Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS05 Groundwater at Aquatic Margins (Environmental Connections)

Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2001, Time: 2:45:00 PM

Location: Cimarron

Morris, J, T, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA, morris@sc.edu

Sundareshwar, P, V, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA, pvs@duke.edu

Nietch, C, T, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA, Nietch.Christopher@epamail.epa.gov

Kjerfve, B, , University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA, bjorn@sc.edu

Cahoon, D, R, USGS, National Wetlands Research Center, Lafayette, LA, USA, Don_Cahoon@usgs.gov

HOMEOSTATIC RESPONSE OF COASTAL WETLANDS TO RISING RELATIVE SEA LEVEL

Interactions among sea level, primary production, and sediment accretion function as a negative feedback mechanism to regulate the elevation of intertidal wetlands toward an equilibrium with mean sea level. The equilibrium elevation of the marsh surface is positively affected by wetland primary productivity and negatively by the rate of relative sea-level rise. As the elevation decreases with increasing rate of sea-level rise, wetland productivity increases up to a maximum. Further increases in the rate of sea-level rise then depress primary production as the elevation decreases to a level that is sub-optimal for the vegetation. This model explains the long-term stability of some marshes, the deterioration of others, and indicates that long-period sea level cycles have a significant effect on estuarine primary productivity.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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