image: This short core sample is from Little Llangothlin Lagoon, Australia. Gravity cores like this one preserve a detailed history of changes in the wetland hydrology through time. The plants on the top are charophytes, which did not become common in this wetland until after 1840, when clearance of the forest nearby changed the wetland into a semi-permanent lake. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the 14 Nov. 2014 issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by Craig Woodward at University of Queensland in Brisbane, QLD, Australia, and colleagues was titled, "The hydrological legacy of deforestation on global wetlands." view more
Credit: [Credit: Craig Woodward]