Monitoring the hydrology of Canadian prairie wetlands to detect the effects of climate change and land use changes

There are millions of small isolated wetlands in the semi-arid Canadian prairies. These 'sloughs' are refuges for wildlife in an area that is otherwise intensively used for agriculture. They are particularly important as waterfowl habitat, with more than half of all North American ducks nesting in prairie sloughs. The water levels and ecology of the wetlands are sensitive to atmospheric change and to changes of agricultural practices in the surrounding fields. Monitoring of the hydrological conditions of the wetlands across the region is vital for detecting long-term trends and for studying the processes that control the water balance of the wetlands. Such monitoring therefore requires ex tensive regional-scale data complemented by intensive measurements at a few locations. At present, wetlands are being enumerated across the region once each year and year-round monitoring is being carried out at a few locations. The regional-scale data can be statistically related to regional climate data, but such analyses cast little light on the hydrological processes and have limited predictive value when climate and land use are changing. The intensive monitoring network has provided important insights but it now needs to he expanded and revised to meet new, questions concerning the effects of climate change and land use.