Impacts of Climate Change on Wetland Ecosystems
- Resumen
- Wetlands cover a heterogeneous spectrum of aquatic habitats, widely recognized as biodiversity hotspots and key components of the global carbon budget. They provide a wide range ecosystem goods (e.g. food, drinking water) and services (e. g. water purification, climate regulation, flood regulation, coastal protection, etc.) to human welfare Wetlands are highly dependent on water levels, and so changes in climatic conditions (e.g. hydrological cycle, i.e. the nature and variability of the wet and dry seasons, and the number and severity of extreme events) will highly influence its structure and functioning. There is a widespread and ongoing degradation and loss of wetlands. Direct non-climatic anthropogenic impacts (e.g. drainage, water withdrawal, habitat fragmentation, eutrophication, etc.) have been more noteworthy than impacts directly attributed to climate change. Climatic and non-climatic drivers are expected to act synergistically on wetlands resulting in abrupt and large changes that can be difficult, expensive, or impossible to reverse. Ecosystems are hierarchical and climate change is projected to change their structure and functioning by affecting the abiotic and the biotic components (from individual organisms, populations, to communities). The overall impact will depend on the ecosystem resilience and the rate and magnitude of change in several critical climate drivers such as temperature and water availability (in inland wetlands), and, in addition, the sea level and storm surges (in coastal and lowlyingwetlands).Temperaturewillaffectboththeabiotic(e.g. physicalmixing, water quality, etc.) and the biotic compartments (e.g. throughout physiology, specie range shifts, overall community metabolism, etc.). Changes in the hydrological cycle together with a rising sea level and increasing storm surges will result in enhanced erosion of coastal habitats, salinization of groundwater aquifers and estuaries, altered tidal ranges, changes in sediment inputs and nutrient loadings, increased flooding and, consequently in a decrease of freshwater availability for humans and ecosystems. Predictions about the extent and direction of climate change on species and ecosystems are associated with varying degrees of confidence, which arise from uncertainties about how regional climate will change, the influence of non-climatic drivers and how complex ecological systems will respond. Indeed, as climate change alters ecosystem metabolism and species composition, unforeseen ecological changes are expected (e.g. harmful algal blooms or invasive alien species) that may threaten the goods and services these systems provide to humans.
- Autor
- Pérez Lloréns, José Lucas
- Palabras Clave
- Cambio climático, Humedales, Degradación de ecosistemas, Lagos, Ríos, Calentamiento de la tierra
- Idioma
- Inglés
- Documentos
- Ponencia ( 14 pag, 421 Kb )