4. Conclusions
Precise measurement of pond inundation timing can be essential for
studies of ecological and hydrological dynamics, particularly in areas
with fine-scale variation in climate, where limited water supply may be
crucial in shaping population and community dynamics. In this study, we
observed an approximate 4-week difference in initial inundation timing
between ponds within a small geographic range
(~50km2), which is a substantial
portion of the aquatic stage for many aquatic organisms that rely on
these ponds to complete their life cycle (e.g., amphibians: Mims et al.,
2020; Moore et al., 2020); these intraseasonal differences in inundation
timing may thus have major implications for community composition and
species turnover in these habitats. Fine-scale hydrological data such as
those presented herein provide valuable information about dynamic water
regimes that can improve conservation strategies by identifying
potential refugees for plants and wildlife and can also aid in planning
for human adaptation in response to the changing climate.
Acknowledgments, Samples, and Data. J. Kraft, M.J. Farruggia, J.A.
Smith, S.A. Yamada, and J.C. Uyeda and the Uyeda Lab provided input and
feedback on experimental design and data analysis. M.A. Hallmark, J.
Kraft, M.B. Parsley, and E.J. Shadle helped with sensor deployment and
data collection in the field. All fieldwork was done with permission
from the Coronado Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service. Funding
for this work was provided by the College of Science and Fralin Life
Sciences Institute at Virginia Tech and by a graduate fellowship
to KLG from the Interfaces of Global Change program at Virginia Tech.
Data, supplementary materials, and R code associated with this
manuscript are available on Github and archived athttps://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5188507