Cape Cod’s salt marshes are as iconic as they are important.
Cape Cod’s salt marshes are as iconic as they are important. These beautiful, low-lying wetlands are some of the most biologically productive ecosystems on Earth. They play an outsized role in nitrogen cycling, act as carbon sinks, protect coastal development from storm surge, and provide critical habitats and nurseries for many fish, shellfish, and coastal birds.
And, according to new research from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), more than 90 percent of the world’s salt marshes are likely to be underwater by the end of the century.
The findings come from a 50-year study in Great Sippewissett Marsh in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Since 1971, scientists from the MBL Ecosystems Center have mapped vegetative cover in experimental plots in this marsh to examine whether increased nitrogen in the environment would impact species of marsh grass. Due to the study’s length, they also were able to detect the effects of climate change on the ecosystem, especially those driven by accelerating sea level rise.
The researchers found that increased nitrogen favored higher levels of vegetation and accretion of the marsh surface, but that no matter what the concentration of nitrogen they applied to the marsh, these ecosystems won’t be able to outpace submergence from global sea level rise.
Read more at Marine Biological Laboratory
Photo Credit: jenneva72 via Pixabay
