SGER -- Hurricanes Gustav & Ike: Relative Sustainability of Saline Wetlands in the Mississippi River Delta Complex

SGER--古斯塔夫飓风

• 批准号: 0902035
• 负责人: Irving Mendelssohn
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Louisiana State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-01-01 至 2010-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0902035&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Hurricanes; Gustav; & Ike

Hurricanes are important forces that sculpt landforms within coastal wetlands and influence their ecology through effects on physical, chemical, and biological processes. In addition, sea-level rise and land subsidence are long-term processes that affect coastal areas, as in the Mississippi River Delta Complex (MRDC), which contains 40% of the Nation's wetlands. Intertidal plants, like mangroves and salt marsh grasses, are important in promoting accumulation of sediments and organic matter, thereby building the soil resource and maintaining wetland elevation as sea level rises. Species shifts may make wetlands more vulnerable to sea-level rise, depending on the species' capacities to build marsh elevation. This project will take advantage of recent hurricane events, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike that made landfall in September 2008 near Port Fourchon, Louisiana to compare the capacity of mangrove and salt marsh ecosystems to capture sediment, create a barrier to sediment delivery, stimulate organic matter contributions to soil, and increase elevation in coastal areas. This information becomes increasingly important if sea-level rise and hurricane intensity and frequency increase with global climate change as predicted. Understanding how hurricanes interact with processes controlling coastal elevations is essential to developing sound plans to conserve and protect these ecosystems and the services they provide. The sustainability of coastal wetlands in the MRDC is critical not only as a natural resource and for seafood production, but also for their key role in protecting the ports of New Orleans and Port Fourchon, through which nearly 30% of the nation's energy resources and foreign imports pass.

飓风是塑造滨海湿地地貌的重要力量，并通过对物理、化学和生物过程的影响影响其生态。此外，海平面上升和地面下沉是影响沿海地区的长期过程，密西西比河三角洲复合体(MRDC)就是如此，密西西比河三角洲复合体包含全国40%的湿地。潮间带植物，如红树林和盐沼草，对于促进沉积物和有机质的积累，从而在海平面上升时建立土壤资源和维持湿地海拔具有重要作用。物种转移可能会使湿地更容易受到海平面上升的影响，这取决于物种建立沼泽海拔的能力。该项目将利用最近的飓风事件，即2008年9月在路易斯安那州富尔雄港附近登陆的古斯塔夫和艾克飓风，比较红树林和盐沼生态系统捕获沉积物、创建沉积物输送障碍、刺激土壤有机质贡献和提高沿海地区海拔的能力。如果海平面上升，飓风强度和频率如预测的那样随着全球气候变化而增加，这一信息就变得越来越重要。了解飓风如何与控制沿海海拔的过程相互作用，对于制定合理的计划以养护和保护这些生态系统及其提供的服务至关重要。马绍尔群岛沿海湿地的可持续性不仅是作为一种自然资源和海产品生产的关键，而且对于保护新奥尔良和富尔雄港的港口也至关重要，美国近30%的能源和外国进口都要经过这两个港口。