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Processes Contributing to Resilience of Coastal Wetlands to Sea-Level Rise

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Abstract

The objectives of this study were to identify processes that contribute to resilience of coastal wetlands subject to rising sea levels and to determine whether the relative contribution of these processes varies across different wetland community types. We assessed the resilience of wetlands to sea-level rise along a transitional gradient from tidal freshwater forested wetland (TFFW) to marsh by measuring processes controlling wetland elevation. We found that, over 5 years of measurement, TFFWs were resilient, although some marginally, and oligohaline marshes exhibited robust resilience to sea-level rise. We identified fundamental differences in how resilience is maintained across wetland community types, which have important implications for management activities that aim to restore or conserve resilient systems. We showed that the relative importance of surface and subsurface processes in controlling wetland surface elevation change differed between TFFWs and oligohaline marshes. The marshes had significantly higher rates of surface accretion than the TFFWs, and in the marshes, surface accretion was the primary contributor to elevation change. In contrast, elevation change in TFFWs was more heavily influenced by subsurface processes, such as root zone expansion or compaction, which played an important role in determining resilience of TFFWs to rising sea level. When root zone contributions were removed statistically from comparisons between relative sea-level rise and surface elevation change, sites that previously had elevation rate deficits showed a surplus. Therefore, assessments of wetland resilience that do not include subsurface processes will likely misjudge vulnerability to sea-level rise.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the following for support: Waccamaw NWR, especially Craig Sasser; Savannah NWR for permission and logistic support, especially Russell Webb, Lindsay Coldiron, and Chuck Hayes; Jason Luquire, Lucille Pate, and Ranbat, LLC for permission to access their land; Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology for field support, especially Stephen Hutchinson, Brian Williams, and Jamie Duberstein. We thank Courtney Lee and James Lynch for figure development, and Lauren Leonpacher for editing. We also thank Michael Osland, James Lynch, Donald DeAngelis, and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and suggestions, which improved the manuscript. This research was funded by the U.S. Geological Survey, Climate and Land Use Change Research and Development Program, and was supported in part by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number SCZ-1700424 (salary, WHC). Technical Contribution No. 6377 of the Clemson University Experiment Station. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, 700 Cajundome Boulevard, Lafayette, Louisiana, 70506, USA

    Camille L. Stagg, Ken W. Krauss & Nicole Cormier

  2. U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Beltsville, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, BARC-East, Bldg 308, Beltsville, Maryland, 20705, USA

    Donald R. Cahoon

  3. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, Clemson University, Box 596 177 Hobcaw Road Highway 17 North, Georgetown, South Carolina, 29440, USA

    William H. Conner

  4. U.S. Geological Survey, Lower Mississippi Gulf Water Science Center, 3535 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd., Suite 120, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70816, USA

    Christopher M. Swarzenski

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  1. Camille L. Stagg
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  2. Ken W. Krauss
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  3. Donald R. Cahoon
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  4. Nicole Cormier
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  5. William H. Conner
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  6. Christopher M. Swarzenski
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Correspondence to Camille L. Stagg.

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Author Contributions

Designed study: CLS, KWK, DRC, WHC, CMS; Performed research: CLS, KWK, NC, WHC, CMS; Analyzed data: CLS, NC, CMS; Contributed new methods or models: DRC; Writing: CLS, KWK, DRC, NC, WHC, CMS.

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Stagg, C.L., Krauss, K.W., Cahoon, D.R. et al. Processes Contributing to Resilience of Coastal Wetlands to Sea-Level Rise. Ecosystems 19, 1445–1459 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-016-0015-x

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