a matter of exercising individual rights on private property. To others, wetlands are community resources that provide values that touch all of society. They contend that what is done to and about wetlands is a community decision regardless of ownership. Herein lies the controversy we have experienced over wetlands on the prairie-a resource which provides societal benefits, yet is privately owned. The owners of prairie wetlands, like landowners everywhere, are possessive of their rights and options to make the most of their investment or inheritance. They jealously guard their right to detennine the fate of the resources they own. Those interested in the public benefits of wetlands are equally motivated to ensure that wetland values are defended. Where this debate will lead is a matter of speculation. Before landscape-level decisions about land use, and in this case wetland use, can adequately be addressed, all parties involved will be better equipped to defend their position if they know the extent of the resource, where it is, factors of quality, and something of the social interests in this resource. Dr. Johnson and Dr. Higgins have done a masterful job of bringing together a state-of-the-art inventory of eastern South Dakota's wetland resources and have made comparisons of several factors of the nature of the wetlands found in the glaciated region of South Dakota. They have also included in this paper a history of some of the social and economic issues surrounding wetlands on the prairies, wetlands use and misuse, and the issues that, make up the wetland controversies of the region. Wetland Resources of Eastern South Dakota is an essential reference for those concerned about the future of wetlands and wetland policy in South Dakota and beyond. Armed with the information contained in this publication, decision makers at all levels will be informed on the number, size, and distribution of wetlands in eastern South Dakota. People working on the landscape level or on an individual ownership level will find this unique publication a valuable tool. [Forward by Carl R. Madsen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]