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Global Change and the Function and Distribution of Wetlands pp 3–59Cite as

Insights from Paleohistory Illuminate Future Climate Change Effects on Wetlands

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Part of the book series: Global Change Ecology and Wetlands ((GCEW,volume 1))

Abstract

Climate change could have profound impacts on world wetland environments, which can be better understood through the examination of ancient wetlands when the world was warmer. These impacts may directly alter the critical role of wetlands in ecosystem function and human services. Here we present a framework for the study of wetland fossils and deposits to understand the potential effects of future climate change on wetlands. We review the methods and assumptions associated with the use of plant macro- and microfossils to reconstruct ancient wetland ecosystems and their associated paleoenvironments. We then present case studies of paleo-wetland ecosystems under global climate conditions that were very different from the present time. Our case study of extinct Arctic forested-wetlands reveals insights about high-productivity wetlands that flourished in the highest latitudes during the ice-free global warmth of the Paleogene (ca. 45 million years ago) and how these wetlands might have been instrumental in keeping the polar regions warm. We then evaluate climate-induced changes in tropical wetlands by focusing on the Pleistocene and Holocene (2.588 Myr ago to the present) of Africa. These past ecosystems demonstrate that subtle changes in the global energy balance had significant impacts on global hydrology and climate, which ultimately determine the composition and function of wetland ecosystems. Moreover, the history of these regions demonstrates the inter-connectedness of the low and high latitudes, and the global nature of the Earth’s hydrologic cycle. Our case studies provide glimpses of wetland ecosystems, which expanded and ultimately declined under a suite of global climate conditions with which humanity has little if any experience. Thus, these paleoecology studies paint a picture of future wetland function under projected global climate change.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, USA

    Ben A. LePage

  2. PECO Energy Company, 2301 Market Street, S7-2, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, USA

    Ben A. LePage

  3. Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, 750395, Dallas, TX, 75275-0395, USA

    Bonnie F. Jacobs

  4. Department of Earth and Environment, Franklin and Marshall College, 3003, Lancaster, PA, 17604-3003, USA

    Christopher J. Williams

Authors
  1. Ben A. LePage
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  2. Bonnie F. Jacobs
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  3. Christopher J. Williams
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Correspondence to Ben A. LePage .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Wetlands Research Center, US Geological Survey, Cajundome Blvd. 700, Lafayette, 70506, Louisiana, USA

    Beth A. Middleton

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LePage, B.A., Jacobs, B.F., Williams, C.J. (2012). Insights from Paleohistory Illuminate Future Climate Change Effects on Wetlands. In: Middleton, B. (eds) Global Change and the Function and Distribution of Wetlands. Global Change Ecology and Wetlands, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4494-3_1

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