This members-only lunchtime webinar is a technical discussion on interdunal wetland research intended to shed light on this ecosystem’s incredibly complex patterns and hydrology. Coastal wetlands provide essential ecosystem functions such as water quality, maintaining the health of the Great Lakes, and offer critical habitat for aquatic biodiversity. Interdunal wetlands, develop in wind-formed depressions within open dunes or between beach ridges along the coastlines of the Great Lakes.
Despite the paramount importance of interdunal wetlands in the Great Lakes ecosystem, the ecology and hydrology of this habitat remain virtually unknown. The Schriever lab group has focused on identifying biodiversity patterns at local and regional scales while examining the influence of and change across environmental gradients both in terms of genetic diversity and functional diversity as well as characterizing the hydrology of interdunal wetlands. Our work has produced the first estimates of aquatic biodiversity, population genetic structure, and clues to the dynamic hydrologic conditions in interdunal wetlands.
