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Article Reference Mangroves as nature-based mitigation for ENSO-driven compound flood risks in a river delta
Densely populated coastal river deltas are very vulnerable to compound flood risks, coming from both oceanic and riverine sources. Climate change may increase these compound flood risks due to sea level rise and intensifying precipitation events. Here, we investigate to what extent nature-based flood defence strategies, through conservation of mangroves in a tropical river delta, can contribute to mitigate the oceanic and riverine components of compound flood risks. While current knowledge of estuarine compound flood risks is mostly focussed on short-term events such as storm surges (taking one or a few days), longer-term events, such as El Niño events (continuing for several weeks to months) along the Pacific coast of Latin America, are understudied. Here, we present a hydrodynamic modelling study of a large river delta in Ecuador aiming to elucidate the compound effects of El Niño driven oceanic and riverine forcing on extreme high water level propagation through the delta, and in particular, the role of mangroves in reducing the compound high water levels. Our results show that the deltaic high water level anomalies are predominantly driven by the oceanic forcing but that the riverine forcing causes the anomalies to amplify upstream. Furthermore, mangroves in the delta attenuate part of the oceanic contribution to the high water level anomalies, with the attenuating effect increasing in the landward direction, while mangroves have a negligible effect on the riverine component. These findings show that mangrove conservation and restoration programs can contribute to nature-based mitigation, especially the oceanic component of compound flood risks in a tropical river delta.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference Drivers of success in salt marshes restoration through planting and implications for ecosystem services
Planting has been widely adopted to battle the loss of salt marshes and to establish living shorelines. However, the drivers of success in salt marsh planting and their ecological benefits are poorly understood at the global scale. Here, we assembled a global database, encompassing 22,074 observations reported in 210 studies, to examine the drivers and impacts of salt marsh planting. We found that, on average, 53% of plantings survived globally, and plant survival and growth can be enhanced by careful design of sites, species selection, and novel planted technologies. Planting enhanced shoreline protection, primary production, soil carbon storage, biodiversity conservation and fishery production (effect sizes = 0.61, 1.55, 0.21, 0.10 and 1.01, respectively), compared with degraded wetlands. However, the ecosystem services of planted marshes, except for shoreline protection, have not yet fully recovered compared with natural wetlands (effect size = -0.25, 95%CIs = -0.29 to -0.22). Fortunately, the levels of most ecological functions related to climate change mitigation and biodiversity increased with plantation age when compared with natural wetlands, and achieved equivalence to natural wetlands after 5-25 years. Overall, our results suggest that salt marsh planting is a promising strategy for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference Vegetation controls on channel network complexity in coastal wetlands
Channel networks are key to coastal wetland functioning and resilience under climate change. Vegetation affects sediment and hydrodynamics in many different ways, which calls for a coherent framework to explain how vegetation shapes channel network geometry and functioning. Here, we introduce an idealized model that shows how coastal wetland vegetation creates more complexly branching networks by increasing the ratio of channel incision versus topographic diffusion rates, thereby amplifying the channelization feedback that recursively incises finer-scale side-channels. This complexification trend qualitatively agrees with and provides an explanation for field data presented here as well as in earlier studies. Moreover, our model demonstrates that a stronger biogeomorphic feedback leads to higher and more densely vegetated marsh platforms and more extensive drainage networks. These findings may inspire future field research by raising the hypothesis that vegetation-induced self-organization enhances the storm surge buffering capacity of coastal wetlands and their resilience under sea-level rise.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference Mangrove ecosystem properties regulate high water levels in a river delta
Intertidal wetlands, such as mangroves in the tropics, are increasingly recognized for their role in nature-based mitigation of coastal flood risks. Yet it is still poorly understood how effective they are at attenuating the propagation of extreme sea levels through large (order of 100 km2) estuarine or deltaic systems, with complex geometry formed by networks of branching channels intertwined with mangrove and intertidal flat areas. Here, we present a delta-scale hydrodynamic modelling study, aiming to explicitly account for these complex landforms, for the case of the Guayas delta (Ecuador), the largest estuarine system on the Pacific coast of Latin America. Despite coping with data scarcity, our model accurately reproduces the observed propagation of high water levels during a spring tide. Further, based on a model sensitivity analysis, we show that high water levels are most sensitive to the mangrove platform elevation and degree of channelization but to a much lesser extent to vegetation-induced friction. Mangroves with a lower surface elevation, lower vegetation density, and higher degree of channelization all favour a more efficient flooding of the mangroves and therefore more effectively attenuate the high water levels in the deltaic channels. Our findings indicate that vast areas of channelized mangrove forests, rather than densely vegetated forests, are most effective for nature-based flood risk mitigation in a river delta.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference Redescription of three fossil baleen whale skulls from the Miocene of Portugal reveals new cetotheriid phylogenetic insights
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference Biofluorescence of the Mottled shovel-nosed frog, Hemisus marmoratus: first report for Hemisotidae.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Pisachini planthoppers of Vietnam: new records of Pisacha and a new Goniopsarites species from Central Vietnam (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Nogodinidae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference Spinnen en loopkevers ingezameld tijdens een korte bodemvalbemonstering te Doeveren (Zedelgem‐Oostkamp)
Spiders and carabid beetles were collected with pitfall traps during a short sampling campaign in the spring of 2017 (from 24/05 to 11/07) in the nature reserve Doeveren at Zedelgem‐Oostkamp. 49 species of spiders and 34 species of carabid beetles were found. We here discuss some particular species of both arthropod groups that are mentioned as threatened on the Red list for Flanders. We comment the management and heathland restoration measures of the last years and its impact on both faunas
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference De spinnenfauna van enkele rode dopheidegebieden nabij Brugge: Deel 4, drie jaar bemonsteringen in het Natuurreservaat Zevenkerken in 2014-2015-2016
103 species of spiders were collected during 3 years continuous sampling with pitfall traps of 2 heathland patches in Nature Reserve Zevenkerken south-west of Bruges. Several rare and interesting species were discovered and discussed. Besides a large amount of species characteristic for forest and shrubs also an important part of the spider fauna in these heathlands consist of species characteristic for dry, oligotrophic grasslands. Also some species of heathland and dunes were found. 12 species are mentioned as threatened on the Red list of spiders of Flanders. Six species are catalogued as endangered, six as vulnerable. Restoration of heathland in Zevenkerken and Bruges in general in the context of spider and insect-friendly management are discussed.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference De spinnenfauna van enkele Rode dopheidegebieden nabij Brugge: Deel 2: Bemonsteringen in Provinciedomein Tillegembos in 2015-2016
105 species of spiders were collected during a year-round sampling with pitfall traps of 3 heathland patches in Provinciedomein Tillegembos south of Bruges. Several rare and interesting species were discovered and discussed. An important part of the spider fauna in these heathlands consists of species characteristic for dry, oligotrophic grasslands. Also some species of heathland and dunes were found. 13 species are mentioned as threatened on the Red list of spiders of Flanders. Five species are catalogued as endangered, Seven species as vulnerable and one species is catalogued as critically endangered on that list: Thyreosthenius biovatus. Restoration of heathlands near Bruges in the context of spider- and insect-friendly management are discussed.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019