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Soil Salinity and Water Level Interact to Generate Tipping Points in Low Salinity Tidal Wetlands Responding to Climate Change

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Abstract

Low salinity tidal wetlands (LSTW) are vulnerable to sea level rise and saltwater intrusion, thus their carbon sequestration capacity is threatened. However, the thresholds of rapid changes in carbon dynamics and biogeochemical processes in LSTW due to changes in hydroperiod and salinity regime remain unclear. In this study, we examined the effects of soil porewater salinity and water level on changes in net primary productivity (NPP) and greenhouse gas fluxes [GHG: methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2)] in LSTW using a wetland biogeochemistry model, Tidal Freshwater Wetland Denitrification and Decomposition (TFW-DNDC). TFW-DNDC was run with a series of combinations of soil salinities (0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 psu) and water levels relative to soil surface (-30, -20, -10, -5, 0, 5, 10, 20, 30 cm) for tidal forest and oligohaline marsh sites along the Savannah River and Waccamaw River, USA. Our results indicate that soil salinity and water level have antagonistic effects on CH4 emissions and synergistic effects on CO2 release. A soil salinity of 2-3 psu is the tipping point for the ecosystem level functional changes (e.g., NPP and CH4 emissions) in LSTW. There are negative and nonlinear responses (NPP and CH4 emission) to soil salinity. Furthermore, a soil water level from 10 cm below to 10 cm above the surface is a critical range in which biogeochemical processes respond strongly to hydrological changes. The presence of nonlinear tipping points in LSTW has large implications for understanding and predicting the effects of climate change on coastal wetland blue carbon storage and ecosystem dynamics.

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Data Availability

The data on which this article is based are available from the following cited reference and URL: Wang, H., K.W. Krauss, G.B. Noe, Z. Dai, and C.C. Trettin. 2023a. Simulated net primary productivity and greenhouse gas emissions under various soil salinity and water table depth combinations in low salinity tidal wetlands. U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9UR522Z.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by funds from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Climate Research and Development Program, the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area, and the NASA Carbon Monitoring Systems program to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (#80HQTR18T0012). We thank Eric Ward and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive review for improving this manuscript. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    Hongqing Wang

  2. U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Lafayette, LA, USA

    Ken W. Krauss

  3. U.S. Geological Survey, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Reston, VA, USA

    Gregory B. Noe

  4. USDA Forest Service, Center for Forested Wetlands Research, Cordesville, SC, USA

    Zhaohua Dai & Carl C. Trettin

  5. Michigan Technological University, School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Houghton, MI, USA

    Zhaohua Dai

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  1. Hongqing Wang
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  2. Ken W. Krauss
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Correspondence to Hongqing Wang.

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Communicated by Karen Lisa Knee

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Wang, H., Krauss, K., Noe, G. et al. Soil Salinity and Water Level Interact to Generate Tipping Points in Low Salinity Tidal Wetlands Responding to Climate Change. Estuaries and Coasts 46, 1808–1828 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-023-01243-5

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