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Landscape and climate change threats to wetlands of North and Central America

  • Effects of Climate Change on Wetlands
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Abstract

North and Central America has a combined total of 2.5 million km2 of wetlands, with 51 % in Canada, 46 % in the USA, and the remainder in subtropical and tropical Mexico and Central America. Loss rates are well known for the conterminous USA and for parts of Canada but poorly understood for Mexico and Central America. Wetlands of North America continue to be threatened due to drainage for agriculture and urban development, extreme coastal and river management, water pollution from upstream watersheds, peat mining, waterfowl management, and more recently climate change. Human use of wetlands in this region are many, including receiving ecosystem services such as water purification, flood regulation, climate regulation, and direct provisioning benefits for many cultures living in and among wetlands, especially in the Louisiana Delta and in Mexico and Central America. Climate change affects will cause wetland impacts on coastal wetlands due to sea level rise and on inland wetlands due to changes in precipitation, air temperature, and river discharges. Wetlands, in turn, have a major role in the storage of carbon in boreal regions of Canada and with carbon sequestration in temperate and tropical wetlands of the Americas.

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Acknowledgments

Blanca Bernal assisted with the editing and style formatting of this manuscript. Many of the discussions in this chapter are gleaned from work published by Mitsch and Gosselink (2000, 2007); we appreciate the input that Jim Gosselink made to these sections over the years.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, The Ohio State University, 352 W. Dodridge Street, Columbus, OH, 43202, USA

    William J. Mitsch

  2. Biotechnological Management of Resources Network, Institute of Ecology, Antigua Carretera a Coatepec # 351 El Haya, 91070, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

    Maria E. Hernandez

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  1. William J. Mitsch
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Correspondence to William J. Mitsch.

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This article belongs to the Special Issue “Effects of Climate Change on Wetlands”.

W. J. Mitsch’s affiliation as of October 2012: Everglades Wetland Research Park, 110 Kapnick Center, Florida Gulf Coast University, 4940 Bayshore Drive, Naples FL 34112 USA.

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Mitsch, W.J., Hernandez, M.E. Landscape and climate change threats to wetlands of North and Central America. Aquat Sci 75, 133–149 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-012-0262-7

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