Integrated assessments of wetland hydrologic regimes and other environmental factors are key to understanding the ecology of species breeding in ephemerally flooded wetlands, and reproductive success is often directly linked to suitable flooding regimes, both temporally and spatially. We used high-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data to develop bathymetric stage–flooded area relationships, predict spatial extent of flooding, and assess vegetation structure in 30 pine flatwoods wetlands. For a subset of wetlands with monitoring wells, we then integrated bathymetric and water level data to create multi-year time series of daily flooded areas. We then related the observed flooded areas to topographic and landscape metrics to develop models predicting flooded extents in wetlands without monitoring wells. We found that stage–area curves varied depending on wetland size and bathymetry, such that a one-cm increase in water depth could generate flooded area increases ranging from hundreds to thousands of square meters. Flooded areas frequently fragmented into discrete flooded patches as wetlands dried, and there was a weak positive correlation between hydroperiod and mean flooded area across multiple years (r = 0.32). To evaluate the utility of using LiDAR-derived data to support the conservation of wetland-breeding species, we combined metrics of flooding and vegetation to map potentially suitable habitat for the imperiled reticulated flatwoods salamander (Ambystoma bishopi). Overall, projects focusing on the ecology of wetland-breeding species could gain a broader understanding of habitat effects from coupled assessments of bathymetry, water level dynamics, and other wetland characteristics.

对湿地水文状况和其他环境因素的综合评估是了解短暂淹没湿地物种繁殖生态的关键，而繁殖成功通常与时间和空间上合适的洪水状况直接相关。我们使用高分辨率光探测和测距 (LiDAR) 数据来开发测深阶段与洪水区域的关系，预测洪水的空间范围，并评估 30 个松树林湿地的植被结构。对于带有监测井的湿地子集，我们整合了测深和水位数据，以创建每日洪水区域的多年时间序列。然后，我们将观察到的洪水区域与地形和景观指标联系起来，以开发模型来预测湿地的洪水范围，而无需监测井。我们发现，阶段-面积曲线根据湿地大小和水深测量而变化，水深每增加一厘米，淹没面积就会增加数百到数千平方米。随着湿地干燥，洪水区域经常破碎成离散的洪水斑块，并且多年来的水周期和平均洪水面积之间存在微弱的正相关性（r = 0.32）。为了评估使用激光雷达数据支持湿地繁殖物种保护的效用，我们结合了洪水和植被的指标来绘制濒临灭绝的网纹扁林蝾螈（Ambystoma bishopi）的潜在合适栖息地。总体而言，关注湿地繁殖物种生态学的项目可以通过对测深、水位动态和其他湿地特征的联合评估来更广泛地了解栖息地影响。