Geological studies reveal that sea level rise threatens UK salt marshes, study shows

In addition, the salt marshes of southern and eastern England are likely to be lost by 2040, according to the study published in Nature Communications

The study is the first to estimate the vulnerability of salt marshes Using the geological record of past losses in response to sea level change.

An international team of scientists, led by the 39; former Rutgers-New Brunswick professor Benjamin Horton, now interim president and professor at the Asian School of Environment Nanyang's University of Technology – found that raising the level of the sea in the past has resulted in an increase in waterlogging of salt marshes in the area, destroying the vegetation that protects them from erosion. The study is based on data from 800 salt marsh soil cores. Tidal marshes rank among the most vulnerable ecosystems on Earth.

"If we continue on a high-emission trajectory, all UK salt marshes will face a high risk of loss. Said Robert E. Kopp, co-author of the study, professor at the Department of Earth Sciences and Planets of Rutgers-New Brunswick and director of the Rutgers Institute of Earth Sciences, the ocean and the atmosphere. Kopp led the development of projections of sea-level rise.

"Salt marshes, also called coastal wetlands, are important because they provide vital ecosystem services," he said. Horton. "They serve as a buffer against coastal storms to protect the continent and a filter for pollutants to decontaminate our fresh water. We are also losing an important hotspot of biodiversity. Salt marshes are important transitional habitats between the 39, ocean and land, and a nursery area for the point of this document is the speed with which we will lose these economically and economically important coastal areas in the 21st century. "

As the study looks at salt marshes in the UK, the counterpart in tropical environments like Singapore, mangroves are as vulnerable to sea level rise as salt marshes.

"What is unknown is the tipping point that will cause the disintegration of mangroves in Singapore and elsewhere in Southeast Asia." Horton said. "We are currently collecting data to address the future vulnerability of mangroves to sea-level rise."

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More information:
Benjamin P. Horton et al., Predicting marsh vulnerability to sea-level rise using Holocene-level sea-level data, Nature Communications (2018). DOI: 10.1038 / s41467-018-05080-0