Assessing the Potential Impact of Sea-Level Rise on Submersed Aquatic Vegetation and Waterfowl in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) communities are highly productive ecosystems that provide significant ecological benefits to coastal areas, including essential calories for wintering waterfowl. However, the potential effects of sea-level rise is posing new questions about the future availability of SAV for waterfowl and other coastal wildlife. Of primary concern is the fact that rising seas have the potential to increase salinities in fresh and brackish marshes on the Gulf of Mexico’s coast, changing the distribution and composition of SAV communities, and affecting valuable waterfowl habitat and food resources. Not enough is known about the relationship between salinity and SAV to predict how this important...

Categories: Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2012, CASC, Climate Change, Completed, FY 2012, All tags... Gulf of Mexico, Plants, Plants, Predictive modeling, Projects by Region, Sea-Level Rise and Coasts, Sea-Level Rise and Coasts, South Central, South Central CASC, South Central Climate Science Center, Water, Coasts and Ice, Water, Coasts and Ice, Wetlands, Wetlands, Wildlife and Plants, Wildlife and Plants, submersed aquatic vegetation, Fewer tags