Environmental filters may mitigate biotic homogenization in created wetlands

Environmental filters may mitigate biotic homogenization in created wetlands | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Environmental filters may mitigate biotic homogenization in created wetlands Adam Austin, Tiffany Schriever This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8574267/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Effective wetland creation is critical for mitigating the ongoing extinction crisis and supporting some of the world’s most at-risk species. However, many created wetlands demonstrate biotic homogenization associated with generalist colonizers, potentially excluding the species most in need of wetland habitat. To help break this paradigm, we sought to identify the factors most strongly associated with community turnover and broader patterns of community variation. We conducted comprehensive inventories of the aquatic communities of 23 compensatory wetlands in the lower peninsula of Michigan, USA, and used both linear and non-linear analytical approaches to identify the temporal, landscape, and habitat characteristics most strongly associated with community dissimilarity. For both plant and faunal assemblages, wetland age and a related pattern of solar transmission were associated with strong, non-linear responses in community turnover. Broader variation in plant assemblages was associated with temporal characteristics, while faunal variation was associated with landscape and spatial characteristics. This study adds to the growing body of restoration literature and helps identify the most important factors for creating dissimilar wetland communities, potentially helping mitigate species loss during the ‘Homogenocene.’ wetland mitigation ecological restoration community assembly environmental filter macroinvertebrates fish amphibian Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 24 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 06 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 23 Jan, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Jan, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Jan, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 22 Jan, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 12 Jan, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 12 Jan, 2026 First submitted to journal 11 Jan, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8574267","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":579561011,"identity":"c4fe4bed-7ca1-4ccc-be7f-720fef207cb8","order_by":0,"name":"Adam Austin","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA9klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFCCBATzAEMFAwMbAw8DiCRGCzNQyxlStTAwtoEYBLTwtyc/3cC4h0He4Pz5g4cL5x2O5mM/e4DhQ9lhnFokzjwzu8HwjMFww41khsMztx3ObePJS2CccQ63FoYbCUAtBxgYN9xgZjjMu+12bpsEjwEzbxtuLfI30r+BtNhvOH8YqGUOVMtfPFoMbuSAbUnccADoMN4GqBZGPFoMz7wpu5FwQCJ55o1kg8M8x/4D/ZJjcLDnXDpOLXLH07fd+HDAxrbv/MHHn3lq0nLnt58xfPCjzBq390EggUECVeAAfvWjYBSMglEwCggBAC+iW9fNhHz3AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Western Michigan University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Adam","middleName":"","lastName":"Austin","suffix":""},{"id":579561014,"identity":"c8e66582-7482-4857-8ea9-54bbf0a74f89","order_by":1,"name":"Tiffany Schriever","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Western Michigan University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tiffany","middleName":"","lastName":"Schriever","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-11 14:53:19","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8574267/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8574267/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":101297613,"identity":"90f3254d-e4a2-476c-94f0-96c53e36cfd0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-28 09:28:17","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":879536,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AustinSchriever2026.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8574267/v1_covered_5a9ad5a9-076f-4354-8e0a-da1b896d0790.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Environmental filters may mitigate biotic homogenization in created wetlands","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"wetlands-ecology-and-management","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"wetl","sideBox":"Learn more about [Wetlands Ecology and Management](https://www.springer.com/journal/11273)","snPcode":"11273","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/11273/3","title":"Wetlands Ecology and Management","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"wetland mitigation, ecological restoration, community assembly, environmental filter, macroinvertebrates, fish, amphibian","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8574267/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8574267/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eEffective wetland creation is critical for mitigating the ongoing extinction crisis and supporting some of the world\u0026rsquo;s most at-risk species. 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