This information will allow researchers to predict ecosystem shifts and ecosystem collapse, and can help natural resource managers develop conservation plans and strategies that may mitigate future threats of climate change to these valuable ecosystems. Given future projections of more frequent and intense climatic extremes, it is critical to understand the mechanisms governing catastrophic ecosystem responses. Extreme climatic events, triggered by extreme hurricanes and drought, have led to the massive die-off of foundation species in coastal wetlands, including mangrove trees and salt marsh grasses.
#RECENT RAINFALL TOTALS HARTLEY IA SERIES#
For example, in Australia, a series of extreme climatic events were characterized by the widespread demise of critical marine habitat-forming organisms including corals, kelps, seagrasses, and mangroves. Extreme ecological responses, such as large-scale die-off of foundation species, have been linked to climate extremes around the world. These climate extremes threaten ecological communities by lowering the resilience of foundation species, which, in the most extreme cases, can lead to ecological regime shifts or ecosystem collapse.
Hurricanes are expected to become more extreme, moving more slowly, with faster winds and heavier precipitation. For example, precipitation events are expected to intensify as heavy rainfall is condensed into shorter periods of time. Furthermore, this work emphasizes the importance of considering interactions between multiple abiotic and biotic stressors that can lead to shifts in tolerance thresholds and incorporating climate extremes into climate vulnerability assessments to accurately characterize future climate threats.Īs Earth’s climate continues to change, life on our planet will be determined not only by higher temperatures and rising sea levels, but also by changes in the frequency and intensity of climatic events. alterniflora marshes that is triggered by extreme precipitation and flooding. alterniflora marshes.Collectively, our results highlight a new mechanism of sudden vegetation dieback in S. Moreover, the spatial pattern of vegetation dieback indicated that underlying stressors may have also increased susceptibility to dieback in some S. alterniflora dieback occurred at elevations above the wetland collapse threshold, illustrating a heightened vulnerability to flooding that could not be predicted from baseline climate conditions. alterniflora following Hurricane Harvey was the result of extreme precipitation and flooding that exceeded this threshold for S. We proposed that the sudden widespread dieback of S. We quantified a flooding threshold for wetland collapse under baseline conditions characterized by incremental increases in flooding (i.e., sea level rise).
We identified plant zonal boundaries along an elevation gradient with plant species tolerant of hypersaline conditions, including succulents and graminoids, at higher elevations, and flood-tolerant species, including S. Here, we investigated the relationships between baseline climate conditions, extreme climate conditions, and large-scale plant mortality to provide an indicator of ecosystem vulnerability to extreme precipitation events. However, to our knowledge, this is the first example of extreme precipitation and flooding leading to mass mortality of the salt marsh foundation species, Spartina alterniflora. Historical salt marsh dieback events have been linked to climate extremes, such as extreme drought. Along the northern Gulf of Mexico, a coastal wetland in Texas suffered sudden vegetation dieback following an extreme precipitation and flooding event associated with Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Climate extremes are becoming more frequent with global climate change and have the potential to cause major ecological regime shifts.
0 kommentar(er)
