scholarly journals Future sea-level rise drives rocky intertidal habitat loss and benthic community change

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas J. Kaplanis ◽  
Clinton B. Edwards ◽  
Yoan Eynaud ◽  
Jennifer E. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Community Change ◽  
Rocky Intertidal ◽  
Areal Extent ◽  
Intertidal Habitat ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Habitat Area

The impacts of sea-level rise (SLR) are likely to be the greatest for ecosystems that exist at the land-sea interface, where small changes in sea-level could result in drastic changes in habitat availability. Rocky intertidal ecosystems possess a number of characteristics which make them highly vulnerable to changes in sea-level, yet our understanding of potential community-scale responses to future SLR scenarios is limited. Combining remote-sensing with in-situ large-area imaging, we quantified habitat extent and characterized the biological community at two rocky intertidal study locations in California, USA. We then used a model-based approach to estimate how a range of SLR scenarios would affect total habitat area, areal extent of dominant benthic space occupiers, and numerical abundance of invertebrates. Our results suggest that SLR will reduce total available rocky intertidal habitat area at our study locations, leading to an overall decrease in areal extent of dominant benthic space occupiers, and a reduction in invertebrate abundances. As large-scale environmental changes, such as SLR, accelerate in the next century, more extensive spatially explicit monitoring at ecologically relevant scales will be needed to visualize and quantify their impacts to biological systems.

scholarly journals Future sea-level rise drives rocky intertidal habitat loss and benthic community change

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas J. Kaplanis ◽  
Clinton B. Edwards ◽  
Yoan Eynaud ◽  
Jennifer E. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Community Change ◽  
Rocky Intertidal ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Benthic Habitat ◽  
Large Area ◽  
And Function

AbstractRocky intertidal ecosystems may be particularly susceptible to sea-level rise impacts but few studies have explored community scale response to future sea-level scenarios. Combining remote-sensing with large-area imaging, we quantify habitat extent and describe biological community structure at two rocky intertidal study locations in California. We then estimate changes in habitat area and community composition under a range of sea-level rise scenarios using a model-based approach. Our results suggest that future sea-level rise will significantly reduce rocky intertidal area at our study locations, leading to an overall decrease in benthic habitat and a reduction in overall invertebrate abundances, but increased densities of certain taxa. These results suggest that sea-level rise may fundamentally alter the structure and function of rocky intertidal systems. As large scale environmental changes such as sea-level rise accelerate in the next century, more extensive spatially-explicit monitoring at ecologically relevant scales will be needed to visualize and quantify the impacts to biological systems.

The southern North Sea as a natural palaeo-laboratory to reconstruct the coastal response to Last Interglacial sea-level rise

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Barlow ◽  
Victor Cartelle ◽  
Oliver Pollard ◽  
Lauren Gregoire ◽  
Natalya Gomez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Recent Observation ◽  
Sea Level Change ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Level Change ◽  
Southern North Sea

<p>Current models that project sea-level rise beyond 2100 have large uncertainties because recent observation encompass a too limited range of climate variability to provide robust tests against which to simulate future changes. It is crucial to turn to the geological record where there are large-scale changes in climate, but the current interglacial provides limited evidence for how the Earth-system responds to increased temperatures, and therefore it is necessary to study previous climatically-warm periods. Global temperatures during the Last Interglacial were ~1<sup>o</sup>C warmer than pre-industrial values and 3-5<sup>o</sup>C warmer at polar latitudes, during which time global mean sea level was likely 6-9 m above present. Though the drivers of warming during the Last Interglacial are different to those of today, it is the amplified warming at polar latitudes, the primary locations of the terrestrial ice masses likely to contribute to long term sea-level rise, which makes the Last Interglacial an ideal palaeo-laboratory to understand coastal response to sea-level rise.  However, our understanding of Last Interglacial sea level change is primarily limited to tropical and sub-tropical latitudes and it is important to understand the response of temperate estuarine settings to rising sea level.</p><p>The ERC-funded RISeR project (Rates of Interglacial Sea-level Change, and Responses) focuses on specifically targeting palaeo shorelines buried within the southern North Sea, preserved beyond the limit of the Last Glacial Maximum ice sheets. Buried Last Interglacial sequences in this area provide a valuable record of marine transgression and are being unveiled in new geophysical and geotechnical datasets acquired to support the offshore renewable energy development. This offshore sedimentary archives offer significant advantages over the geomorphologically restricted onshore records allowing us to trace the transgression over a much large area, and should capture the earliest flooding of the Last Interglacial North Sea basin, when the far-field data suggests ice sheet melt was at it maximum. By integrating the already available datasets with newly acquired samples as part of the project, we aim to develop new palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of the Last Interglacial sea-level change from northwest Europe, providing the first chronological constraints on timing, and therefore rates. This has the potential to allow us to ‘fingerprint’ the source of melt (Greenland and/or Antarctica) during the interglacial sea-level highstand.</p>

scholarly journals Holocene sea level and climate interactions on wet dune slack evolution in SW Portugal: A model for future scenarios?

