scholarly journals Mangrove response to sea level rise: palaeoecological insights from macrotidal systems in northern Australia

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 917 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. D. Woodroffe
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Mangrove Forests ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Mangrove Species ◽  
Tidal Elevation ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Local Topography ◽  
Accretion Rates ◽  
Catch Up

Accelerated sea-level rise threatens coastal wetlands; it is unclear whether sediment accretion beneath mangroves will be sufficient to keep pace. A conceptual framework, used to describe the response of reefs, can also be applied to mangroves, discriminating drowning or back-stepping with rapid rise from keep-up or catch-up under moderate rates. In macrotidal estuaries of northern Australia, different mangrove species grow across particular elevation ranges and accretion rates decrease with tidal elevation. Palaeoecological reconstructions, from drilling, dating and pollen analysis, record mangrove distribution over past millennia. Estuarine plains are underlain by a vertically continuous stratigraphy of muds, implying continuity of widespread ‘big swamp’ mangrove forests during decelerating stages of post-glacial sea-level rise c. 7000 years ago. In contrast, on higher-energy open coasts, mangroves back-stepped, but re-established as the shoreline prograded when the nearshore built to suitable elevation: a catch-up mode. These results demonstrate that mangrove response to sea-level rise has varied, determined by the availability of sediment and the oceanographic processes by which it is redistributed. How mangrove forests adjust in future will also vary as a function of local topography and sediment availability. Extensive plains flanking estuarine systems are particularly vulnerable to tidal creek extension and saline incursion under future higher sea levels.

scholarly journals Leaf Enzyme and Plant Productivity Responses to Environmental Stress Associated with Sea Level Rise in Two Asian Mangrove Species

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaobo Lv ◽  
Donghai Li ◽  
Xiaobo Yang ◽  
Mengwen Zhang ◽  
Qin Deng
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
High Tide ◽  
Mangrove Forests ◽  
Mangrove Species ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Tidal Flooding ◽  
Seawater Salinity ◽  
Flooding Time

As the only forests situated at the transition between land and sea, mangrove forests are one of the first ecosystems vulnerable to rising sea levels. When the sea level rises, plants are exposed to increased salinity, as well as tidal flooding. The responses of mangrove forests to changing sea levels depend on the synergistic effects of tidal flooding and salinity on plants, especially seedlings. The focus of this paper is to assess the ability of different tide position on mangrove Aegiceras corniculatum (A. corniculatum) and Bruguiera sexangula (B. sexangula) seedlings to withstand tidal flooding and seawater salinity, and to investigate the effects of tidal flooding and salinity on plant growth. To accomplish this, a controlled experiment was initiated to examine the synergistic effects of tidal flooding and salinity on the growth and physiology of A. corniculatum and B. sexangula seedlings subjected to four tidal flooding times and four levels of salinity over a course of six months. The results showed that the biomass and antioxidant enzymes of A. corniculatum and B. sexangula seedlings were significantly affected by the increase in salinity and flooding time. Changes in biomass, SOD, and CAT activity of A. corniculatum seedlings show that they are more adapted to grow in an environment with high salinity and long flooding time than B. sexangula. Our results show that species growing in middle- to low-tide levels were better adapted to sea level rise than those growing at high-tide levels.

scholarly journals Can the Dongzhaigang Mangrove in China Adapt to Sea Level Rise in the Future?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruyi Ding ◽  
Rongshuo Cai ◽  
Xiuhua Yan ◽  
Jiang Sun ◽  
Hongjian Tan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Mangrove Forests ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Mangrove Area ◽  
Rising Sea Levels

