The Role of Surface and Subsurface Processes in Keeping Pace with Sea Level Rise in Intertidal Wetlands of Moreton Bay,Queensland, Australia |
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Authors: | Catherine E Lovelock Vicki Bennion Alistair Grinham Donald R Cahoon |
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Institution: | (1) School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, 4072, Australia;(2) School of Environmental Engineering, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, 4072, Australia;(3) United States Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, BARC-EAST Building #308, Beltsville, Maryland 20705, USA |
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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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