| dc.description.abstract | The increasing global population and climate change have intensified water demands,
resulting in increased reliance on groundwater resources. The increasing water demand and
diminishing recharge rates pose a significant threat to groundwater levels and discharge. This
will lead to alterations in the flow regimes and water volumes impacting wetlands and species
richness. Slight modifications in flow regimes and water volumes can result in the loss of
specific plant and fish species communities, as these communities are adapted to particular
conditions. This research focuses on quantifying relationships between hydrological and water
quality variables and plant species richness in wetlands in Australia and England. The
approach aims to fill knowledge gaps related to plant species-area relationships and their
interactions with hydrology and water quality.
A comprehensive literature review is included about wetlands and identifying which drivers
impact the species richness in wetlands. For hydrological datasets, the PCR-GLOBWB model
output is used. For the water quality data, the DynQual model output and the World Bank’s
‘Quality Unknown’ data are used. General statistics were calculated and a correlation matrix is
used to find the highest correlation with plant species richness. The strength of the hydrological
and water quality-species richness relationships are quantified using linear, inverse and power
regression. The multiple linear regression is done for all variables including cross-validation.
The results indicate that the wetland area holds the strongest correlation with species richness.
Power regression models demonstrate significant prediction, particularly for wetland area and
organic pollution (BOD concentrations). The multiple linear regression models show that using
one predictor variable is insufficient to explain species richness. The area plays a critical role
in improving the fit to species richness. This study can be used to understand the contribution
of different driving factors in wetland species richness, for example for effective conservation
and sustainable management of wetland ecosystems, especially with the growing
anthropogenic pressures taken into account | |
