Climate Trivia: How Does Climate Change Affect Wetlands?
Credit: NOAA
Wetlands are found from the tropics to the tundra, on every continent except Antarctica. Wetlands can have saltwater, freshwater or brackish water (more salty than freshwater, but less salty than saltwater).
In 2009, it was estimated that there were 110.1 million acres of wetlands in the contiguous United States; 95 percent of all wetlands are freshwater and five percent are marine or estuarine systems. Wetlands are sensitive ecosystems affected by variations in weather and climate conditions.
Trivia Question: How does climate change affect wetlands?
a. Increased frequency of extreme weather events such as drought affects wetlands that depend primarily on rain water, such as bogs.
b. Sea level rise inundates low-lying coastal wetlands that can’t keep up with rising water levels or migrate inland.
c. Rising temperatures change the distribution of animal and plant species living in wetlands.
d. Changes in temperature and precipitation impact the availability of seasonal wetlands, such as North American prairie potholes, that provide habitat for migratory waterfowl.
e. All of the above.
The correct answer is e. Wetlands are most affected by changes in temperature and precipitation. Climate change has led to sea level rise, warmer temperatures, altered precipitation patterns and increased frequency of some extreme weather events.
Droughts affect wetlands that are most vulnerable to changes in precipitation, such as bogs. In the last 100 years, global sea level has risen 4 to 8 inches, affecting coastal wetlands by inundation, erosion and saltwater intrusion. Rising temperatures and changes in precipitation have affected the distribution of wetland species, converted some wetlands to dry land or shifted one wetland type to another.
For example, black mangroves are expanding their latitudinal range at the expense of coastal saline wetlands dominated by marsh grasses in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, changing temperature and precipitation patterns affect availability and quality of prairie potholes, which fill with rain and snowmelt in the spring and provide habitat for breeding waterfowl in the Midwest.
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