The response of basin wetlands to climate changes: a review of case studies from the Swan Coastal Plain, south-western Australia

• Published in: Hydrobiologia Vol. 708; no. 1; pp. 45 - 67
• Main Authors: Semeniuk, C. A., Semeniuk, V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.05.2013; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic ecosystems; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Carbonates; Case studies; Climate change; Climate Change and Australian Wetlands; Coastal plains; Ecology; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Geochemistry; Global temperature changes; Holocene; Hydrology; Lakes; Life Sciences; Organic matter; Peat; Plains; Pollen; Spatial distribution; Wetlands; Zoology; Australia; ISW, Australia, Western Australia, Swan Coastal Plain; Climate change; Western Australia; Basin wetlands; Swan Coastal Plain
• ISSN: 0018-8158; 1573-5117
• DOI: 10.1007/s10750-012-1161-6

A review of stratigraphic, radiocarbon, pollen, and aerial photographic data on the Swan Coastal Plain, south-western Australia, allows interpretation of long-term changes in climate and its effects on wetlands during the Holocene, whereas monitoring wetland hydrology and vegetation provides a measure of shorter-term changes. The information provides models for basin wetland response to changing climate. Drying climates shift wetlands to drier conditions, turning lakes into seasonally inundated or waterlogged basins, or resulting in an overall loss of wetlands, and favours more saline conditions, and development of carbonate deposits. Wetter conditions results in more frequent inundation, shifting damplands to sumplands or lakes, and resulting in fresher water conditions, and development of peat and/or organic matter enriched deposits. Examples of wetland basin responses to climate change across the Swan Coastal Plain show differential responses depending on setting, spatial distribution, hydrology, hydrochemistry and geochemistry, different temporal frameworks, and biological resilience.