COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: RUI: THE INFLUENCE OF MANGROVE INVASION AND RISING TEMPERATURES ON BELOWGROUND PROCESSES IN COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS

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The marshes and mangroves that line our coasts protect human populations from large storms and provide recreational activities for millions of people. The very existence of these coastal ecosystems depends on their ability to gain soil to keep pace with rising seas. Wetland plant root growth pushes the soil surface upward relative to the ocean, but not all plants do this in the same way. Large areas of southeastern US coastal wetlands have converted from grassy marshes to woody mangrove forests as temperatures have increased over the past decades, possibly enhancing the capacity of these ecosystems to resist storms and build soil. Using experiments that simulate future ecosystems, the team of scientists will investigate how Florida wetlands, both marshes and mangroves, will continue to protect people as both temperatures and seas continue to rise. They will use their results to perform an economic assessment of these changing coastal ecosystems at three Florida reserves used heavily by the public. In addition to advancing understanding of coastal ecosystem responses to varying climate, results from their assessment will be used to 1) inform federal, state and local land managers about the changing coastal protection value of their lands and 2) educate visitors about these special coastal landscapes.Mangrove invasion could change the nature of root inputs and potentially alter soil elevation. Warming could also accelerate microbial decomposition of organic matter and thus decrease or reverse soil accumulation, which could put wetlands at risk in the face of rising seas. The research team will address the question: How do warming and mangrove invasion into salt marshes alter root productivity and organic matter decomposition, mechanisms that control coastal wetland viability? Using six existing research sites along the East Coast of FL, passive warming chambers and mesocosm experiments, the investigators propose to examine the countervailing influences of rising temperatures and plant invasion on soil elevation gain. The team will conduct warming experiments at each of three FL coastal wetland sites, which will be some of the first warming experiments in tropical and subtropical climates, thus filling a major gap in scientific knowledge. In order to assess how a variable climate and mangrove invasion will alter the coastal protection capacity of FL wetland ecosystems, the investigators will perform a natural capital assessment at these sites using the InVEST software developed by the Natural Capital Project. They will use this ecosystem service assessment to develop a 3D video informing visitors to these reserves of how their public lands are changing.