Abstract
Increases in the elevation of the soil surfaces of mangroves and salt marshes are key to the maintenance of these habitats with accelerating sea level rise. Understanding the processes that give rise to increases in soil surface elevation provides science for management of landscapes for sustainable coastal wetlands. Here, we tested whether the soil surface elevation of mangroves and salt marshes in Moreton Bay is keeping up with local rates of sea level rise (2.358 mm y−1) and whether accretion on the soil surface was the most important process for keeping up with sea level rise. We found variability in surface elevation gains, with sandy areas in the eastern bay having the highest surface elevation gains in both mangrove and salt marsh (5.9 and 1.9 mm y−1) whereas in the muddier western bay rates of surface elevation gain were lower (1.4 and −0.3 mm y−1 in mangrove and salt marsh, respectively). Both sides of the bay had similar rates of surface accretion (~7–9 mm y−1 in the mangrove and 1–3 mm y−1 in the salt marsh), but mangrove soils in the western bay were subsiding at a rate of approximately 8 mm y−1, possibly due to compaction of organic sediments. Over the study surface elevation increments were sensitive to position in the intertidal zone (higher when lower in the intertidal) and also to variation in mean sea level (higher at high sea level). Although surface accretion was the most important process for keeping up with sea level rise in the eastern bay, subsidence largely negated gains made through surface accretion in the western bay indicating a high vulnerability to sea level rise in these forests.
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Acknowledgements
This project is part of the South East Queensland Climate Adaptation Research Initiative (SEQ CARI). We thank Aldrie Amir and Jock McKenzie for their assistance with installing the RSETs. We also thank Nadia Santini, Fernanda Adame, Ruth Reef, Karin Perhans, Kim Millers and Helen Penrose for assistance with measurements over the study. We thank the Moreton Bay Research Station staff for their assistance with accessing site on North Stradbroke Island. We thank the Brisbane City Council for permitting use of the Tinchi Tamba Reserve and Boondall Wetlands for the study and for their assistance in obtaining site access. This research was done under permit QS2007/CVL1330 for the Moreton Bay Marine Park.
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CEL and DRC designed the study. CEL, DRC, VB and AG performed the research. CEL analysed the data. CEL wrote the paper with assistance from all authors.
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Lovelock, C.E., Bennion, V., Grinham, A. et al. The Role of Surface and Subsurface Processes in Keeping Pace with Sea Level Rise in Intertidal Wetlands of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. Ecosystems 14, 745–757 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9443-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9443-9