Global ecosystem typology

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TF1.4 Seasonal floodplain marshes

Biome: TF1. Palustrine wetlands biome

Contributors:
(texts)

Seasonal flooding and drying regimes characterise high productivity floodplain marshes in the seasonal tropics and subhumid temperate regions. Typically, different plants respond to the mosaic of variable flooding regimes, supporting complex networks of invertebrates, waterbirds, reptiles, and mammals. Prey concentrate as the wetlands dry, and many plants and animals use specialised adaptations such as seed banks or egg banks, to survive drying.

Key Features

High productivity wetlands with strongly seasonal water regimes, supporting functionally diverse mosaics of aquatic plants and seasonally variable trophic networks of invertebrates, amphibians, crocodilians and birds.

Overview of distribution

Seasonal tropics and subhumid temperate regions.

Profile versions

  • v1.0 (2020-01-20): DA Keith; RT Kingsford; RC Mac Nally; KM Rodriguez-Clark; A Etter
  • v2.0 (2020-06-17): DA Keith; RT Kingsford; R Mac Nally; B Robson; JA Catford; MC Rains; K Irvine; KM Rodriguez-Clark; A Etter
  • v2.01 ():
  • v2.1 (2022-04-06): DA Keith; RT Kingsford; R Mac Nally; B Robson; JA Catford; MC Rains; K Irvine; KM Rodriguez-Clark; A Etter Full profile available at official site

Main references

Selected references for this functional group:

  • Damasceno-Junior GA., Semir J, Dos Santos FAM, de Freitas Leitão-Filho H (2005) Structure, distribution of species and inundation in a riparian forest of Rio Paraguai, Pantanal, Brazil Flora-Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants 200:119-135

Diagrammatic assembly model

Diagrammatic assembly model of TF1.4 Seasonal floodplain marshes. See general notes on diagrams. Open image full size.

Maps

Maps are indicative of global distribution patterns are not intended to represent fine-scale patterns. The maps show areas of the world containing major (coloured red) or minor occurrences (coloured yellow) of each ecosystem functional group. See general notes on maps.

There are 2 alternative versions of the indicative map for this functional group, please compare description and sources below.

TF1.4.IM.mix_v1.0

Datasets

  • GLWD-2004
  • KG-climate-2018
  • FEOW-2008

Map references

  • Lehner, B. and Döll, P. (2004): Development and validation of a global database of lakes, reservoirs and wetlands. Journal of Hydrology 296/1-4: 1-22. Data-set

  • Beck, H., Zimmermann, N., McVicar, T. et al. (2018) Present and future Köppen-Geiger climate classification maps at 1-km resolution Sci Data 5, 180214 DOI:10.1038/sdata.2018.214

  • Abell R, Thieme ML, Revenga C, Bryer M, Kottelat M, Bogutskaya N, Coad B, Mandrak N, Contreras Balderas S, Bussing W, Stiassny MLJ, Skelton P, Allen GR, Unmack P, Naseka A, Ng R, Sindorf N, Robertson J, Armijo E, Higgins JV, Heibel TJ, Wikramanayake E, Olson D, López HL, Reis RE, Lundberg JG, Sabaj Pérez MH, Petry P (2008) Freshwater ecoregions of the world: A new map of biogeographic units for freshwater biodiversity conservation, BioScience 58: 403–414. DOI:10.1641/B580507

TF1.4.web.map_v1.0

Major occurrences of freshwater marshes and floodplains were taken from the Global Lakes and Wetlands Database (Lehner and Döll 2004). Occurrences in boreal and polar climates were excluded by removing KoeppnGeiger_classes>26 in Beck et al. (2018). Additional areas with minor occurrences identified in selected freshwater ecoregions (Abell et al. 2008). Ecoregions were selected if: i) their descriptions mentioned features consistent with those identifed in the profile of the Ecosystem Functional Group; and ii) if their location was consistent with the ecological drivers described in the profile. Open image full size.

Datasets

  • KG-climate-2018
  • FEOW-2008
  • GLWD-2004

Map references

  • Beck, H., Zimmermann, N., McVicar, T. et al. (2018) Present and future Köppen-Geiger climate classification maps at 1-km resolution Sci Data 5, 180214 DOI:10.1038/sdata.2018.214

  • Abell R, Thieme ML, Revenga C, Bryer M, Kottelat M, Bogutskaya N, Coad B, Mandrak N, Contreras Balderas S, Bussing W, Stiassny MLJ, Skelton P, Allen GR, Unmack P, Naseka A, Ng R, Sindorf N, Robertson J, Armijo E, Higgins JV, Heibel TJ, Wikramanayake E, Olson D, López HL, Reis RE, Lundberg JG, Sabaj Pérez MH, Petry P (2008) Freshwater ecoregions of the world: A new map of biogeographic units for freshwater biodiversity conservation, BioScience 58: 403–414. DOI:10.1641/B580507

  • Lehner, B. and Döll, P. (2004): Development and validation of a global database of lakes, reservoirs and wetlands. Journal of Hydrology 296/1-4: 1-22. Data-set

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