Beyond just sea-level rise : considering macroclimatic drivers within coastal wetland vulnerability assessments to climate change

Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Global change biology. - 1999. - 22(2016), 1 vom: 15. Jan., Seite 1-11
1. Verfasser: Osland, Michael J (VerfasserIn)
Weitere Verfasser: Enwright, Nicholas M, Day, Richard H, Gabler, Christopher A, Stagg, Camille L, Grace, James B
Format: Online-Aufsatz
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: 2016
Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk:Global change biology
Schlagworte:Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. climate change climate gradient coastal wetlands ecological threshold ecological transition foundation species mangrove salt flat mehr... salt marsh vulnerability assessment
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
Due to their position at the land-sea interface, coastal wetlands are vulnerable to many aspects of climate change. However, climate change vulnerability assessments for coastal wetlands generally focus solely on sea-level rise without considering the effects of other facets of climate change. Across the globe and in all ecosystems, macroclimatic drivers (e.g., temperature and rainfall regimes) greatly influence ecosystem structure and function. Macroclimatic drivers have been the focus of climate change-related threat evaluations for terrestrial ecosystems, but largely ignored for coastal wetlands. In some coastal wetlands, changing macroclimatic conditions are expected to result in foundation plant species replacement, which would affect the supply of certain ecosystem goods and services and could affect ecosystem resilience. As examples, we highlight several ecological transition zones where small changes in macroclimatic conditions would result in comparatively large changes in coastal wetland ecosystem structure and function. Our intent in this communication is not to minimize the importance of sea-level rise. Rather, our overarching aim is to illustrate the need to also consider macroclimatic drivers within vulnerability assessments for coastal wetlands
Beschreibung:Date Completed 14.10.2016
Date Revised 30.12.2016
published: Print-Electronic
Citation Status MEDLINE
ISSN:1365-2486
DOI:10.1111/gcb.13084