Impact of Global Warming on Coastal Wetlands Essay -- Climate Change,

Impact of world-wide warm up on Coastal WetlandsProfessors comment Jane wrote this research root for my Advanced Composition course. The assignment asks the students to read and understand six to decennium articles within a research area of their choice, then synthesize the information so that a reader privy quickly understand the break state of research in that area. Jane chose to look at how increased swamp and salinity might affect coastal wetland soils and species, and she organized the material clear and effectively. What I liked particularly about this review was that it moved logically from the effects of flooding and salinity on wetland soils to the effects on the plants growing there to the overall effects on the wetland, both in foothold of species composition and, much drastically, wetland survival. The tie-in with global climate change puts this local anesthetic chain of cause and effect into a larger perspective. Introduction Global climate change, risin g sea levels and anthropogenic factors are creating increased flooding and salinity levels in coastal wetland areas. (Conner, 1994 Flynn et al., 1995 Webb et al., 1995 Conner and Askew, 1993 Allen et al., 1995 McCarron et al., 1998 Baldwin and Mendelssohn, 1998). Increased flooding and salinity levels can affect wetland soil parameters, and in turn, wetland associated plant species (Baldwin and Mendelssohn, 1998). Although some species are more tolerant to these conditions, most species demonstrate physiological responses and decreased survival at increased flooding and salinity levels. Therefore, changes in wetland species composition are anticipate unless intolerant species can adapt to heightened flooding and salinity levels imposed by changing environmental... ... 255-268. Conner, W.H. and Askew, G.R. (1993). Impact of Saltwater Flooding on Red Maple, Redbay, and Chinese Tallow Seedlings. Castanea58(3) 214-219 Conner, W.H. (1994). The Effect of Salinity and Waterlogging on Gro wth and Survival of Baldcypress and Chinese Tallow Seedlings. ledger of Coastal Research10(4) 1045-1049. Flynn, K.M., McKee, K.L., and Mendelssohn, I.A. (1995). Recovery of freshwater fenland vegetation after a saltwater intrusion event. Oecologia103 63-72. McCarron, J-K., McLeod, K.W., and Conner, W.H. (1998). Flood and Salinity Stress of Wetland Woody Species, Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)and swamp Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica var. biflora). Wetlands18(2) 165-l 75. Webb, E.C., Mendelssohn, I.A., and Wilsey, B.J. (1995). Causes for vegetation dieback in a Louisiana salt marsh A bioassay approach. Aquatic Botany5 1 28 l-289.