With the changing climate, several aspects of the environment are getting threatened such as the continuous rise of the sea levels. Together with this threat, several interconnected problems also surface just like the vital salt marshes which are starting to disappear.
In an article in ABC News, the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge imparted its assessment results of eight coastal salt marshes located in the USA. These salt marshes included the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Schooner Creek, Reedy Creek, Dinner Creek, Seal Beach, Point Mugu Naval Air Station, Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, and Fishing Bay Wildlife Management Area. The representative revealed that due to the current state of the salt marshes, they are most likely to vanish in 350 years if the deterioration continues to worsen.
Why is there a need for salt marshes? According to St. Louis Post-Dispatch, salt marshes are important aspects of the ecosystem, especially in coastal areas. These salt marshes act as protection from strong tides, erosion, and floods. More than that, salt marshes also become habitats to some species of animals such as birds and crustaceans.
Because of the continuous rise in the sea levels of nearby bodies of water, salt marshes become more vulnerable to erosions which decrease its protective components in the ecosystem. The researchers from the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge also shared that with the data that they've collated, they found out that indeed, the salt marshes aren't adapting well to the current rising sea levels.
Despite this alarming news, researchers also emphasize that studies like this provide an avenue to raise the awareness of the impacts of climate change in vulnerable ecosystems such as in salt marshes. More than that, new conservation measures can also arise from this kind of researches, according to Nature Conservancy's Stephanie Wear.
