Journal
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
Volume 749, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141493
Keywords
Coastal wetlands; Suaeda salsa; Die-off; Tidal channel networks; Resistance; Drought
Categories
Funding
- Key Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [U1901212, 51639001]
- Fund for Innovative Research Group of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [51721093]
- National Key Research and Development Program of China [2017YFC0404505]
- USA National Science Foundation [1637630, 1832221]
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Massive die-off in salt marshes is one of the most common examples of widespread degradation in marine and coastal ecosystems. In salt marshes, tidal channel networks facilitate the exchange of water, nutrients, sediments and biota with the open marine environments. However, quantitative analyses of the role of channel networks in alleviating vegetation die -off in salt marshes are scarce. Here we quantified the spatial-temporal development of marsh vegetation die -off in the northern Liaodong Bay by analyzing aerial images before, during, and after a drought (from 2014 to 2018). We found that Suaeda salsa marshes have recently experienced large-scale dieoff. The extent of vegetation die-off increases with increasing distance from the channel network. Moreover, our results suggested that efficient tidal channel networks (high drainage density, low mean unchanneled path length) can mitigate die-off at the watershed scale. We presented possible abiotic Si biotic processes in channel networks that explain this spatial dynamic. Our study highlights the importance of efficient tidal channel networks in mitigating die-off and enhancing the resistance of marshes to droughts, and call for incorporating theses dynamics in coastal restoration and management. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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