- Key Findings
Long term data reveal that multiple types of disturbances — including cold snaps, fires, droughts, floods, and tides — play a strong role in shaping coastal ecosystems. Tropical storms can be beneficial by connecting upstream and downstream food webs and dispersing mangrove propagules into disturbance-generated canopy gaps. They also deliver phosphorus rich mineral deposits that promote mangrove transgression, increased soil elevation relative to sea level, and more rapid mangrove wetland recovery.
Eddy covariance tower at SRS-6 in lower Shark River Slough before (left) and after (right) Hurricane Irma. Credit: Left photo courtesy of Jordan Barr, right photo by Edward Castaneda - Results
Mangrove production and accretion reflect storm-surge resource pulses from Hurricanes Wilma (2005) and Irma (2017). (a) Annual mean litterfall (with standard errors) show defoliation and rapid regrowth, fueled by pulses of (b) porewater soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP - bars with standard errors) from P-rich sediments delivered from the Gulf of Mexico that also increased accretion rates (black lines with slope of linear regression).
For more information, contact Edward Castañeda.