Sea-level rise and macroalgal blooms may combine to exacerbate decline in Spartina patens and Spartina alterniflora marshes

Ober, Gordon T.; Martin, Rose M.

doi:10.1007/s10750-018-3689-6

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Spartina populations are predicted to be unaffected, or even increase, with moderate rates of sea-level rise, yet decline with substantial increases as sea level continue to rise (Parker et al 2011). This modeled prediction is supported by experimental work that found Spartina alterni ora stem density increases with moderate increases in inundation yet declines under extreme sea-level rise scenarios (Ober and Martin 2018). Signi cant impacts to stand height and belowground biomass may only occur with higher levels of inundation over prolonged periods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Variable Effects of Experimental Sea-Level Rise Conditions and Invasive Species on California cordgrass

Gonzalez,

Ferner,

Grosholz

2024

Preprint

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Sea-level rise (SLR) will produce unprecedented changes in tidal marsh systems that already cope with daily tidal perturbations, disturbances from storms, and salinity changes from droughts and runoff events. Additionally, negative impacts from non-native invasive species may alter marsh plants’ susceptibility to SLR stressors like inundation and salinity. Increasingly, tidal marsh communities must tolerate both changes in the physical environment from SLR and invasive species impacts. To assess the response of a threatened tidal marsh cordgrass (Spartina foliosa) to both stressors, we implemented a field experiment in San Francisco Bay, CA, USA, exposing cordgrass to a treatment that extended tidal inundation projected with SLR using a recently developed in situ method. At one of two field sites, we also enclosed the cordgrass with or without the invasive European green crab, Carcinus maenas. We found that cordgrass responded negatively to longer inundation, although these effects varied by site and year. In higher inundation treatments, cordgrass survival increased with increasing surface elevation of the plot. Cordgrass survival was lower in the presence of invasive crabs relative to controls. We did not find interacting effects of increased inundation and green crab presence on any response variables, which highlights the need to consider how latent or sequential effects of multiple stressors may affect ecosystems. This study demonstrates significant biological responses to invasive species and inundation. Evaluating relative effects and timing of multiple stressors, especially those induced by climate change and invasive species, will help us to manage threatened ecological communities in a changing world.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Variable Effects of Experimental Sea-Level Rise Conditions and Invasive Species on California cordgrass

Gonzalez,

Ferner,

Grosholz

2024

Preprint

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“…The changed habitats caused by shared and coupling effects mainly distributed in the landward side. It is because sea level rise will cause species, especially invasive species, to migrate to the landward side (Kebede & Mokrech, 2012;Kerstin et al, 2013;Ober & Martin, 2018), and thus caused interactions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pure, shared, and coupling effects of climate change and sea level rise on the future distribution ofSpartina alternifloraalong the Chinese coast

Gong

Liu

Jiao

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Aim Global change seriously threatens the salt marsh ecosystem, while it remains unclear how S . will respond to climate change and sea level rise. Here, we investigated interactions among variables and identified the impacts of climate change, sea level rise, and their interactions on the distribution of Spartina alterniflora . Location Northern Chinese coast and Southern Chinese coast. Taxon Spartina alterniflora Loisel. Methods With global sensitivity analysis, we determined interactions among variables and their relative importance to the distribution of S. alterniflora . Integrating the Venn's four‐set diagram, we built ecological niche models under current and three future scenarios to identify pure, shared, and coupling effects of climate change and sea level rise on the distribution of S. alterniflora . Results Mean diurnal range (Bio02) and Elevation were the two most critical variables controlling the distribution of S. alterniflora on the Chinese coast, and interactions among variables of the northern coast were much greater than that of the southern coast. Habitats change was mainly caused by pure effects of climate change, except habitats reduction on the southern coast. Pure effects of sea level rise were low, but it can influence habitats change through shared and coupling effects from complex interactions with climate change. Interactions of climate change and sea level rise can drive habitats change, and the changed habitats caused by shared and coupling effects were mainly distributed the areas near the landward side. Main conclusions Our research suggests paying attention to interactions among variables when calculating the relative importance of explanatory variables. Identifying pure, shared, and coupling effects of climate change and sea level rise for the distribution of S. alterniflora will provide scientific references for assessing the risk of similar coastal species.

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Labile organic matter promotes nitrogen retention in natural and constructed gulf coast marshes

Starr,

Mortazavi,

Tatariw

et al. 2024

Biogeochemistry

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Coastal marshes mitigate allochthonous nitrogen (N) inputs to adjacent marine habitat; however, their extent is declining rapidly. As a result, marsh restoration and construction have become a major foci of wetland management. Constructed marshes can quickly reach similar plant biomass to natural marshes, but biogeochemical functions like N removal and retention can take decades to reach functional equivalency, often due to lags in organic matter (OM) pools development in newly constructed marshes. We compared denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) rates in a 32 year-old constructed marsh and adjacent reference marsh in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Marsh sediments packed into 3 mm “thin discs” were subjected to three OM quality treatments (no OM addition, labile OM, or recalcitrant OM) and two N treatments (ambient nitrate or elevated nitrate) during a 13 day incubation. We found that OM addition, rather than marsh type or nitrate treatment, was the most important driver of nitrate reduction, increasing both denitrification and DNRA and promoting DNRA over denitrification in both marshes. Fungal and bacterial biomass were higher in the natural marsh across treatments, but recalcitrant OM increased fungal biomass in the constructed marsh, suggesting OM-limitation of fungal growth. We found that constructed marshes are capable of similar denitrification and DNRA as natural marshes after 30 years, and that labile OM addition promotes N retention in both natural and constructed marshes. Graphical Abstract Conceptual figure highlighting the findings of this experiment. Under control treatment with no C addition (bottom panel), constructed and natural marshes have similar rates of both DNRA and denitrification. The natural marsh has higher fungal and bacterial biomass, while fungal biomass is not detectable in the constructed marsh. Under labile OM additions (upper left panel), rates of both DNRA and denitrification are increased and DNRA becomes favored over denitrification in both marshes. Recalcitrant OM additions (upper right) increase denitrification, but do not affect DNRA or % denitrification. The addition of recalcitrant OM also increases the detectability of fungal biomass in the constructed marsh.

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Sea-level rise and macroalgal blooms may combine to exacerbate decline in Spartina patens and Spartina alterniflora marshes

Cited by 5 publications

References 47 publications

Variable Effects of Experimental Sea-Level Rise Conditions and Invasive Species on California cordgrass

Variable Effects of Experimental Sea-Level Rise Conditions and Invasive Species on California cordgrass

Pure, shared, and coupling effects of climate change and sea level rise on the future distribution ofSpartina alternifloraalong the Chinese coast

Labile organic matter promotes nitrogen retention in natural and constructed gulf coast marshes

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