Application of a Coupled Vegetation Competition and Groundwater Simulation Model to Study Effects of Sea Level Rise and Storm Surges on Coastal Vegetation

Global climate change poses challenges to areas such as low-lying coastal zones, where sea level rise (SLR) and storm-surge overwash events can have long-term effects on vegetation and on soil and groundwater salinities, posing risks of habitat loss critical to native species. An early warning sys...

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Main Authors: Su, Yean Teh, Turtora, Michael, Donald L., DeAngelis, Jiang, Jiang, Leonard, Pearlstine, Thomas, J. Smith III, Hock, Lye Koh
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.usm.my/38347/
http://eprints.usm.my/38347/1/Application_of_a_Coupled_Vegetation_Competition_and_Groundwater.pdf
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author Su, Yean Teh
Turtora, Michael
Donald L., DeAngelis
Jiang, Jiang
Leonard, Pearlstine
Thomas, J. Smith III
Hock, Lye Koh
author_facet Su, Yean Teh
Turtora, Michael
Donald L., DeAngelis
Jiang, Jiang
Leonard, Pearlstine
Thomas, J. Smith III
Hock, Lye Koh
author_sort Su, Yean Teh
building USM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Global climate change poses challenges to areas such as low-lying coastal zones, where sea level rise (SLR) and storm-surge overwash events can have long-term effects on vegetation and on soil and groundwater salinities, posing risks of habitat loss critical to native species. An early warning system is urgently needed to predict and prepare for the consequences of these climate-related impacts on both the short-term dynamics of salinity in the soil and groundwater and the long-term effects on vegetation. For this purpose, the U.S. Geological Survey’s spatially explicit model of vegetation community dynamics along coastal salinity gradients (MANHAM) is integrated into the USGS groundwater model (SUTRA) to create a coupled hydrology–salinity–vegetation model, MANTRA. In MANTRA, the uptake of water by plants is modeled as a fluid mass sink term. Groundwater salinity, water saturation and vegetation biomass determine the water available for plant transpiration. Formulations and assumptions used in the coupled model are presented. MANTRA is calibrated with salinity data and vegetation pattern for a coastal area of Florida Everglades vulnerable to storm surges. A possible regime shift at that site is investigated by simulating the vegetation responses to climate variability and disturbances, including SLR and storm surges based on empirical information.
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spelling usm-383472018-01-11T07:39:28Z http://eprints.usm.my/38347/ Application of a Coupled Vegetation Competition and Groundwater Simulation Model to Study Effects of Sea Level Rise and Storm Surges on Coastal Vegetation Su, Yean Teh Turtora, Michael Donald L., DeAngelis Jiang, Jiang Leonard, Pearlstine Thomas, J. Smith III Hock, Lye Koh QA1-939 Mathematics Global climate change poses challenges to areas such as low-lying coastal zones, where sea level rise (SLR) and storm-surge overwash events can have long-term effects on vegetation and on soil and groundwater salinities, posing risks of habitat loss critical to native species. An early warning system is urgently needed to predict and prepare for the consequences of these climate-related impacts on both the short-term dynamics of salinity in the soil and groundwater and the long-term effects on vegetation. For this purpose, the U.S. Geological Survey’s spatially explicit model of vegetation community dynamics along coastal salinity gradients (MANHAM) is integrated into the USGS groundwater model (SUTRA) to create a coupled hydrology–salinity–vegetation model, MANTRA. In MANTRA, the uptake of water by plants is modeled as a fluid mass sink term. Groundwater salinity, water saturation and vegetation biomass determine the water available for plant transpiration. Formulations and assumptions used in the coupled model are presented. MANTRA is calibrated with salinity data and vegetation pattern for a coastal area of Florida Everglades vulnerable to storm surges. A possible regime shift at that site is investigated by simulating the vegetation responses to climate variability and disturbances, including SLR and storm surges based on empirical information. MDPI 2015 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.usm.my/38347/1/Application_of_a_Coupled_Vegetation_Competition_and_Groundwater.pdf Su, Yean Teh and Turtora, Michael and Donald L., DeAngelis and Jiang, Jiang and Leonard, Pearlstine and Thomas, J. Smith III and Hock, Lye Koh (2015) Application of a Coupled Vegetation Competition and Groundwater Simulation Model to Study Effects of Sea Level Rise and Storm Surges on Coastal Vegetation. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 3 (4). pp. 1149-1177. ISSN 2077-1312 http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/3/4/1149
spellingShingle QA1-939 Mathematics
Su, Yean Teh
Turtora, Michael
Donald L., DeAngelis
Jiang, Jiang
Leonard, Pearlstine
Thomas, J. Smith III
Hock, Lye Koh
Application of a Coupled Vegetation Competition and Groundwater Simulation Model to Study Effects of Sea Level Rise and Storm Surges on Coastal Vegetation
title Application of a Coupled Vegetation Competition and Groundwater Simulation Model to Study Effects of Sea Level Rise and Storm Surges on Coastal Vegetation
title_full Application of a Coupled Vegetation Competition and Groundwater Simulation Model to Study Effects of Sea Level Rise and Storm Surges on Coastal Vegetation
title_fullStr Application of a Coupled Vegetation Competition and Groundwater Simulation Model to Study Effects of Sea Level Rise and Storm Surges on Coastal Vegetation
title_full_unstemmed Application of a Coupled Vegetation Competition and Groundwater Simulation Model to Study Effects of Sea Level Rise and Storm Surges on Coastal Vegetation
title_short Application of a Coupled Vegetation Competition and Groundwater Simulation Model to Study Effects of Sea Level Rise and Storm Surges on Coastal Vegetation
title_sort application of a coupled vegetation competition and groundwater simulation model to study effects of sea level rise and storm surges on coastal vegetation
topic QA1-939 Mathematics
url http://eprints.usm.my/38347/
http://eprints.usm.my/38347/
http://eprints.usm.my/38347/1/Application_of_a_Coupled_Vegetation_Competition_and_Groundwater.pdf