Motile animals can disperse to habitats with more favorable hydrologic conditions, the quality of which may affect animals physiology and their susceptibility to predation or other interactions

The spatial design of the hydrologic component of wetland models largely determines the questions that can be addressed

Nutrients are transported across space with water flows, while their fate is mediated by biological and chemical processes.

Plant growth, mortality, and other ecological processes respond strongly to water levels, with varying species responses leading to transitions among dominant plants in space and time.

Particulate soil matter may be differentially eroded and deposited, depending on water velocities; soils accumulate mass and height with plant mortality, but are oxidized at rates that vary significantly with water depth in the soil profile.

Interactions among each model component are shown as process-oriented feedback (of information or matter) within an integrated wetland model.

Animals - definition