"Coastal wetlands" refers to areas where land meets the sea and is covered by water most of the time. It is a type of ecosystem with a mixture of saltwater and freshwater, and it supports a diverse community of plants and animals.
Full definition
That means he's had a front - row seat to the effects of sea - level rise and the loss
of coastal wetlands, dunes, and other natural barriers against powerful storms.
The report quantifies the economic benefits of
coastal wetlands in reducing property damage from storms and flooding in the northeastern United States.
«These results are important because they highlight the need to address land use in order to reduce both the size of the low oxygen zone off Louisiana and the negative effect of nutrients
on coastal wetland restoration efforts,» said Turner.
Recent research suggests that healthy, intact
coastal wetland ecosystems such as mangrove forests, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows are particularly good at drawing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it for hundreds to thousands of years.
«We compared many different coastal ecosystems and have made a clear case for
including coastal wetlands in discussions about greenhouse gas mitigation,» said Ariana Sutton - Grier, an assistant research scientist at UMD's Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center and a co-lead author of the research paper.
This IUCN report notes: «Recent research suggests that healthy,
intact coastal wetland ecosystems such as mangrove forests, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows are particularly good at drawing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it for hundreds of thousands of years.»
«The remaining 64,000 acres of
coastal wetlands along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River have been degraded.»
The value of this project is significant
as coastal wetlands in California are increasingly rare - over 90 % have been eliminated.
Since the 1930's, oil companies have routed an estimated twenty - six thousand miles of pipeline throughout the oil - laden Southern parishes and across the
Southern coastal wetlands.
For evidence, he pointed to
coastal wetland protection rules requiring farmers to get permits before watering their cows from ponds on their land.
In addition to better zoning laws, post-hurricane redevelopment should include reshaping the built environment of urban centers to better withstand severe weather events, and
replenishing coastal wetlands to create a buffer against the effects of hurricanes.
The shooting community manage significant chunks of
designated coastal wetland in addition to extensive tracts of inland marshes and water features which have no legal protection.
A World Bank study last year found that the removal of the
typical coastal wetland has added about 2,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per square kilometer per year to the atmosphere over 50 years (ClimateWire, April 12, 2011).
The marshes, which are famed for their year - round purplish - red color, are among the last protected
native coastal wetlands in China.
His research efforts will contribute to a better understanding of vertical and lateral carbon fluxes — the amount of carbon exchanged between the land and the atmosphere, and the amount of carbon exchanged between the land and the coastal ocean — in
tidal coastal wetlands.
«When we
destroy coastal wetlands, for coastal development or aquaculture, we turn these impressive natural carbon sinks into additional, significant human - caused greenhouse gas sources,» said Sutton - Grier, who is also an ecosystem science adviser for the National Ocean Service at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
«This analysis takes a big step forward by explaining
why coastal wetland ecosystems are particularly attractive for carbon - based management.»
A new analysis co-authored by a University of Maryland scientist suggests that,
while coastal wetlands serve as effective «blue carbon» storage reservoirs for carbon dioxide, other marine ecosystems do not store carbon for long periods of time.
A similar NASA - led aerial survey is headed to Puerto Rico this week to assess lingering damage to rainforests and
coastal wetlands nearly seven months after Hurricane Maria.
The Umhlanga Lagoon Nature Reserve, with surviving Stone Age sea shell midden at its lagoon mouth, provides a number of stunning trails and coastal forest boardwalks and the unique Hawaan forest and its
neighbouring coastal wetlands, grasslands and dune forest is a beautiful place to visit and the backdrop to a groundbreaking environmental judgement that has limited rights to build houses here.
Power discussed the proposal to restore a portion of the
historic coastal wetland and associated stream channel at Prisoners Harbor on Santa Cruz Island.
They will do that by taking a close look at restrictions on building in hazardous coastal areas, making coastal structures more storm - proof, protecting and
enhancing coastal wetlands and other ecosystem features that can buffer storm impacts, and creating financial incentives to promote protective behaviors.
The importance of mangroves and
related coastal wetlands in carbon capture explained in this Nature Conservancy Infograph [Image: TNC]
It is estimated that approximately 64 percent of the freshwater marsh, 66 percent of Global Lakes and Wetlands
Database coastal wetlands, and 61 percent of brackish / saline wetlands are at risk.
In Italy,
whose coastal wetlands are the nurseries for many Mediterranean fisheries, the loss is a whopping 95 percent.
Approximately 20 % of
existing coastal wetlands may disappear by 2080 under SRES scenarios for sea - level rise (Nicholls, 2004; Devoy, 2007).
The next figure shows that in 2085 non-climate-change related factors will dominate the global loss of
coastal wetlands between 1990 and 2085.
They also suggested protecting and nursing natural barriers to sea - level rise,
like coastal wetlands, and changing building codes in certain area for things like roof strength and foundation depth in areas that would be hit hardest by storms.
From
using coastal wetlands to protect New York to the tragedy of mangrove loss leading to cyclone deaths, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that past decisions to dredge, drain, deforest and otherwise mess up our coastal landscapes can have dire, unintended consequences.
This new publication summarizes a workshop that explored the potential to restore and manage coastal habitats,
particularly coastal wetlands, as a viable carbon dioxide removal approach (often termed coastal blue carbon).
And perhaps of increasing importance is the fact that they also as natural coastal buffers, helping to protect shorelines and
keep coastal wetlands intact, thereby protecting coastal communities against storm surges and sea - level rise.
Watch the sun set over miles of
coastal wetlands sinking behind the bridge that crosses Lazaretto Creek and connects Tybee Island with one of the most fabulous scenic areas in all of Georgia.
The National Park Service (NPS) and The Nature Conservancy are actively restoring what was once the
largest coastal wetland on the Channel Islands.
Her Fulbright will continue her research on effects of sea level change; she will spend the 2018 - 2019 academic year working at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, with a focus on how
restored coastal wetlands affect flooding and management.