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