Marsh vulnerability to sea-level rise

Vulnerability of the peatland carbon sink to sea-level rise

Freshwater peatlands are carbon accumulating ecosystems where primary production exceeds organic matter decomposition rates in the soil, and therefore perform an important sink function in global carbon cycling. Typical peatland plant and microbial communities are adapted to the waterlogged, often acidic and low nutrient conditions that characterise them. Peatlands in coastal locations receive ...

Modelling Coastal Vulnerability and Adaptation to Sea Level Rise

Coastal regions are highly vulnerable to sea-level rise (SLR) therefore developing and implementing effective adaptation alternatives is crucial for their future development. However, there is uncertainty in the timing, duration, spatial location and extent of SLR and storms. The complexity that arises from climate, coastal systems and their interactions in space and time can easily become over...

Elevated CO2 stimulates marsh elevation gain, counterbalancing sea-level rise.

Tidal wetlands experiencing increased rates of sea-level rise (SLR) must increase rates of soil elevation gain to avoid permanent conversion to open water. The maximal rate of SLR that these ecosystems can tolerate depends partly on mineral sediment deposition, but the accumulation of organic matter is equally important for many wetlands. Plant productivity drives organic matter dynamics and is...

Tidal marsh plant responses to elevated CO2 , nitrogen fertilization, and sea level rise.

Elevated CO2 and nitrogen (N) addition directly affect plant productivity and the mechanisms that allow tidal marshes to maintain a constant elevation relative to sea level, but it remains unknown how these global change drivers modify marsh plant response to sea level rise. Here we manipulated factorial combinations of CO2 concentration (two levels), N availability (two levels) and relative se...

Overwash Deposition Increases Backbarrier Marsh Resiliency to Sea Level Rise: Insights from a Coupled Barrier Island-marsh Model