Nuclear techniques to protect wetlands and preserve the ecosystem

A wetland is an area, usually flat, that is in a permanent or intermittent state of flooding, giving rise to a rich hybrid ecosystem of aquatic and terrestrial animals. They are therefore critical to the environment because they improve water quality, prevent erosion, store carbon, and preserve stream channels.

Wetlands are home to thousands of unique plant and animal species, such as the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) of the Pantanal, the world's largest wetland covering almost 20 million hectares and extending across Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay.

In recent years, wetlands have been at serious risk from fires or from human activities, such as drainage to create agricultural land or the effect of overuse of the surrounding groundwater.

In fact, according to the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (signed in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971, with 154 signatory countries and listing 1,641 wetlands covering a total area of 146 million hectares), since 1970 the extent of natural wetlands has been reduced by 35%.

Using isotope techniques and with the support of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), scientists are working to help conserve and protect these important ecosystems.

Isotopes in the environment give scientists a unique picture of the origin, interactions, and transit times of water, and provide insight into the processes and fluxes of water in changing environments. For example, oxygen-18 allows scientists to analyse the history of rainfall patterns. With natural radioisotopes such as tritium and carbon-14 and noble gases, they can calculate the age of groundwater, and with radon-222, they can study the interactions between groundwater and surface water.

Wetlands are found in areas where there is groundwater discharge and are a transition point between groundwater and surface water. By using isotopes to understand the functioning of wetlands, water management practices can be improved and these ecosystems can be preserved. By studying the interactions between groundwater and surface water, wetlands can be protected by estimating the amount of water that can drain and replenish groundwater systems without damaging them.

As an example, in South Africa, where 50 % of wetlands are threatened by erosion, agriculture, mining and other human activities, isotope techniques are used to study the dynamics of groundwater recharge and its interaction with surface water systems to improve wetland preservation.

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