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Are Tidal Salt Marshes Exposed to Nutrient Pollution more Vulnerable to Sea Level Rise?
Citation:
Krause, J., E. Watson, C. Wigand, AND N. Maher. Are Tidal Salt Marshes Exposed to Nutrient Pollution more Vulnerable to Sea Level Rise? WETLANDS. The Society of Wetland Scientists, McLean, VA, 40:1539–1548, (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-019-01254-8
Impact/Purpose:
In recent decades salt marshes have declined due to drowning in place. A major cause of the marsh loss was accelerated sea level rise. In this study we examined factors that might increase vulnerability of marshes to sea level rise. Our results suggest that wastewater exposure may accelerate loss of marsh. Wastewater exposure had an apparent negative effect on the low marsh zone at the long Island, NY sites. In the low marsh zone, low elevation, large tidal range, high soil carbon, and excess nutrients were associated with higher rates of marsh loss. In contrast, large tidal ranges, high soil carbon, and excess nutrient in the high marsh zones on Long Island were associated with increased resilience to SLR. These results will assist restoration specialists and resource managers in how to target different areas on the marsh for restoration actions.
Description:
Over the past four decades, Long Island, NY, USA, has lost coastal wetlands at a rate of 4% per decade due to submergence. In this study, we examined relationships between the rate of tidal salt marsh loss and environmental factors, including marsh elevation, tidal range, and wastewater exposure through analysis of stable isotope ratios of marsh soils and biota. Our goal was to identify factors that increase vulnerability of marshes to sea level rise, with a specific emphasis on the potential role of poor water quality in hastening marsh loss. Our results suggest that wastewater exposure may accelerate loss of intertidal marsh, but does not negatively impact high tidal marsh resilience to sea level rise. And while marsh elevation and tidal range were statistically significant predictors of marsh loss, they similarly displayed opposite relationships among marsh zones. This study suggests that different functional zones of coastal salt marshes may not respond similarly to global change factors, and that elevation may be an important factor mediating eutrophication effects to coastal salt marshes.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Are Tidal Salt Marshes Exposed to Nutrient Pollution more Vulnerable to Sea Level Rise?