4.3 Wetland Natural Communities
T ABLE 4.23 Comparison of climate change with other threats to upland pools and depressions
Rank Order Comments
Threat
Logging/ Exploitation
1 Shallower examples may be destroyed by development or heavily altered by logging. Logging when the ground is wet creates permanent ruts as well as altering canopy structure and composition. Clearcutting near ephemeral wet- lands causes higher solar radiation and an increase in the probability of wet- lands drying out; also, timber harvest may introduce weedy plant invasions of wetlands. 1 Piedmont wetland habitats are heavily impacted by, and have been greatly reduced by, development, roads, and drainage throughout the region. Wetter examples are degraded by development of surrounding areas. 2 Some models predict that rainfall will be concentrated during the fall and that there will be increased droughts in the spring and summer. Tis may refect an expectation of increased hurricane activity rather than well-distributed rain- fall. Tere is also a general expectation that both droughts and extreme rainfall events will become more common. 3 Drainage ditches have afected some examples, and alteration of drainage by roads has altered some other examples. Includes artifcial drainage and Beaver impoundment efects. Beaver ponds can be a nuisance to landowners when they food farm felds or commercial timber. Pools located in foodplain terraces that now rarely food may experience greater fooding in the future due to more frequent severe storms. 3 Invasive species are not a signifcant problem in these systems at present. Increased canopy opening and shortened hydroperiod will make them more susceptible to invasion by Japanese Honeysuckle, Japanese Stiltgrass, and possibly Asian Dayfower. Fire Ants, which are not abundant in the Piedmont at present, are likely to increase with warmer temperatures. Tey represent a threat to these communities, and may represent an additional indirect threat if they harm amphibians in the uplands. Te introduction of fsh, bullfrogs, and other predatory species can devastate the breeding efort of amphibians in small wetlands.
Development
Climate Change
Flood Regime Alteration
Invasive Species
reptiles and amphibians and can efectively isolate breeding populations, or separate wet- land habitats from upland habitats that are used during non-breeding portions of amphib- ian and reptile life cycles. Te increase in impervious surfaces from the proliferation of roads causes excess stormwater runof and pollution from point and nonpoint sources, which degrades water quality. Most amphibians are highly sensitive to changes in water quality. All are likely to be strongly afected, particularly upland populations, by increases in pro- longed droughts associated with climate change. Increased drawdown of groundwater levels, also the result of prolonged drought as well as increased human utilization, partic- ularly in times of surface water scarcity, is another major threat for populations associated with foodplain pools or seeps. Floodplain pool populations are additionally likely to be
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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