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Consequences of Climate Change on the Ecogeomorphology of Coastal Wetlands

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Abstract

Climate impacts on coastal and estuarine systems take many forms and are dependent on the local conditions, including those set by humans. We use a biocomplexity framework to provide a perspective of the consequences of climate change for coastal wetland ecogeomorphology. We concentrate on three dimensions of climate change affects on ecogeomorphology: sea level rise, changes in storm frequency and intensity, and changes in freshwater, sediment, and nutrient inputs. While sea level rise, storms, sedimentation, and changing freshwater input can directly impact coastal and estuarine wetlands, biological processes can modify these physical impacts. Geomorphological changes to coastal and estuarine ecosystems can induce complex outcomes for the biota that are not themselves intuitively obvious because they are mediated by networks of biological interactions. Human impacts on wetlands occur at all scales. At the global scale, humans are altering climate at rapid rates compared to the historical and recent geological record. Climate change can disrupt ecological systems if it occurs at characteristic time scales shorter than ecological system response and causes alterations in ecological function that foster changes in structure or alter functional interactions. Many coastal wetlands can adjust to predicted climate change, but human impacts, in combination with climate change, will significantly affect coastal wetland ecosystems. Management for climate change must strike a balance between that which allows pulsing of materials and energy to the ecosystems and promotes ecosystem goods and services, while protecting human structures and activities. Science-based management depends on a multi-scale understanding of these biocomplex wetland systems. Causation is often associated with multiple factors, considerable variability, feedbacks, and interferences. The impacts of climate change can be detected through monitoring and assessment of historical or geological records. Attribution can be inferred through these in conjunction with experimentation and modeling. A significant challenge to allow wise management of coastal wetlands is to develop observing systems that act at appropriate scales to detect global climate change and its effects in the context of the various local and smaller scale effects.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation grant NSF-DEB-0124293 to the Estuarine Research Federation Initiative in Biocomplexity: Facilitation of Research on Estuarine Responses to Climate Change and Variability (Workshop Spring 2002). Further support for RRC came from the National Science Foundation grant DEB-0621014 for the Virginia Coast Reserve Long-Term Ecological Research. Alejandro Yáñez-Arancibia completed much of his contribution on a sabbatical as visiting professor at Louisiana State University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Deparment of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, School of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    John W. Day & Robert R. Twilley

  2. Biology Department, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27858, USA

    Robert R. Christian

  3. Center for Environmental Science, University of Maryland, P.O. Box 775, Cambridge, MD, 21613, USA

    Donald M. Boesch & Court Stevenson

  4. Institute of Ecology A.C., Km 2.5 Carretera Antigua Coatepec No. 351, Xalapa, 91070, Ver., Mexico

    Alejandro Yáñez-Arancibia

  5. Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    James Morris

  6. Department of Geography, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, UK

    Larissa Naylor

  7. Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, P.O. Box 1346, Gloucester Point, VA, 23062, USA

    Linda Schaffner

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  1. John W. Day
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Correspondence to John W. Day.

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This paper results from an assessment undertaken by the Estuarine Research Federation on the Biocomplex Responses to Climate Change.

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Day, J.W., Christian, R.R., Boesch, D.M. et al. Consequences of Climate Change on the Ecogeomorphology of Coastal Wetlands. Estuaries and Coasts 31, 477–491 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-008-9047-6

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