Abstract Considering climate change, coastal mangroves are facing serious threats from rising sea levels. However, whether the largest contiguous Dongzhaigang mangrove in China can adapt to future sea level rise, which is very critical for mangrove restoration and management, has been little known. Using the data of historical monitor since the 1950s, supplementary field research of mangrove wetland sediment rates measured, satellite remote sensing, digital elevation model, global climate models, and ArcGIS, we investigated the Dongzhaigang mangrove area changes, related causes, and the impacts of future sea level rise under greenhouse gas emission scenarios, as representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5. The study revealed that: (1) during 1956–1987, total mangrove area had decreased by ~ 50%, from ~ 3417 hm2 to ~ 1710 hm2. This was mainly because of the impacts of human activities, such as fish pond reclamation and the use of former mangrove land for economic tree planting. After the 1990s, the total mangrove area was maintained at ~ 1711 hm2, mainly because of the establishment of the nature reserve in 1986, along with protective and restorative measures; (2) under the intermediate and high RCP 4.5 and 8.5, sea level increases are likely to cause > 25% of the mangroves to disappear by 2100, whereas for the low RCP 2.6, only 17% of the mangroves are likely to be affected; and (3) taking measures such as reestablishing ponds as mangrove forests, plant restoration, and biological shore protection could improve the adaptation of mangroves to the impacts of rising sea levels.

Late quaternary mangrove distribution in northern Australia

1996 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 219 ◽  
Author(s):  
GM Crowley
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Gradual Change ◽  
Mangrove Forests ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
The North ◽  
Wet Tropics ◽  
Australian Coastline

Although mangroves have long graced the north Australian coastline, stable sea levels required for the formation of extensive mangrove swamp forests have occurred only intermittently over the late Quaternary. Most ancestral mangrove swamps are likely to have been formed below present sea level. The only well-preserved deposits that have been described, developed on the present continental surface as sea level reached its present position in the early Holocene. Gradual upstream shifting of mangrove communities from about 8400 BP is recorded in sediments from the wet tropics, followed by the establishment of extensive Rhizophora forests over the newly drowned estuaries. More extensive Rhizophora swamps developed in the monsoon tropics where an earlier transitional phase has not been preserved. These 'big swamps' infilled over the next 1500–4500 years as sediments accumulated above the now stable sea level. The present mangrove estate, though more restricted, is fairly stable, with maintenance of mangrove forests in protected prograding bays and in estuaries kept open by adequate river flow. In the short term, mangroves may be threatened by human influences, but any change in climate leading to a gradual change in sea level should again provide conditions for expansion of mangrove habitats across northern Australia.

scholarly journals Economic damages from Hurricane Sandy attributable to sea level rise caused by anthropogenic climate change

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin H. Strauss ◽  
Philip M. Orton ◽  
Klaus Bittermann ◽  
Maya K. Buchanan ◽  
Daniel M. Gilford ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
East Coast ◽  
The United States ◽  
Hurricane Sandy ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Anthropogenic Climate Change ◽  
Economic Damage ◽  
Sea Levels

AbstractIn 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast of the United States, creating widespread coastal flooding and over $60 billion in reported economic damage. The potential influence of climate change on the storm itself has been debated, but sea level rise driven by anthropogenic climate change more clearly contributed to damages. To quantify this effect, here we simulate water levels and damage both as they occurred and as they would have occurred across a range of lower sea levels corresponding to different estimates of attributable sea level rise. We find that approximately $8.1B ($4.7B–$14.0B, 5th–95th percentiles) of Sandy’s damages are attributable to climate-mediated anthropogenic sea level rise, as is extension of the flood area to affect 71 (40–131) thousand additional people. The same general approach demonstrated here may be applied to impact assessments for other past and future coastal storms.

The Impact of Climate Change on States

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 115-132
Author(s):  
Łukasz Kułaga
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Fundamental Change ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The increase in sea levels, as a result of climate change in territorial aspect will have a potential impact on two major issues – maritime zones and land territory. The latter goes into the heart of the theory of the state in international law as it requires us to confront the problem of complete and permanent disappearance of a State territory. When studying these processes, one should take into account the fundamental lack of appropriate precedents and analogies in international law, especially in the context of the extinction of the state, which could be used for guidance in this respect. The article analyses sea level rise impact on baselines and agreed maritime boundaries (in particular taking into account fundamental change of circumstances rule). Furthermore, the issue of submergence of the entire territory of a State is discussed taking into account the presumption of statehood, past examples of extinction of states and the importance of recognition in this respect.

