A methodology for relating wetland configuration to human disturbance in Alberta

Context Widespread loss of wetland ecosystems resulting from human land use highlights the need for a reclamation strategy that can sustain wetland ecosystem services. Since wetland function partly depends on landscape structure, reclamation and monitoring can be aided by knowing the differences in wetland configuration between undisturbed and disturbed landscapes. Objectives Identify a parsimonious set of landscape metrics for quantifying wetland configuration and land-cover composition, and quantify how these metrics vary with anthropogenic disturbance. Methods A large suite of landscape metrics quantifying area/edge, shape, aggregation, and diversity were calculated for landscapes in the Grassland, Parkland, and Boreal Natural Regions of Alberta. Variable reduction techniques were applied to identify representative metrics. These representative metrics were related to anthropogenic disturbance using non-parametric tests. Results The spatial configuration of wetlands in low-disturbance and high-disturbance landscapes were significantly different from other landscapes. Aggregation metrics were the most commonly identified measures of wetland configuration independent of wetland-proportion in the landscape. Conclusions Our findings provide insight for reclamation and monitoring by showing that some aspects of wetland configuration vary independently of composition, and therefore both need to be considered when parameterizing the design of reclaimed landscapes. We suggest that using landscape metrics in a reference condition approach is appropriate for evaluating landscape degradation and for setting landscape reclamation targets and monitoring programs.