Wetlands - Broad Scale

This dataset (WETLAND_BROAD_POLY) is a composite of several individual wetland mapping projects, collectively referred to as "Wetlands - Broad Scale". The methodology used, map accuracy, and credits vary by project; these project details are outlined in Table 5 (see below). The spatial extent of individual projects are delineated in a separate feature class entitled, "WETLAND_BROAD_EXTENTS_POLY". The "Project Name" attribute field, common to both feature classes, denotes the specific project each feature is associated with.

This dataset is intended to be used as a broad scale planning and management tool to identify potential distribution and abundance of wetlands. Wetlands were mapped to wetland class (shallow water, marsh, swamp, fen, and bog), following the Canadian Wetland Classification System using a predictive model. This dataset is intended to support land management and regional land use planning processes. Local scale (10k) manual wetland mapping, and additional physical assessments (i.e. ground inspections) may be required to undertake habitat enhancement, environmental assessment, reclamation planning, or environmental mitigation over small to moderate areas.

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[Map development:

The "Wetlands - Broad Scale" dataset was developed using a random forest machine learning model to predict wetland classes. Various satellite imagery sources and landscape variables derived from a digital elevation model (DEM) were used as primary inputs to predict wetlands. The source dataset has a resolution of 10 x 10 m. Training and validation data are a mix of ground plots (site visit and ecosystem plots), aerial survey plots, and interpreted polygons. Each predictive wetland map within the composite has met the minimum criteria of a map accuracy greater than or equal to 70 % and a Kappa coefficient greater than 0.60.

The map (or producer's) accuracy measures the percentage of wetland features that are correctly classified to one of the five wetland classes.

The Kappa coefficient statistic is used to measure the extent to which the model has correctly predicted, given the set of validation data. A value of 0 indicates predicted values are entirely random. A value of 1 indicates a perfect model. As a general rule, Kappa coefficients less than 0.60 indicate a poorly performing model, values of 0.61 to 0.80 indicate substantial agreement between predicted and validation data, and values of 0.81 to 1.00 indicate almost perfect agreement.

The size of the smallest wetland that can be reliably mapped, the Target Mapping Unit (TMU), was not established for this dataset at the time of publication. Wetland classes smaller than a TMU of 2.0 hectares in this dataset should be used with caution. Wetlands below the TMU have a higher potential to be associated with classification error. The reported map accuracy is adequate for the intended purpose, and assumes that training data has adequately captured variation in landscape and vegetation structure between and within wetland classes.

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Feature attributes:

Each polygon feature is associated with a combination of feature attributes grouped by value number, as shown in Table 1: ecological realm, wetland group, and wetland class.

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[Table 1. Feature attributes grouped by value number

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Value\ Ecological Realm\ Wetland Group\ Wetland Class \ \ \

0\ \ \ Other \ \ \

1\ Freshwater\ \ Water (non-wetland) \ \ \

2\ Wetland\ Mineral\ Shallow Water \ \ \

3\ Wetland\ Mineral\ Marsh \ \ \

4\ Wetland\ Mineral\ Swamp \ \ \

5\ Wetland\ Peatland\ Fen \ \ \

6\ Wetland\ Peatland\ Bog \ \ \

The ecological realm is a broadly defined ecosystem with common water source and character, described in Table 2.

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[Table 2. Ecological realm breakdown into broad ecosystem categories

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Ecological Realm\ Description \

Freshwater\ Inland aquatic ecosystems \

Wetland\ Ecosystems dominated by plants adapted to saturated soils and periodically or permanently anaerobic soil conditions \

The wetland group is defined by the accumulation (or lack) of organic matter or peat, as described in Table 3.

[Table 3. Wetland groups

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Wetland Group\ Description \

Peatland\ Organic wetland classes that have more than 40 cm of organic matter (peat) accumulation (Warner and Rubec 1997) on which Organic soils or Organic Cryosols develop. Organic wetlands are characterized by poorly to moderately decomposed peat, mostly comprised of peat mosses, brown mosses, and/or sedges, but can also include woody remains of shrubs, or other plants. Mapped fen and bog wetland classes may have as little as 30 cm of peat accumulation, in the Yukon Wetland Classification System to be recognized as a peatland. \

Mineral\ Mineral wetlands occur in areas where an excess of water collects on the surface or within the rooting zone of plants for a significant portion of the growing season and which, for geomorphic, hydrologic, biotic, edaphic (factors related to soil), or climatic reasons, accumulate little to no organic matter or peat (typically less than 40 cm). Gleysol or Gleysolic Cryosol soils, or peaty phases of these soils, are characteristic of these wetlands (Warner and Rubec 1997). Swamps may have more than 30 cm of peat accumulation; however mineral swamps and peatland swamps are not distinguished from each other at the group level in this map. \

Table 4 describes five wetland classes and one non-wetland class that apply to this dataset. The five wetland classes that are recognized based on broadly similar site conditions along dominant environmental gradients as reflected in physiognomy (the life form, structure, and stature of vegetation) and species with similar adaptations. Non-wetland water systems are also mapped at this level.

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[Table 4. Wetland class breakdown.

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Wetland Class\ Description \

Shallow Water\ Shallow water wetlands have standing or flowing water above the surface and less than 2 m deep in mid-summer. Vegetation is dominated by submerged or floating aquatic plants, algae, and aquatic mosses. \

Marsh\ Marshes are mineral wetlands characterized by shallow surface water, which fluctuates dynamically daily, seasonally, or annually. The water table may be below, at, or above the ground surface at a given time. They are dominated by aquatic macrophytes largely rushes, reeds, grasses, sedges, and sometimes herbs. \

Swamp\ A swamp is a treed or tall or medium shrub dominated wetland that is influenced by minerotrophic groundwater. A swamp occurs on either mineral or organic soils. \

Fen\ Fens are nutrient medium peatlands where minerotrophic groundwater is within the rooting zone. Stands can be treed, shrubby, or sedge dominated. Brown mosses usually dominate the moss layer. \

Bog\ Bogs are nutrient poor peatlands where the rooting zone occurs above the mineral-enriched groundwater. Stands can be treed, shrubby, or moss dominated, where the moss layer is comprised mostly of peat moss. \

Water (non-wetland)\ This is a land cover class in the freshwater realm. It represents lacustrine (lake) and riverine (moving water) systems that are not wetlands. \

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[Table 5: Unique project details for each mapping area within the "Wetlands - Broad Scale" dataset.

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*Mahdavi, S., B. Salehi, M. Amani, J.E. Granger, B. Brisco, W. Huang, and A. Hanson. 2017. Object-based Classification of Wetlands in Newfoundland and Labrador using Multi-temporal PolSAR Data. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 43(5), 432-450.

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Éditeur

Producteur	Geomatics Yukon
Dépositaire	Government of Yukon
URL de la page d'accueil	https://yukon.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=79fd8fa10d8842de8670f89fded20bce

Renseignements sur la publication

Licence	Open Government Licence - Yukon
Date de publication	2023-02-03
Date de mise à jour	2023-11-16
Fréquence de mise à jour	Ponctuelle

Sujets

Sujet	Nature and environment Science and technology
Étiquettes	beaver-river beaver-river-land-use-plan canada ecological ecological-and-landscape-classification ecosystem elc environment-yukon geoyukon-import geoyukon-import-20250714 land-classification landscape-classification mayo-watershed mcquesten-watershed peel-watershed peel-watershed-regional-land-use-plan predictive-ecosystem-map vegetation wetland