Projecting Mangrove Forest Resilience to Sea‐Level Rise on a Pacific Island
October 8, 2024
While mangroves can increase their elevation relative to tidal flooding, if sea-level rise is too rapid, they can be submerged. There is an urgent need to understand how vulnerable mangrove forests in the Pacific are to sea-level rise so that local communities and resource managers can implement and prioritize actions, particularly on small islands. In a paper recently published in Estuaries and Coasts of PI-CASC-funded work, researchers developed models from extensive fieldwork in tidal wetlands that explored soil elevation building relative to sea levels. The study focused on five mangrove tree species across seven regions of Pohnpei, where mangrove forests play a critical role in the ecosystem and support subsistence livening for local communities. Results imply that if sea level rise rates exceed 8mm per year, the mangroves could become submerged and lost.
Read the paper to learn more details about this important work:
Buffington, K.J., Carr, J.A., MacKenzie, R.A. et al. Projecting Mangrove Forest Resilience to Sea-Level Rise on a Pacific Island: Species Dynamics and Ecological Thresholds. Estuaries and Coasts (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-024-01422-y