Field dataset of the depth to water from diverse wetland types in relation to habitat and soil

TL;DR

This paper presents a dataset of water depth measurements in French wetlands to better understand their hydrology and how it relates to soil and habitat.

Contribution

The study provides a comprehensive and shared dataset of depth to water table measurements across diverse wetland types in France.

Findings

Hydrological data was collected from 37 monitoring wells across 17 wetlands from 2021 to 2023.

The dataset includes 469,001 hourly measurements of depth to water table and water temperature.

The dataset includes 22 variables describing site locations, habitat, soil, and hydrological conditions.

Abstract

Wetlands perform important functions and provide essential ecological services, including flood attenuation, groundwater recharge and discharge, and water purification. Human activities such as urban and rural development, drainage, and land alteration can cause major disturbances, often resulting in the drying up of wetlands. Therefore, many restoration projects aim to restore wetland hydrology. Hydrology significantly affects wetland functions by modifying and determining the wetlands physicochemical environment that allows for the development of a specific biota. Despite the importance of hydrology, monitoring efforts are mainly focused on surveying and characterizing wetland habitats or plant composition. There are few datasets available from the monitoring of the depth to water table (DTW) in wetlands and when available they are rarely shared. Collecting hydrological data can contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between hydrology, soil and habitat and can help understand the effect of climate change. From 2021 to 2023, depth to water table, soil and habitat data were collected across a variety of wetland types in France with a focus on hydrological data. Using data loggers placed in 37 monitoring wells across 17 wetlands, 469001 hourly depth to water table and water temperature data were collected. The dataset includes two files containing a total of 22 variables that describe the location of sites, habitat (EUNIS: European Nature Information System), soil hydromorphy, depth to water table, and water temperature. The dataset can be used to better understand wetland hydrology and its relationship to soil and habitat. The data collection process may be used to help restoration project achieve their goal.

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