Multiple drivers of extreme sea levels in the northern Adriatic Sea

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Ferrarin ◽  
Piero Lionello ◽  
Mirko Orlic ◽  
Fabio Raicich ◽  
Gianfausto Salvadori
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Driving Factors ◽  
Northern Adriatic Sea ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Northern Adriatic ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Extreme Sea Levels ◽  
Relative Sea Level Rise

<p><span><span>Extreme sea levels at the coast result from the combination of astronomical tides with atmospherically forced fluctuations at multiple time scales. Seiches, river floods, waves, inter-annual and inter-decad</span></span><span><span>al dynamics and relative sea-level rise can also contribute to the total sea level. While tides are usually well described and predicted, the effect of the different atmospheric contributions to the sea level and their trends are still not well understood. Meso-scale atmospheric disturbances, synoptic-scale phenomena and planetary atmospheric waves (PAW) act at different temporal and spatial scales and thus generate sea-level disturbances at different frequencies. In this study, we analyze the 1872-2019 sea-level time series in Venice (northern Adriatic Sea, Italy) to investigate the relative role of the different driving factors in the extreme sea levels distribution. The adopted approach consists in 1) isolating the different contributions to the sea level by applying least-squares fitting and Fourier decomposition; 2) performing a multivariate statistical analysis which enables the dependencies among driving factors and their joint probability of occurrence to be described; 3) analyzing temporal changes in extreme sea levels and extrapolating possible future tendencies. The results highlight the fact that the most extreme sea levels are mainly dominated by the non-tidal residual, while the tide plays a secondary role. The non-tidal residual of the extreme sea levels is attributed mostly to PAW surge and storm surge, with the latter component becoming dominant for the most extreme events. The results of temporal evolution analysis confirm previous studies according to which the relative sea-level rise is the major driver of the increase in the frequency of floods in Venice over the last century. However, also long term variability in the storm activity impacted the frequency and intensity of extreme sea levels and have contributed to an increase of floods in Venice during the fall and winter months of the last three decades.</span></span></p>

scholarly journals Thresholds of mangrove survival under rapid sea level rise

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 368 (6495) ◽  
pp. 1118-1121 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Saintilan ◽  
N. S. Khan ◽  
E. Ashe ◽  
J. J. Kelleway ◽  
K. Rogers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Carbon Sink ◽  
Vertical Accretion ◽  
Mangrove Forests ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Relative Sea Level Rise ◽  
Emissions Scenarios ◽  
Organic Sediments ◽  
Timing Of Initiation

The response of mangroves to high rates of relative sea level rise (RSLR) is poorly understood. We explore the limits of mangrove vertical accretion to sustained periods of RSLR in the final stages of deglaciation. The timing of initiation and rate of mangrove vertical accretion were compared with independently modeled rates of RSLR for 78 locations. Mangrove forests expanded between 9800 and 7500 years ago, vertically accreting thick sequences of organic sediments at a rate principally driven by the rate of RSLR, representing an important carbon sink. We found it very likely (>90% probability) that mangroves were unable to initiate sustained accretion when RSLR rates exceeded 6.1 millimeters per year. This threshold is likely to be surpassed on tropical coastlines within 30 years under high-emissions scenarios.

scholarly journals Conservation Choices in the Face of Sea-Level Rise: A Case Study on Marsh Migration from Phippsburg, Maine

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 388-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahan T. M. Dissanayake ◽  
Meagan K. Hennessey
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Land Conservation ◽  
Simulation Data ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Decision Method ◽  
The Face ◽  
Rising Sea Levels ◽  
Knapsack Algorithm

We analyze the benefits of incorporating climate change into land conservation decisions using wetland migration under rising sea-levels as a case study. We use a simple and inexpensive decision method, a knapsack algorithm implemented in Excel, with (1) simulation data to show that ignoring sea-level rise predictions lead to suboptimal outcomes, and (2) an application to land conservation in Phippsburg, Maine to show the real-world applicability. The simulation shows an 11-percent to almost 30-percent gain in increased benefits when accounting for sea-level rise. The results highlight that it is possible to, and important to, incorporate sea-level rise into conservation planning.

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