Environmental Dynamics and Ecosystem Functionality in Tropical Wetlands
Summary
Tropical wetlands represent some of the most dynamic and productive ecosystems on Earth, where water, sediment and biota interact across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Seasonal flood pulses regulate nutrient inputs, drive sediment deposition and maintain connectivity between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. These hydrological rhythms underpin primary productivity and support rich communities of plants, invertebrates, fish and waterbirds. Organic matter produced during inundation fuels microbial processes that cycle carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, thereby influencing greenhouse-gas fluxes and regional water quality. The intricate balance between inundation and drought also shapes geomorphology, promoting the formation of channels, levees, peat deposits and floating mats. Human activities—such as agricultural expansion, deforestation, dam construction and peat extraction—have altered hydrological regimes and nutrient budgets, threatening ecosystem services including flood mitigation, carbon sequestration and fisheries. Climate change compounds these pressures through altered rainfall patterns and rising temperatures. Effective conservation and restoration strategies must therefore integrate hydrodynamic modelling, long-term monitoring and local knowledge, recognising that resilience depends on preserving the natural variability of flood pulses and the integrity of catchment processes.
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Environmental Dynamics and Ecosystem Functionality in Tropical Wetlands publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in environmental dynamics and ecosystem functionality in tropical wetlands across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Flood pulse: The predictable rise and fall of water levels in a wetland that drives nutrient exchange and habitat connectivity.
Hydroperiod: The seasonal pattern and duration of inundation in a wetland system.
Terrestrialisation: The process by which wetlands become more terrestrial due to reduced flooding and sediment infill.
Primary productivity: The rate at which plant biomass is produced through photosynthesis in an ecosystem.
Biogeochemical cycling: The circulation of elements such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus through living organisms and the physical environment.
References
- Physical, ecological and human dimensions of environmental change in Brazil's Pantanal wetland: Synthesis and research agenda. The Science of The Total Environment (2019).
- Vegetation, rainfall, and pulsing hydrology in the Pantanal, the worlds largest tropical wetland. Environmental Research Letters (2019).
- Estimating Water pH Using Cloud-Based Landsat Images for a New Classification of the Nhecolândia Lakes (Brazilian Pantanal). Remote Sensing (2020).
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