Ontario’s rock barrens landscape consists of exposed bedrock ridges which host a mosaic of thin lichen- and moss- covered soil patches, forested valleys, beaver ponds, and depressional wetlands. Peat-filled ephemeral wetlands within bedrock depressions act as gatekeepers to hydrological connectivity between their small headwater catchments and the rest of the landscape downstream through strong fill-and-spill dynamics. We developed a water balance model, RHO, with inputs of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (PET) to better understand the factors impacting water table (WT) and storage dynamics and in turn the hydrological connectivity of ephemeral wetlands. Field surveys were conducted at six wetlands to obtain and determine the variability in measurable site characteristics, in particular the wetland depression morphometry, to parameterize RHO. Three sites were used in a calibration and validation procedure where modelled WTs were compared to measured WT data from the snow-free seasons for each site to determine the best parameter values. We show that RHO is capable of predicting WT dynamics with inputs of precipitation and PET, when parameterized for specific sites.
Wildfire disturbance is known to increase the run-off from hillslopes and remove surface organic soils through combustion. To predict the impacts of wildfire disturbance on ephemeral wetland hydrological connectivity, a generic model wetland depression was parameterized in RHO and used to predict the changes in hydrological connectivity under various wildfire scenarios and test the sensitivity of modelled connectedness to impacted parameters. Modelled results show that connectivity increases under all scenarios tested, and that changes to connectivity are primarily due to increases in run-in.
Water balance models, like RHO, can be used to better understand the hydrological connectivity of wetlands in a rock barrens landscape. These models are useful in predicting impacts on the hydrological connectivity, and hydrological ecosystem services, from disturbances such as wildfire and can inform future field research experimental designs. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Rock barrens landscapes provide several important ecosystem services, which are influenced by hydrological flow paths and water storage on the landscape. Central to these hydrological dynamics is the storage and discharge of water in small wetlands which form in bedrock depressions. Here we develop a simple hydrological model to simulate the water storage and discharge of rock barrens wetlands. We then use this model to explore how wildfire disturbance is likely to change the supply of water to the rest of the landscape by simulating several different scenarios and testing which changes in the model have the largest impact on the water supply. We show that wetlands discharge more water after wildfire disturbance, mainly because of increases in run-off from areas upstream of the impacted wetlands. This modelling approach helps us better understand how wildfire is likely to impact the ecosystem services of a rock barrens landscapes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/27241 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Verkaik, Gregory |
| Contributors | Waddington, James Michael, Earth and Environmental Sciences |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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