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@ARTICLE{Beuel:820884,
      author       = {Beuel, Sonja and Alvarez, Miguel and Amler, Esther and
                      Behn, Kai and Kotze, Donovan and Kreye, Christine and
                      Leemhuis, Constanze and Wagner, Katrin and Willy, Daniel
                      Kyalo and Ziegler, Susanne and Becker, Mathias},
      title        = {{A} rapid assessment of anthropogenic disturbances in
                      {E}ast {A}frican wetlands},
      journal      = {Ecological indicators},
      volume       = {67},
      issn         = {1470-160X},
      address      = {Amsterdam [u.a.]},
      publisher    = {Elsevier Science},
      reportid     = {FZJ-2016-06148},
      pages        = {684 - 692},
      year         = {2016},
      abstract     = {The use of East African freshwater wetlands for agriculture
                      has increased in recent decades, raising concerns about
                      potential impacts on wetlands and the long-term
                      sustainability of such land use trends. WET-health is an
                      indicator-based rapid wetland assessment approach developed
                      in South Africa. It allows determining the conditions of
                      wetlands in four assessment modules (hydrology,
                      geomorphology, vegetation, and water quality) by observing
                      the degree of deviation of a wetland from its anticipated
                      natural reference state. We tested the transferability of
                      the WET-health concept for East African inland valley swamps
                      and floodplain wetlands based on 114 assessment units at
                      four study sites. Due to large wetland areas and different
                      environmental settings in East Africa, we modified the
                      original approach using a random selection of assessment
                      units and an assessment scheme based on disturbance types
                      (Appendices A and B). Estimated WET-health impact scores
                      were matched with biophysical and socioeconomic variables
                      using a generalized linear mixed model. Land use included
                      largely undisturbed wetland units occurring side by side
                      with seasonally cropped or grazed units, and drained,
                      permanently cultivated units. A strong differentiation of
                      impact scores between the four assessment modules was
                      apparent with highest scores for vegetation and lowest
                      scores for geomorphology. Vegetation and water quality
                      responded most sensitively to land use changes. The
                      magnitude of wetland disturbance is predominantly determined
                      by management factors such as land use intensity, soil
                      tillage, drainage intensity, and the application of
                      agrochemicals and influences vegetation attributes and the
                      provision of ecosystem services. The proposed modification
                      of WET-health enables users to assess large wetland areas
                      during relatively short periods of time. While further
                      studies will be required, WET-health appears to be a
                      promising concept to be applied to wetlands in East Africa
                      and possibly beyond.},
      cin          = {IBG-3},
      ddc          = {570},
      cid          = {I:(DE-Juel1)IBG-3-20101118},
      pnm          = {255 - Terrestrial Systems: From Observation to Prediction
                      (POF3-255)},
      pid          = {G:(DE-HGF)POF3-255},
      typ          = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
      UT           = {WOS:000388785300066},
      doi          = {10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.03.034},
      url          = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/820884},
}