Global Change

Principal Investigator: Dr. Glenn R. Guntenspergen

Co-Investigators: Dr. Karen McKee, NWRC; Dr. James Grace, NWRC; Dr. Donald Cahoon, PWRC; Dr. Patrick Megonigal, Smithsonian Institute-SERC

Introduction

A series of controlled mesocosm and field experiments, landscape scale studies, a network of coastal wetland monitoring sites, and a suite of predictive models address critical questions regarding vulnerability of coastal wetland systems to global change. Specifically, we are evaluating the interaction of sea-level rise and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations with salinity, flooding, nutrient enrichment, and disturbance effects. Our studies are organized in a hierarchical structure that links mesocosm, field, landscape, and biogeographic levels so as to provide important new information that recognizes that coastal wetland systems respond to multiple interacting drivers and feedback effects controlling wetland surface elevation, habitat stability, and ecosystem function. Our focus is on the brackish wetland community because of its vulnerability to multiple disturbances. At the mesocosm level, experiments are designed to examine the the elevation response of mixed species communities to the interactive effects of elevated CO2, salinity, nutrients, waterlogging, and disturbance in a controlled manner. Field plot experiments examine the mechanisms of ecosystem elevation response to these same drivers. Landscape scale studies examine coastal wetland responses (both horizontal and vertical) to nutrients and disturbance along elevation gradients. Coastal wetland surface elevation trends from an extensive long-term monitoring network will be used to examine both salt marsh and brackish wetland response to varying relative rates of sea-level rise. Explicit linkages across all scales will be achieved by measuring key ecosystem processes, wetland structural features, and carbon and nutrient pools at each level of the hierarchy. Finally, we will synthesize and integrate these measures in a predictive modeling framework that will forecast ecosystem change and provide important feedback to managers that will enable adaptive shifts in strategies for the sustainable management of coastal wetlands.

Contact Information

Dr. Glenn R. Guntenspergen
University of Minnesota
Natural Resources Research Institute
5013 Miller Trunck HWY
Duluth, MN 55811-1442
Phone: 218-720-4307
E-mail: Glenn_guntenspergen@usgs.gov

Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC, Laurel)
12100 Beech Forest Rd., Suite 4039
Laurel, MD 20708-4039
Phone: 301-497-5500