Institute of Energy and the Environment

Relationship of wetlands, climate change explored on 'Growing Impact' podcast

The latest episode of the Growing Impact podcast speaks with a researcher who looks to reinstall instruments on wetland sites where he collected data more than a decade ago to assess hydrologic changes that may have occurred due to climate change. Credit: Brenna Buck. All Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The latest episode of the "Growing Impact" podcast features Andy Cole, a professor of landscape architecture and ecology, and his work in wetlands.

Cole's recent seed grant project titled “Wetland Hydrology and Plant Community Composition – A Reassessment of Site Conditions a Decade Later” looks to reinstall instruments on wetland sites that he started measuring nearly 30 years ago, all to assess hydrologic changes that may have occurred due to climate change. 

“I installed instruments on more than 60 sites to perform hydrogeomorphic assessments,” Cole said. “This was to be able to predict behavior of a lot of these wetlands just based on their position in the landscape and how the water behaves.” 

The instruments Cole installed provided more than a decade’s worth of data, an unusually large amount of data for a hydrogeomorphic research project, which typically lasts about three to four years. 

“A lot of the sites that I instrumented in the past are up on the ridges, headwater sites,” he said. “As we begin to change the climate and rainfall patterns change, both excessively or they become much drier, these headwater systems are going to be among the first harbingers of change.” 

Cole said he decided to re-instrument nine of the sites where he knew he had a long run of data. 

“It takes several years to get a reliable signal, especially on some of these sites that are not groundwater-fed,” he said. “The sites that are more surface-water fed or a mix of groundwater and surface water behave very differently, and sometimes it takes years to get a proper signal.” 

Cole said it is important to go back to these sites and collect current data because identifying a hydrogeomorphic signal of climate change could help forecast potential problems in Appalachian wetlands and streams. 

"Growing Impact" is a podcast by the Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE). It features Penn State researchers who have been awarded IEE seed grants and discusses their foundational work as they further their projects. The podcast is available on multiple platforms, including Apple, Google, Amazon, and Spotify.  

Last Updated October 3, 2022