Spring water table depth mediates within-site variation of soil temperature in groundwater-fed mires

0545686 - BÚ 2022 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Horsák, M. - Horsáková, V. - Polášek, M. - Coufal, R. - Hájková, Petra - Hájek, M.
Spring water table depth mediates within-site variation of soil temperature in groundwater-fed mires.
Hydrological Processes. Roč. 35, č. 7 (2021), č. článku e14293. ISSN 0885-6087. E-ISSN 1099-1085
Institutional support: RVO:67985939
Keywords : climate change * soil thermal buffering * spring mire * temperature datalogger * water saturation
OECD category: Ecology
Impact factor: 3.784, year: 2021
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14293

Groundwater-dependent ecosystems represent globally rare edaphic islands of scattered distribution, often forming areas of regionally unique environmental conditions. A stable groundwater supply is a key parameter defining their ecological specificity, promoting also soil thermal buffering. Still, a limited number of studies dealt with the importance of water temperature in mire ecosystems and virtually no data exist on within-site variation in the temperature buffer effect. Three temperature dataloggers, placed in patches potentially differing in groundwater supply, were installed in each of 19 Western Carpathian spring mire sites from May 2019 to July 2020. Spring source plots statistically differed in water temperature parameters from the plots located towards the spring mire margin, which did not significantly differ from one another. At the majority of sites, the temperature values changed gradually from spring source to mire margins, fitting the pattern expected in the groundwater temperature buffering scenario. Dataloggers placed in the spring sources were the most distinctive from the others in thermal buffering parameters in conditional principal component analysis. Thus, our data may provide an important baseline for predictions of possibly upcoming changes in spring mire hydrology caused by climate change.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0322361