The vulnerability of Indo-Pacific mangrove forests to sea-level rise

Catherine E. Lovelock; Donald R. Cahoon; Daniel A. Friess; Glenn R. Guntenspergen; Ken W. Krauss; Ruth Reef; Kerrylee Rogers; Megan L. Saunders; Frida Sidik; Andrew Swales; Neil Saintilan; Le Xuan Thuyen; Tran Triet

doi:10.1038/nature15538

The vulnerability of Indo-Pacific mangrove forests to sea-level rise

Nature

By: Catherine E. Lovelock, Donald R. Cahoon, Daniel A. Friess, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Ken W. Krauss, Ruth Reef, Kerrylee Rogers, Megan L. Saunders, Frida Sidik, Andrew Swales, Neil Saintilan, Le Xuan Thuyen, and Tran Triet

https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15538

Links

More information: Publisher Index Page (via DOI)
Open Access Version: External Repository
Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core

Abstract

Sea-level rise can threaten the long-term sustainability of coastal communities and valuable ecosystems such as coral reefs, salt marshes and mangroves. Mangrove forests have the capacity to keep pace with sea-level rise and to avoid inundation through vertical accretion of sediments, which allows them to maintain wetland soil elevations suitable for plant growth. The Indo-Pacific region holds most of the world’s mangrove forests, but sediment delivery in this region is declining, owing to anthropogenic activities such as damming of rivers. This decline is of particular concern because the Indo-Pacific region is expected to have variable, but high, rates of future sea-level rise. Here we analyse recent trends in mangrove surface elevation changes across the Indo-Pacific region using data from a network of surface elevation table instruments. We find that sediment availability can enable mangrove forests to maintain rates of soil-surface elevation gain that match or exceed that of sea-level rise, but for 69 per cent of our study sites the current rate of sea-level rise exceeded the soil surface elevation gain. We also present a model based on our field data, which suggests that mangrove forests at sites with low tidal range and low sediment supply could be submerged as early as 2070.

Study Area

Additional publication details
Publication type	Article
Publication Subtype	Journal Article
Title	The vulnerability of Indo-Pacific mangrove forests to sea-level rise
Series title	Nature
DOI	10.1038/nature15538
Volume	526
Issue	7574
Year Published	2015
Language	English
Publisher	Macmillan Journals Ltd.
Publisher location	London, UK
Contributing office(s)	Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
Description	5 p.
First page	559
Last page	563
Country	Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Vietnam
Other Geospatial	Indo-Pacific region
Online Only (Y/N)	N
Additional Online Files (Y/N)	N
Google Analytic Metrics	Metrics page