Mangrove Forests Demonstrate Surprising Storm Resilience in Changing Climate: Study

Mangrove
trees
in
the
Florida
Everglades
on
April
7,
2023.
Simon
Foot
/
Flickr

Mangrove
forests
buffer
coastlines
from
flooding
while
acting
as
valuable

carbon
sinks,
but
scientists
are
concerned
about
the
impacts
that
more
extreme
and
frequent

storms
caused
by

climate
change
are
having
on
these

ecosystems.

In
a
new

study,
scientists
from
Yale
School
of
the
Environment
discovered
that
mangrove
forests
could
actually
be
more
resilient
to
these
more
intense
storms
than
had
previously
been
thought.

“Mangrove
forests
are
strong
carbon
sinks.
In
addition
to
their
potential
for
carbon
storage
in
both
vegetation
(above-
and
belowground)
and
the

soil,
anoxic
conditions
dampen
aerobic
respiration,
increasing
the
capacity
for

carbon
sequestration,”
the
authors
wrote
in
the
findings
of
the
study.
“Consisting
of
only
0.5%
of
the
coastal
area,
mangroves
contribute
10%–15%
of
total
coastal
sediment
carbon
storage
globally
and
10%–11%
of
total
particulate
carbon
export
to
the
marine
environment.
Thus,
mangrove
forests
are
critical
to
the
global
carbon
cycle.”

The
research
team
determined
the
“recovery
debt”
of
Everglades
National
Park
mangroves
in
the
aftermath
of
hurricanes
Irma
in
2017
and
Wilma
in
2005,
a
press
release
from
Yale
School
of
the
Environment
said.
The
recovery
debt
is
the
total
amount
of
carbon
lost
during
a
storm
and
the
amount
of
time
it
takes
to
get
it
back.
The
results
showed
that
the
mangroves
recovered
all
the
carbon
that
was
lost
during
the
storms
within
four
years.

[embedded content]

The
relatively
fast
turnaround
of
south
Florida
mangroves
suggested
that
the
ecosystems
will
continue
to
be
strong
carbon
sinks.

“Although
important
for
their
capacity
to
capture
and
sequester
carbon,
mangroves
are
among
the
most
threatened
and
rapidly
disappearing
coastal
environments
worldwide.
More
than
35%
of
mangrove
forests
have
been
degraded
or
lost
over
the
past
two
decades
due
to
anthropogenic
activities,”
the
authors
wrote
in
the
findings.
“Occurring
in
regions
with
a
high
frequency
of
tropical
storms
and

hurricanes,
mangrove-dominated
ecosystems
exist
across
subtropical
to
tropical
coastlines,
including
South
Florida,
the
Gulf
of
Mexico,
and
within
the
Caribbean.”

The
team’s
calculations
gave
an
approximation
of
the
amount
of
time
mangroves
need
to
recover
adequately
between
storms,
which
the
scientists
said
is
essential
information
as
storms
increase
in
intensity
and
frequency.

“Mangroves
have
the
capacity
to
capture
carbon
lost
due
to
hurricanes
relatively
quickly,”
said
Sparkle
Malone,
a
research
scientist
and
assistant
professor
of
ecosystem
carbon
capture
with
the
Yale
Center
for
Natural
Carbon
Capture,
in
the
press
release.
“It’s
a
good
sign
that
mangroves
in
the

Everglades
are
and
will
continue
to
be
relatively
resilient
to
the
types
of
disturbances
we
know
they’re
going
to
experience
in
the
future.”

Earlier
research
focused
on
how
the
magnitude
of
individual
storms
impacted
mangroves
or
the
recovery
of
individual
features
of
the
ecosystem.

The
recent
findings
help
shed
light
on
the
complex
processes
involved
in
ecosystem
recovery
following
climate
shocks,
as
well
as
the
importance
of
long-term
ecological
monitoring.

“Many
people
frame
disturbance
research
in
terms
of
how
much
initial
loss
there
was,”
said
lead
author
of
the
study
David
Reed,
an
associate
research
scientist
at
Yale
School
of
the
Environment.
“That’s
part
of
the
story,
but
it’s
really
about
how
long
it
takes
to
recover
from
that
loss.”

Reed
compared
the
recovery
debt
of
the
mangroves
to
an
unexpected
expense.
If
someone’s
budget
is
small,
it
could
take
a
significant
amount
of
time
to
pay
off
a
surprising
expense,
whereas
if
one’s
finances
are
stable,
it’s
less
of
a
burden.

To
calculate
the
mangroves’
recovery
debt,
the
researchers
analyzed
years
of
data
from
before
and
after
storms.
To
establish
landscape-wide
patterns,
the
team
examined
observations
from
satellite
imagery
and
monitoring
towers.

“There
have
been
a
lot
of
resources
and
instrumentation
put
in
this
area,
and
so
you
can
study
processes
that
you
can’t
do
on
the
landscape
scale
anywhere
else
in
the
world,”
Malone
explained.

Malone
said
the
findings
reflect
a
reassuring
and
surprising
degree
of
resilience
that
underscores
the
importance
of
restoration
efforts.

“We
know
that
it’s
in
the
millions,
maybe
even
billions,
of
dollars
of
resource
protection
that

mangrove
forests
provide,
and
so
this
confirms
with
all
of
the
funding
and
effort
put
into
Everglades
restoration,
that
it’s
worth
it,”
Malone
said.
“We
will
likely
continue
to
reap
the
benefits
of
those
investments
for
a
long
time
into
the
future.”

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