The Holocene ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manel Leira ◽  
Maria C Freitas ◽  
Tania Ferreira ◽  
Anabela Cruces ◽  
Simon Connor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Sediment Supply ◽  
Dune Slack ◽  
Ecological Stability ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Climate Interactions

We examine the Holocene environmental changes in a wet dune slack of the Portuguese coast, Poço do Barbarroxa de Baixo. Lithology, organic matter, biological proxies and high-resolution chronology provide estimations of sediment accumulation rates and changes in environmental conditions in relation to sea-level change and climate variability during the Holocene. Results show that the wet dune slack was formed 7.5 cal. ka BP, contemporaneous with the last stages of the rapid sea-level rise. This depositional environment formed under frequent freshwater flooding and water ponding that allowed the development and post-mortem accumulation of abundant plant remains. The wetland evolved into mostly palustrine conditions over the next 2000 years, until a phase of stabilization in relative sea-level rise, when sedimentation rates slowed down to 0.04 mm yr−1, between 5.3 and 2.5 cal. ka BP. Later, about 0.8 cal. ka BP, high-energy events, likely due to enhanced storminess and more frequent onshore winds, caused the collapse of the foredune above the wetlands’ seaward margin. The delicate balance between hydrology (controlled by sea-level rise and climate change), sediment supply and storminess modulates the habitat’s resilience and ecological stability. This underpins the relevance of integrating past records in coastal wet dune slacks management in a scenario of constant adaptation processes.

scholarly journals Adapting to sea level rise: Emerging governance issues in the San Francisco Bay Region

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro J. Pinto ◽  
G. Mathias Kondolf ◽  
Pun Lok Raymond Wong
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Path Dependence ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
San Francisco Bay ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Environmental Benefit ◽  
Formidable Challenge

San Francisco Bay, the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast of North America, is heavily encroached by a metropolitan region with over 7 million inhabitants. Urban development and infrastructure, much of which built over landfill and at the cost of former baylands, were placed at very low elevations. Sea-level rise (SLR) poses a formidable challenge to these highly exposed urban areas and already stressed natural systems. “Green”, or ecosystem-based, adaptation is already on the way around the Bay. Large scale wetland restoration projects have already been concluded, and further action now often requires articulation with the reinforcement of flood defense structures, given the level of urban encroachment. While levee setback, or removal, would provide greater environmental benefit, the need to protect urban areas and infrastructure has led to the trial of ingenious solutions for promoting wetland resilience while upgrading the level of protection granted by levees.We analyzed the Bay’s environmental governance and planning structure, through direct observation, interviews with stakeholders, and study of planning documents and projects. We present two cases where actual implementation of SLR adaptation has led, or may lead to, the need to revise standards & practices or to make uneasy choices between conflicting public interests.Among the region’s stakeholders, there is an increasing awareness of the risks related to SLR, but the institutional arrangements are complex, and communication between the different public agencies/departments is not always as streamlined as it could be. Some agencies and departments need to adapt their procedures in order to remove institutional barriers to adaptation, but path dependence is an obstacle. There is evidence that more frank and regular communication between public actors is needed. It also emphasizes the benefits of a coordination of efforts and strategies, something that was eroded in the transition from government-led policies to a new paradigm of local-based adaptive governance.

scholarly journals Tidal wetland resilience to sea level rise increases their carbon sequestration capacity in United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Faming Wang ◽  
Xiaoliang Lu ◽  
Christian J. Sanders ◽  
Jianwu Tang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
C Sequestration ◽  
Tidal Wetlands ◽  
Tidal Wetland ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios

AbstractCoastal wetlands are large reservoirs of soil carbon (C). However, the annual C accumulation rates contributing to the C storage in these systems have yet to be spatially estimated on a large scale. We synthesized C accumulation rate (CAR) in tidal wetlands of the conterminous United States (US), upscaled the CAR to national scale, and predicted trends based on climate change scenarios. Here, we show that the mean CAR is 161.8 ± 6 g Cm−2 yr−1, and the conterminous US tidal wetlands sequestrate 4.2–5.0 Tg C yr−1. Relative sea level rise (RSLR) largely regulates the CAR. The tidal wetland CAR is projected to increase in this century and continue their C sequestration capacity in all climate change scenarios, suggesting a strong resilience to sea level rise. These results serve as a baseline assessment of C accumulation in tidal wetlands of US, and indicate a significant C sink throughout this century.

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