Keeping above the waves? The response of coastal freshwater peatlands to sea-level rise.

沿海咸水生态系统如何适应海平面上升，以及它们是否会迅速增生以维持它们在潮汐棱镜中的相对位置，这引起了相当大的兴趣。这种兴趣的出现是因为盐沼和红树林作为天然海岸防御和作为区域和全球重要的（蓝色）碳储存的重要性。对沿海淡水湿地，特别是洪泛平原沼泽等泥炭地的关注要少得多。气候变化引起的海平面上升是对这些沿海淡水湿地的潜在主要威胁。咸水或更高的地下水的侵入可能会破坏现有的植物群落及其碳汇功能。此外，目前受这些湿地保护的内陆地区可能更容易发生洪水。有一些证据表明，这些湿地过去曾因海平面上升而加快了泥炭积累的速度。然而，人们对所涉及的机制知之甚少，如果不了解这些机制，我们就无法预测它们对未来海平面迅速上升的可能反应。了解淡水湿地对海平面上升的反应是政策制定者和土地管理者的优先事项，因为他们正在适应一个更温暖的世界。这项工作具有国际意义，因为世界各地有大量处于危险中的低洼湿地。它将有助于表明在哪里优先管理工作，也可能显示新的泥炭地可能形成的海岸线移动inland.Project的目的和方法为了解决这一关键的研究差距，该项目将使用过去-现在-未来的方法，结合古生态，过程为基础的，和建模工作，以了解沿海淡水泥炭地海平面上升的响应。这项研究将集中在两个对比鲜明的英国网站：科尔斯Fochno（在威尔士中部的河口湿地沼泽）和惠特芬（在诺福克洪泛平原沼泽）。具体而言，该项目将包括：㈠分析从两个地点采集的泥炭芯，以了解它们对过去海平面上升时期的反应; ㈡收集数据，以了解目前的进程和碳积累率如何适应水文和盐度的变化; iii）利用气象局对淡水泥炭地地区海平面的预测进行建模工作，和DigiBog泥炭地模型来模拟过去和未来泥炭地对气候和海平面变化的响应。Wheatfen已被项目组成员设立为“生态水文观测站”，并提供了最近收集的关于沼泽水位和盐涌的数据集。

Project Background There is considerable interest in how coastal saltwater ecosystems might adjust to sea-level rise and whether they will accrete rapidly enough to maintain their relative position in the tidal prism. This interest has arisen because of the importance of salt marshes and mangroves as natural coastal defences and as regionally- and globally-important (blue) carbon stores. Significantly less attention has been given to coastal freshwater wetlands, in particular peatlands such as floodplain fens. Sea-level rise caused by climate change is a potential major threat to these coastal freshwater wetlands. The ingress of saline water or higher groundwater could destroy their existing plant communities and their carbon sink function. In addition, inland areas currently protected by these wetlands may become more prone to flooding. There is some evidence that such wetlands have in the past increased their rates of peat accumulation in response to rising sea levels. However, the mechanisms involved are poorly understood, and without that understanding we cannot predict their likely response to future, rapid, increases in sea level. Understanding freshwater wetland response to sea level rise is a priority for policymakers and land managers as they adapt for a warmer world. The work has international relevance, with a large number of at-risk low-lying wetlands around the world. It will help indicate where to prioritise management efforts and may also show where new peatlands might form as shorelines move inland.Project Aims and Methods To address this critical research gap, this project will use a past-present-future approach, combining palaeoecological, process-based, and modelling work to understand the response of coastal freshwater peatlands to sea-level rise. The study will focus on two contrasting UK sites: Cors Fochno (an estuarine ombrotrophic bog in mid-Wales) and Wheatfen (a floodplain fen in Norfolk). Specifically, the project will involve: i) analysis of peat cores taken from both sites to understand their response to periods of past sea-level rise; ii) data collection to understand how current process and carbon accumulation rates adjust to hydrological and salinity changes; iii) modelling work using Met Office sea level projections in areas of freshwater peatlands, and the DigiBog peatland model to simulate past and future responses of the peatlands to changes in both climate and sea level. Wheatfen has been set up as an 'ecohydrological observatory' by members of the project team, and recently-collected datasets on fen water levels and saline surges are available.