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Coastal Wetland Resilience to Climate Variability: A Hydrologic Perspective

Publication ,  Journal Article
Zhang, Y; Li, W; Sun, G; King, J
Published in: Journal of Hydrology
October 27, 2018

Climate-induced disturbances are expected to increase in frequency and intensity and affect wetland ecology by altering its hydrology. Investigating how wetland hydrology responds to climate disturbances is an important first step to understand the ecological response of coastal wetlands to climate disturbances. Wetland hydrologic resilience, the ability of wetland in absorbing disturbances and restoring to pre-disturbance conditions in hydrological function, is a critical measure of wetland hydrological response to climate disturbances. However, a practical methodology for quantifying wetland hydrologic resilience (HR) is still lacking. This study aimed to improve the approach for quantifying the hydrologic resilience of wetland ecosystems to climate variability and climate change. A set of quantitative metrics was developed including the variations of groundwater table, overland flow, and saltwater table. This approach was then applied to a coastal landscape that includes coastal-forested and herbaceous wetlands in North Carolina, USA. We investigated the threshold behaviors of groundwater table, overland flow, and saltwater table for a 20-year period (1995-2014) by applying a regional scale wetland hydrological model, Penn State Integrated Hydrological Model for wetland hydrology (PIHM-Wetland). We found that the multiscale variations of groundwater table under dry climatic conditions is a good indicator of wetland HR to drought. The variation of overland flow during rainfall events effectively quantified HR to wet periods. We also found that the variation of the water level of saltwater is an important metric of wetland HR to sea level rise. This study improves the methodology of quantifying wetland hydrologic resilience at a regional scale, representing an important first step towards understanding the wetland hydrological and ecological resilience to future intensified climate disturbances in coastal regions and beyond.

Duke Scholars

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Published In

Journal of Hydrology

DOI

ISSN

0022-1694

Publication Date

October 27, 2018

Volume

568

Start / End Page

275 / 284

Publisher

Elsevier

Related Subject Headings

  • Environmental Engineering
 

Citation

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Zhang, Y., Li, W., Sun, G., & King, J. (2018). Coastal Wetland Resilience to Climate Variability: A Hydrologic Perspective. Journal of Hydrology, 568, 275–284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.10.048
Zhang, yu, W. Li, ge Sun, and John King. “Coastal Wetland Resilience to Climate Variability: A Hydrologic Perspective.” Journal of Hydrology 568 (October 27, 2018): 275–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.10.048.
Zhang Y, Li W, Sun G, King J. Coastal Wetland Resilience to Climate Variability: A Hydrologic Perspective. Journal of Hydrology. 2018 Oct 27;568:275–84.
Zhang, yu, et al. “Coastal Wetland Resilience to Climate Variability: A Hydrologic Perspective.” Journal of Hydrology, vol. 568, Elsevier, Oct. 2018, pp. 275–84. Manual, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.10.048.
Zhang Y, Li W, Sun G, King J. Coastal Wetland Resilience to Climate Variability: A Hydrologic Perspective. Journal of Hydrology. Elsevier; 2018 Oct 27;568:275–284.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of Hydrology

DOI

ISSN

0022-1694

Publication Date

October 27, 2018

Volume

568

Start / End Page

275 / 284

Publisher

Elsevier

Related Subject Headings

  • Environmental Engineering