Expanding wetland hydroperiod data via satellite imagery for ecological applications

Wetland ecosystems are highly biodiverse, essential to human health and well-being, and in decline, yet knowledge of the natural dynamics and distributions of wetland systems is lacking globally, hindering conservation efforts. We integrated data generated from novel remote-sensing techniques and Bayesian hierarchical modeling to estimate the daily surface area of 149 wetlands (vernal pools) over a 20-year period. We used these data to quantify the proportion of pools found suitable for local threatened and endangered species, and we discuss how to apply these methods to help answer fundamental ecological questions. Our modeling approaches, which can be applied to many kinds of wetlands and other freshwater systems, expand our ability to understand hydrologic dynamics across scales relevant to species, populations, and ecosystems, as well as to human needs, concerns, and decision making.