Global Change and the Function and Distribution of Wetlands PDF
Preview Global Change and the Function and Distribution of Wetlands
G lobal Change and the Function and Distribution of Wetlands Global Change Ecology and Wetlands Volume 1 Published in collaboration with the Society of Wetland Scientists – Global Change Ecology Section The Society of Wetland Scientists’ book series, Global Change Ecology and Wetlands, emerged from the Society’s Global Change Ecology Section. There is a growing need among wetlands managers and scientists to address problems of climate change in wetlands, and this series will fi ll an important literature gap in the fi eld of global change as it relates to wetlands around the world. The goal is to highlight the latest research from the world leaders researching climate change in wetlands, to disseminate research fi ndings on global change ecology, and to provide sound science to the public for decision-making on wetland policy and stewardship. Each volume will address a topic addressed by the annual symposium of the Society’s Global Change Ecology Section. For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/8905 Beth A. Middleton Editor Global Change and the Function and Distribution of Wetlands Editor Beth A. Middleton National Wetlands Research Center US Geological Survey Lafayette, LA, USA ISBN 978-94-007-4493-6 ISBN 978-94-007-4494-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-4494-3 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London Library of Congress Control Number: 2012942468 Chapters 2 and 4: © The U.S. Government’s right to retain a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence in and to any copyright is acknowledged 2012 © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012 This work is subject to copyright. 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Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) C ontents Part I Paleoecology and Climate Change Insights from Paleohistory Illuminate Future Climate Change Effects on Wetlands ......................................................................................... 3 Ben A. LePage, Bonnie F. Jacobs, and Christopher J. Williams Part II Sea Level Rise and Coastal Wetlands Response of Salt Marsh and Mangrove Wetlands to Changes in Atmospheric CO , Climate, and Sea Level ............................................... 63 2 Karen McKee, Kerrylee Rogers, and Neil Saintilan Part III Atmospheric Emissions and Wetlands Key Processes in CH Dynamics in Wetlands and Possible Shifts 4 with Climate Change ...................................................................................... 99 Hojeong Kang, Inyoung Jang, and Sunghyun Kim Part IV Drought and Climate Change The Effects of Climate-Change-Induced Drought and Freshwater Wetlands ............................................................................... 117 Beth A. Middleton and Till Kleinebecker Index ................................................................................................................. 149 v P art I P aleoecology and Climate Change I nsights from Paleohistory Illuminate Future Climate Change Effects on Wetlands B en A . L ePage, B onnie F . J acobs, and C hristopher J . W illiams A bstract C limate change c ould have profound impacts on world wetland environments, which can be better understood through the examination of ancient wetlands when the world was warmer. These impacts may directly alter the critical role of wetlands in ecosystem function and human services. Here we present a framework for the study of wetland fossils and deposits to understand the potential effects of future climate change on wetlands. We review the methods and assump- tions associated with the use of plant macro- and microfossils to reconstruct ancient wetland ecosystems and their associated paleoenvironments. We then present case studies of paleo-wetland ecosystems under global climate conditions that were very different from the present time. Our case study of extinct Arctic forested-wetlands reveals insights about high-productivity wetlands that fl o urished in the highest lati- tudes during the ice-free global warmth of the Paleogene (ca. 45 million years ago) and how these wetlands might have been instrumental in keeping the polar regions warm. We then evaluate climate-induced changes in tropical wetlands by focusing on the Pleistocene and Holocene (2.588 Myr ago to the present) of Africa. These past B .A . L ePage (*) A cademy of Natural Sciences, 1 900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, P hiladelphia, P A 1 9103, U SA P ECO Energy Company, 2 301 Market Street, S7-2, P hiladelphia, P A 1 9103, U SA e-mail: b 4 B.A. LePage et al. ecosystems demonstrate that subtle changes in the global energy balance had signifi c ant impacts on global hydrology and climate, which ultimately determine the composition and function of wetland ecosystems. Moreover, the history of these regions demonstrates the inter-connectedness of the low and high latitudes, and the global nature of the Earth’s hydrologic cycle. Our case studies provide glimpses of wetland ecosystems, which expanded and ultimately declined under a suite of global climate conditions with which humanity has little if any experience. Thus, these paleoecology studies paint a picture of future wetland function under projected global climate change. 1 I ntroduction V irtually every aspect of the planet Earth, especially climate, has changed over the last four billion years. There is no reason to believe that these changes will cease, or more to the point, that we can stop such changes because they are now impacting our daily lives. From a geological point of view, global climate change is inevitable, and we need to ask ourselves whether our efforts to curb such change is likely to have the desired mitigating effect? While the solution is complicated and certainly cannot be answered within the context of this chapter, our goal is to help put global climate change into a geological perspective with respect to wetlands. W hen Earth’s history is viewed in a geological context, we see a planet that has always been in a state of geologic and geomorphologic fl u x. The Earth’s climate has changed considerably throughout geologic time and ironically, we live at one of the few times when global climate is cold, or what geologists call “icehouse conditions”. For most of Earth’s history “hothouse or greenhouse conditions” prevailed, ice caps were absent, and the average global temperature was considerably warmer than at present. The consensus among scientists is the anthropogenic input of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide (CO ), have triggered a phase of 2 global warming (Solomon et al. 2 007; Rosenzweig et al. 2 008) . The pace and inten- sity of future warming and the associated signifi c ant environmental changes are likely to be governed, in part, by anthropogenic greenhouse gas inputs. W hat then can the study of ancient wetland communities, some from millions of years ago, offer to understand better the effects of future climate change on wet- lands? It is important that we frame our discussion of wetland impacts in the context of world wetland extent. The current global wetland area is estimated to be approxi- 2 mately 12.8 million square kilometers (km ) or 8.6% of the total land area of the world (Schuyt and Brander 2 004) . In an ice-free world, the total wetland area could 2 double in size to 25 million km (18% of the total land area) if we assume that at least 50% of the area currently classifi e d as ice (Greenland and Antarctica) and 2 tundra would become wetland and the current wetland area of 12.8 million km would be maintained. This assumption seems reasonable judging from the geo- graphic extent and amount of Cenozoic-age (Fig. 1 ; 65.5 to 2.588 million years old [Myr]) coals in northern and Arctic Canada, Iceland, Spitsbergen, Alaska, and Russia.
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