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Sea-level rise will endanger valuable salt marshes across the United Kingdom by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, according to an international study co-authored by a Rutgers University-New Brunswick professor.
Moreover, salt marshes in southern and eastern England in relation to high risk of loss by 2040, according to the study published in Nature Communications .
The study is the first to estimate salt-marsh vulnerability (19659003) An international team of scientists led by Rutgers-New Brunswick Professor Benjamin Horton-now acting chair and professor at the Asian School of the Environment at Nanyang Technological University-found that rising sea levels in the past led to increased waterlogging of the salt marshes in the region, killing the vegetation that protects them from erosion. The study is based on 800 salt-marsh soil cores. Tidal marshes rank among Earth's most vulnerable ecosystems.
"By 2100, if we continue on a high-emissions trajectory, essentially all British salt marshes will face a high risk of loss. "The study co-author Robert E. Kopp, a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Rutgers-New Brunswick and director of the Rutgers Institute of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.
"Salt marshes, also called coastal wetlands, are important because they provide vital ecosystem services," said Horton. "They act as a buffer against coastal storms and protect them from pollutants to decontaminate our fresh water. We also lose an important biodiversity hotspot. Salt marshes are important transitional habitats between the ocean and the land, and a nursery area for fish, crustacea, and insects. "
While the study looks at UK salt marshes, the counterpart in tropical environments such as Singapore are the most important mangroves, which are just as vulnerable to sea-level rise as salt marshes.
"What is unknown is the tipping point that will cause a disintegration of mangroves to Singapore and elsewhere in Southeast Asia," Horton said. "We are currently collecting data to address the future vulnerability of mangroves to sea-level rise."
More Information:
Benjamin P. Horton et al, Predicting marsh vulnerability to sea-level rise using Holocene relative sea-level data, Nature Communications (2018). DOI: 10.1038 / s41467-018-05080-0
Sea-level rise will endanger valuable salt marshes across the United Kingdom by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, according to an international study co-authored by a Rutgers University-New Brunswick professor.
Moreover, salt marshes in southern and eastern England in relation to high risk of loss by 2040, according to the study published in Nature Communications .
The study is the first to estimate salt-marsh vulnerability (19659013) An International Team of Scientists, led by former Rutgers-New Brunswick Professor Benjamin Horton-now acting chair and professor at the Asian School of the Environment at Nanyang Technological University-found that rising sea levels in the past led to increased waterlogging of the salt marshes in the region, killing the vegetation that protects them from erosion. The study is based on 800 salt-marsh soil cores. Tidal marshes rank among Earth's most vulnerable ecosystems.
"By 2100, if we continue on a high-emissions trajectory, essentially all British salt will face a high risk of loss. "The study co-author Robert E. Kopp, a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Rutgers-New Brunswick and director of the Rutgers Institute of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.
"Salt marshes, also called coastal wetlands, are important because they provide vital ecosystem services," said Horton. "They act as a buffer against coastal storms and protect them from pollutants to decontaminate our fresh water. We also lose an important biodiversity hotspot. Salt marshes are important transitional habitats between the ocean and the land, and a nursery area for fish, crustacea, and insects. "
While the study looks at UK salt marshes, the counterpart in tropical environments such as Singapore are the most important mangroves, which are just as vulnerable to sea-level rise as salt marshes.
"What is unknown is the tipping point that will cause a disintegration of mangroves to Singapore and elsewhere in Southeast Asia," Horton said. "We are currently collecting data to address the future vulnerability of mangroves to sea-level rise."
More Information:
Benjamin P. Horton et al, Predicting marsh vulnerability to sea-level rise using Holocene relative sea-level data, Nature Communications (2018). DOI: 10.1038 / s41467-018-05080-0
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