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The Wetland Continuum: A Conceptual Framework For Interpreting Biological Studies, Ned H. Euliss Jr., James W. Labaugh, Leigh H. Fredrickson, David M. Mushet, Murray K. Laubhan, George A. Swanson, Thomas C. Winter, Donald O. Rosenberry, Richard D. Nelson

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

We describe a conceptual model, the wetland continuum, which allows wetland managers, scientists, and ecologists to consider simultaneously the influence of climate and hydrologic setting on wetland biological communities. Although multidimensional, the wetland continuum is most easily represented as a two-dimensional gradient, with ground water and atmospheric water constituting the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively. By locating the position of a wetland on both axes of the continuum, the potential biological expression of the wetland can be predicted at any point in time. The model provides a framework useful in the organization and interpretation of biological data from wetlands by …