Climate Change and Coastal Wetlands

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Climate Change and Coastal Wetlands

• Presented by
• Sidrotun Naim
• Susanna Pearlstein
• Valerie Herman
• Matt Carter

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Global Natural Disaster
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US Coastal and Marine Facts

• 95,000 miles of coastlines
• 3.4 million square miles of ocean
• 53 of US population live on the 17 of land in
  the coastal zones
• Global sea level rise 4-8 inches in century
• Estimation additional 19 inches by 2100

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How coastal and marine environments are linked to
our climate
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Shoreline erosion and Human communities
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Threats to Estuarine Health

• Estuaries are extremely productive ecosystems
• Increased run-off would deliver increased amounts
  of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus
• Decreased run-off would reduce flushing, decrease
  the size of nursery zones, allowing predators to
  penetrate

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Coastal Wetland Survival
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Coral Reef Die Offs
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Stresses on Marine Fisheries
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Annual Shoreline Change
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WetlandsChapter 11

• Methane, CH4, emitters
• 20-25 global emissions
• 50 of world wetlands LOST, methane emissions are
  increasing, anthropomorphic causes
• 21 times more effective greenhouse gas than CO2
• Carbon sequestration
• 20-30 stored in wetlands
• Peat deposits
• Permafrost
• Restored created wetlands

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Mid Atlantic Coastal (MAC) Region

• Poor water quality
• Coastal Squeeze

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Heavily Populated!
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http//www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/coastal/i
ndex.html
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Delaware Bay
1.6 of DE lost 21 of marsh land flooded
But lt1 of affected area Is developed
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Chesapeake Bay
Salt water marshes today lack Sediment
Oxygen Organic matter accumulation Due
to Poor water quality Dams Farmland
abandonment Now add climate change.
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• Most hypoxic estuary in MAC
• Fresh water marshes have high river sediment
  influxes
• Steep topography, sea level rise will increase
  erosion

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Management Warnings

• Wetlands will be protected if they fall under
  socially significant areas
• Repeating the inland floodplain experience
• Federal subsides for dynamic hazardous zones
• Structures to control hazards sea level rise
• Increasing vulnerability

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Chemical and Biological Changes

• Extreme weather events and rising sea level
  alters
• Salinity
• Ionic Exchanges
• pH
• Microbial Communities
• Organic and Inorganic Content

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Nutrient Exchanges

• Earlier litterfall
• 3 - 5 times as much N, Mg, P, K
• Transported during runoff /flooding
• Nutrient uptake is hindered by
• Uprooting
• Swaying
• Water logging

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Damages to Plants/Animals

• Woody vegetation is damaged more than
  herbaceous vegetation
• Breakage increases infestation
• Microbial community differs in aerobic and
  anaerobic conditions
• Water quality directly affects food chain
• Hypoxia Image from www.montgomerybotanical.org
• Osmotic stress
• Turbidity
• Seed distribution
• Biodiversity

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Mitigation

• Allow sediment to distribute naturally
• Plan communities that allow coastal wetland
  migration
• Project future outcomes using models
• Space-For-Time Substitution paired with long-term
  monitoring
• Image from soundbook.soundkeeper.org

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• Hurricanes lose their force dramatically as the
  system moves toward land, therefore wetlands
  around coast regions provide delicate buffer
  zones to slow the storm system down before it
  reaches more populated regions. The levees in
  New Orleans are causing dramatic wetland loss.

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• The levees built to prevent flooding in the
  cities also prevent recharge of coast wetlands of
  the Mississippi River Delta. The Delta is cut
  off from its life force and is being destroyed at
  a rate of 24 sq. miles a year. Over 1900 sq.
  miles have disappeared since the 1930s. As the
  wetlands decrease, the city becomes more and more
  vulnerable to hurricane without the precious
  buffer zone.

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• Fixing the problem is costly and time consuming.
  Old Christmas trees are strategically place
  around the delta to collect sediment, and 14
  billion dollars is being used for manual sediment
  recharge and diversion of the Mississippi around
  the levees to recharge other areas of the delta.

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• Hurricanes are actually vital for wetland
  survival in that the storm surge washes and
  spreads all of the sediment, silt, and nutrients
  the wetlands of the delta could ever need. A
  hurricane of smaller proportions could easily do
  the work of all of the wetland projects.