Table Of ContentG lobal Change and the Function and Distribution
of Wetlands
Global Change Ecology and Wetlands
Volume 1
Published in collaboration with the Society of Wetland Scientists –
Global Change Ecology Section
The Society of Wetland Scientists’ book series, Global Change Ecology and Wetlands, emerged
from the Society’s Global Change Ecology Section. There is a growing need among wetlands
managers and scientists to address problems of climate change in wetlands, and this series will fi ll
an important literature gap in the fi eld of global change as it relates to wetlands around the world.
The goal is to highlight the latest research from the world leaders researching climate change in
wetlands, to disseminate research fi ndings on global change ecology, and to provide sound science
to the public for decision-making on wetland policy and stewardship. Each volume will address a
topic addressed by the annual symposium of the Society’s Global Change Ecology Section.
For further volumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/8905
Beth A. Middleton
Editor
Global Change and the
Function and Distribution
of Wetlands
Editor
Beth A. Middleton
National Wetlands Research Center
US Geological Survey
Lafayette, LA, USA
ISBN 978-94-007-4493-6 ISBN 978-94-007-4494-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-4494-3
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012942468
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C ontents
Part I Paleoecology and Climate Change
Insights from Paleohistory Illuminate Future Climate Change
Effects on Wetlands ......................................................................................... 3
Ben A. LePage, Bonnie F. Jacobs, and Christopher J. Williams
Part II Sea Level Rise and Coastal Wetlands
Response of Salt Marsh and Mangrove Wetlands to Changes
in Atmospheric CO , Climate, and Sea Level ............................................... 63
2
Karen McKee, Kerrylee Rogers, and Neil Saintilan
Part III Atmospheric Emissions and Wetlands
Key Processes in CH Dynamics in Wetlands and Possible Shifts
4
with Climate Change ...................................................................................... 99
Hojeong Kang, Inyoung Jang, and Sunghyun Kim
Part IV Drought and Climate Change
The Effects of Climate-Change-Induced Drought
and Freshwater Wetlands ............................................................................... 117
Beth A. Middleton and Till Kleinebecker
Index ................................................................................................................. 149
v
P art I
P aleoecology and Climate Change
I nsights from Paleohistory Illuminate Future
Climate Change Effects on Wetlands
B en A . L ePage, B onnie F . J acobs, and C hristopher J . W illiams
A bstract C limate change c ould have profound impacts on world wetland
environments, which can be better understood through the examination of ancient
wetlands when the world was warmer. These impacts may directly alter the critical
role of wetlands in ecosystem function and human services. Here we present a
framework for the study of wetland fossils and deposits to understand the potential
effects of future climate change on wetlands. We review the methods and assump-
tions associated with the use of plant macro- and microfossils to reconstruct ancient
wetland ecosystems and their associated paleoenvironments. We then present case
studies of paleo-wetland ecosystems under global climate conditions that were very
different from the present time. Our case study of extinct Arctic forested-wetlands
reveals insights about high-productivity wetlands that fl o urished in the highest lati-
tudes during the ice-free global warmth of the Paleogene (ca. 45 million years ago)
and how these wetlands might have been instrumental in keeping the polar regions
warm. We then evaluate climate-induced changes in tropical wetlands by focusing
on the Pleistocene and Holocene (2.588 Myr ago to the present) of Africa. These past
B .A . L ePage (*)
A cademy of Natural Sciences, 1 900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, P hiladelphia,
P A 1 9103, U SA
P ECO Energy Company, 2 301 Market Street, S7-2, P hiladelphia, P A 1 9103, U SA
e-mail: b
4 B.A. LePage et al.
ecosystems demonstrate that subtle changes in the global energy balance had
signifi c ant impacts on global hydrology and climate, which ultimately determine
the composition and function of wetland ecosystems. Moreover, the history of these
regions demonstrates the inter-connectedness of the low and high latitudes, and the
global nature of the Earth’s hydrologic cycle. Our case studies provide glimpses of
wetland ecosystems, which expanded and ultimately declined under a suite of global
climate conditions with which humanity has little if any experience. Thus, these
paleoecology studies paint a picture of future wetland function under projected
global climate change.
1 I ntroduction
V irtually every aspect of the planet Earth, especially climate, has changed over the
last four billion years. There is no reason to believe that these changes will cease, or
more to the point, that we can stop such changes because they are now impacting
our daily lives. From a geological point of view, global climate change is inevitable,
and we need to ask ourselves whether our efforts to curb such change is likely to
have the desired mitigating effect? While the solution is complicated and certainly
cannot be answered within the context of this chapter, our goal is to help put global
climate change into a geological perspective with respect to wetlands.
W hen Earth’s history is viewed in a geological context, we see a planet that has
always been in a state of geologic and geomorphologic fl u x. The Earth’s climate has
changed considerably throughout geologic time and ironically, we live at one of the
few times when global climate is cold, or what geologists call “icehouse conditions”.
For most of Earth’s history “hothouse or greenhouse conditions” prevailed, ice caps
were absent, and the average global temperature was considerably warmer than at
present. The consensus among scientists is the anthropogenic input of greenhouse
gases to the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide (CO ), have triggered a phase of
2
global warming (Solomon et al. 2 007; Rosenzweig et al. 2 008) . The pace and inten-
sity of future warming and the associated signifi c ant environmental changes are
likely to be governed, in part, by anthropogenic greenhouse gas inputs.
W hat then can the study of ancient wetland communities, some from millions of
years ago, offer to understand better the effects of future climate change on wet-
lands? It is important that we frame our discussion of wetland impacts in the context
of world wetland extent. The current global wetland area is estimated to be approxi-
2
mately 12.8 million square kilometers (km ) or 8.6% of the total land area of the
world (Schuyt and Brander 2 004) . In an ice-free world, the total wetland area could
2
double in size to 25 million km (18% of the total land area) if we assume that at
least 50% of the area currently classifi e d as ice (Greenland and Antarctica) and
2
tundra would become wetland and the current wetland area of 12.8 million km
would be maintained. This assumption seems reasonable judging from the geo-
graphic extent and amount of Cenozoic-age (Fig. 1 ; 65.5 to 2.588 million years old
[Myr]) coals in northern and Arctic Canada, Iceland, Spitsbergen, Alaska, and Russia.
