The rapid sea level rise and resulting retreat of coastal habitat seen at the end of the last Ice Age could repeat itself if global average temperatures rise beyond certain levels, according to an analysis by an international team of scientists from more than a dozen institutions, including Rutgers.
worldwide to limit the global temperature increase in this century to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels while pursuing efforts to limit the increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The study predicted higher global temperatures will provoke sea level rises that will lead to instability and profound changes to coastal ecosystems, including tidal marshes, mangrove forests, coral reefs and coral islands. Tidal marshes—low-lying areas flooded and drained by tidal salt water—protect many of the world's coastlines. They sequester pollutants, absorb carbon dioxide and protect nearby communities from storm surge and flooding. They are common along the Atlantic shores of North America. Large expanses of tidal marshes line New Jersey's coast.
"Mangroves and tidal marshes act as a buffer between the ocean and the land—they absorb the impact of wave action, prevent erosion and are crucial for biodiversity of fisheries and coastal plants," said Neil Saintilan, the paper's lead author and a professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia."When the plants become water-logged due to higher sea levels, they start to flounder.
Under worst-case scenarios, these coastal habitats, buffeted by rising sea levels, will shrink and, in some cases, wash away, as they have in the distant past, according to the study.Neil Saintilan et al, Widespread retreat of coastal habitat is likely at warming levels above 1.5 °C,
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