Impact of Global Warming on Coastal Wetlands Essay

Mangroves are halophyte plants that are physiologically amended to survive in habitat containing high concentration of salt in the soil water even though salt is not a physical requirement for growth; hence they are facultative halophytes (Dictionary, 2015). Mangroves at Nudgee Beach have developed three special mechanisms to manage the excess salt levels in their environment due to the disability of enzymes function at high salt concentration. Each species of mangroves are able to either: exclude (prevent salt entering), extrude (take salt out) or accumulate large amounts sodium chloride, enabling them to survive in their ecosystem (University of Sydney, 2015). Some species of mangrove have more than one of the above characteristics. The process

Giving full credit to restricting the Mississippi River as the culprit for loss of wetlands is not accurate. The booming oil and gas exploration of the 1970’s and 1980’s merits a name on the marquee as well. The pipelines and canals used to transport the resources to the outside world placed a great deal of stress on the fragile wetlands. Erosion from the barges in and out of the marshes as well as the salt water allowed into the fresh water, providing a precarious habitat for fresh water species – flora and fauna alike. Plants provide root systems to hold soil in place. Fish and fowl provide an economy for the area. Enter

Wetlands provide fish and wildlife habitat. It supplies food water, along with areas that can be used for nesting or resting. Wetlands also act as a aquifer recharge and discharge area. They are able to recharge groundwater or excess groundwater is able to discharge into the wetland. Wetlands act as flood storage when rainfall and snowmelt leave an excess of water around and no place to go.

The characteristic warming climate of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene resulted in rising sea levels which contributed to the formation of the various deltas in the New Orleans area (Dunbar, Britsch, 2008). The natural formation of these deltas produced coastal wetlands that represent 30% of coastal wetlands currently in the United States (Cigler, 2007). In addition to these wetlands, the Mississippi River was surrounded by substantial forest growth (Pabis, 1998).

The use of too much fertilizers, and in particular, of fertilizers with high concentrations of nitrogen, has been linked to reduced biodiversity (Xiankai et al. 2010). It becomes necessary to consider the detrimental effects of high concentrations of fertilizer in the reduced spaces. Fertilizers are salts, and therefore high concentrations of fertilizers can deplete the plant from water.

A clear and widely accepted definition of a wetland has yet to be established. Wetlands are of various types and function, and occur in diverse locations, and climates which in part make them difficult to define. Many definitions of a wetland have been posed by different groups and individuals, some of the definitions include: “An area of land that has hydric soil and hydrophytic vegetation, typically flooded for part of the year, and forming a transition zone between aquatic and terrestrial systems (Brady and Weil, 1999).” A wetland is an ecosystem that depends on constant or recurrent, shallow inundation or saturation at or near the surface of the substrate (soil). The minimum essential characteristics of a

Soil, which is the layer of earth on the top where plants and vegetation grow, contains a pH balance, everything does. The pH, acidity, or alkalinity balance of each type of soil that is being observed can affect the plants, because it determines how many nutrients are being deposited to them. It

Based on research completed by University of Minnesota soil scientists, the state mandates that every wetland should be protected by a 50-foot buffer zone. The City of Lilliput, a rural town located 30 miles north of St. Cloud, Minnesota, increased the buffer zone to150 feet in1990 within their municipality. The rationale behind Lilliput’s increase was because the town is zoned for predominantly rural uses, i.e. farming and cattle ranching. Due to the animal wasted and farmers’ use of pesticides on their crops, the Town Council felt that increasing the buffer around surrounding wetlands would better protect it from these sources of contamination than would the state minimum of 50

Louisiana should be concerned about the wetlands because of the wildlife and fisheries. Without it, Louisiana would not be able to supply seafood and wildlife. Another concern, is the land going under and people could lose their homes. According to Allured and Martin, “the destruction of the wetlands came from the coastal and offshore oil and gas development” (p.332). Also, there is some thought that humans play a role in the destruction. According to Allured and Martin, “swamps symbolize as dark and chaotic places of the earth” and “marsh as a type of wet area that harbored disease” (p. 333). The importance of ascertaining the cause of the vanishing wetlands is to help restore the wetlands and protect from a hurricane

Saline intrusion can be a life threatening problem to everyone, not just plants. If there is salt water mixed in with our fresh water aquifers, we will have no clean drinking water. That means we would have to purify all the water in factories and/or import clean water from other states. Either way, the price for clean water will rise. Not only will it destroy the aquifers, but it could also damage the about of crops yielded during a harvest. We would have to import more goods so that we would have a supplement

5. How would halophytes be affected if there is a decrease of salinity in a wetland?

Wetland soils are extremely varied. They are found from the tropics to the subarctic. They can be seasonal or year-round, freshwater or saltwater, organic or mineral. The one thing that all of them have in common is that for at least part of the year they are saturated with water. This saturation has a significant impact on the soil's physics, chemistry, and biota. However, over the past century more than half of all the wetlands in the United States has been drained for agriculture and other uses such as construction. When the soils are drained the physics, chemistry, and biota are drastically changed. This paper is an attempt to

4. Dried leaves were retrieved and weighed. The total tissue loss from initial weight before submersion until now was recorded. Class inputs data and a class mean and standard deviation of tissue loss/ day was gathered for both wetlands for each species

The plants that grow in saline soils have diverse ionic compositions and a range in concentrations of dissolved salts (Volkmar et al., 1998). These concentrations fluctuate because of changes in water source, drainage, evapo-transpiration, and solute availability (Volkmar et al., 1998). Due to these varying conditions, plant growth depends on a supply of inorganic nutrients, and this level of nutrients varies in time and space (Maathius and Amtmann, 1999). Either extreme condition concerning nutrients results in deficiency or toxicity in plants, and this is demonstrated by salt tolerance (Maathius and Amtmann, 1999). These conditions vary according to the plant species and growth conditions. Little is known about the genetic basis for diversity of salt tolerance in plants, and this could be partly explained through the definitions given for salinity.

I decided to test the ecological status of the wetland by gathering samples from the wetland and testing it for various aspects in the water and the plants that are found within the area.