Abstract
The structure, function, and dynamics of Earth's terrestrial ecosystems are profoundly influenced by how often (frequency) and how long (duration) they are inundated with water. A diverse array of natural and human-engineered systems experience temporally variable inundation whereby they fluctuate between inundated and non-inundated states. Variable inundation spans extreme events to predictable sub-daily cycles. Variably inundated ecosystems (VIEs) include hillslopes, non-perennial streams, wetlands, floodplains, temporary ponds, tidal systems, storm-impacted coastal zones, and human-engineered systems. VIEs are diverse in terms of inundation regimes, water chemistry and flow velocity, soil and sediment properties, vegetation, and many other properties. The spatial and temporal scales of variable inundation are vast, ranging from sub-meter to whole landscapes and from sub-hourly to multi-decadal. The broad range of system types and scales makes it challenging to predict the hydrology, biogeochemistry, ecology, and physical evolution of VIEs. Despite all experiencing the loss and gain of an overlying water column, VIEs are rarely considered together in conceptual, theoretical, modeling, or measurement frameworks and approaches. Studying VIEs together has the potential to generate mechanistic understanding that is transferable across a much broader range of environmental conditions, relative to knowledge generated by studying any one VIE type. We postulate that enhanced transferability will be important for predicting changes in VIE function in response to global change. Here we aim to catalyze cross-VIE science that studies drivers and impacts of variable inundation across Earth's VIEs. To this end, we complement expert mini-reviews of eight major VIE systems with overviews of VIE-relevant methods and challenges associated with scale. We conclude with perspectives on how cross-VIE science can derive transferable understanding via unifying conceptual models in which the impacts of variable inundation are studied across multi-dimensional environmental space.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 995-1034 |
| Number of pages | 40 |
| Journal | Biogeosciences |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 24 2025 |
Funding
We thank Jon Chorover, Sarah Godsey, Jesus Gomez-Velez, Wei Huang, Roser Matamala, Hyun Song, and Kristen Underwood for contributions to the conceptual directions of this paper. This paper was an outgrowth of the VIE Workshop, and we sincerely thank the participants for their contributions. James Stegen, Xingyuan Chen, Nate McDowell, Jillian M. Deines, Peter Regier, Kenton Rod, Etienne Fluet- Chouinard, Tim Scheibe, Jianqiu Zheng, Maggi Laan, and Kaizad F. Patel were supported by the Earth & Biological Sciences Program Development Office at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a multiprogram national laboratory operated by Battelle for the US Department of Energy. Joshua B. Fisher was supported by NASA's ECOSTRESS Science and Applications Team (ESAT) (80NSSC23K0309). Teri O'Meara was supported by COMPASSFME, a multi-institutional project supported by the US Department of Energy's Environmental System Science program. Inke Forbrich was supported by US Department of Energy award DE-SC0022108. Michelle H. Busch, Amy J. Burgin, and Erin Seybold were supported by NSF EPSCoR Aquatic Intermittency effects of Microbiomes on Streams: OSF 2019603. Kristin Boye was supported by the Watershed Function Science Focus Area at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research, under contract no. DE-AC02-76SF00515. Joshua Ladau was supported by Arva Intelligence. Thibault Datry was supported by the DRYvER project, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 869226. Elizabeth Herndon was supported by the Watershed Dynamics and Evolution Science Focus Area funded through the Department of Energy Office of Science Biological and Environmental Research program. James Stegen, Xingyuan Chen, Nate McDowell, Jillian M. Deines, Peter Regier, Kenton Rod, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Tim Scheibe, Jianqiu Zheng, Maggi Laan, and Kaizad F. Patel were supported by the Earth & Biological Sciences Program Development Office at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a multiprogram national laboratory operated by Battelle for the US Department of Energy. Joshua B. Fisher was supported by NASA's ECOSTRESS Science and Applications Team (ESAT) (80NSSC23K0309). Teri O'Meara was supported by COMPASS-FME, a multi-institutional project supported by the US Department of Energy's Environmental System Science program. Inke Forbrich was supported by US Department of Energy award DE-SC0022108. Michelle H. Busch, Amy J. Burgin, and Erin Seybold were supported by NSF EPSCoR Aquatic Intermittency effects of Microbiomes on Streams: OSF 2019603. Kristin Boye was supported by the Watershed Function Science Focus Area at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research, under contract no. DE-AC02-76SF00515. Joshua Ladau was supported by Arva Intelligence. Thibault Datry was supported by the DRYvER project, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 869226. Elizabeth Herndon was supported by the Watershed Dynamics and Evolution Science Focus Area funded through the Department of Energy Office of Science Biological and Environmental Research program.